Gino began playing drums at just five years old in Ecuador. He studied at music conservatories in Havana, Cuba, where he discovered his passion for Cuban jazz. He worked as a solo musician in New York for several years before settling in Charleston, South Carolina with his family in 2010. Gino has earned several Jazz Artist of the Year awards, collaborated with many renowned international artists, and has taught at the Berklee College of Music. With his band, the Cuban Cowboys
Gino also is an Afro-Cuban jazz percussionist, singer and leader of the local bands Gino Castillo Quartet and Soulfunkubanized, A tribute to Africans- American music that influenced a change in modern cuban music in the 1970s. Gino Castillo has played professionally in Ecuador, Cuba, New York City, and for the last few years in Charleston, SC. Sponsored by Pearl Drums, he has appeared in concert and recorded with a long list of international artists, many of which can be heard on his latest CD, Ya Llegue.In Charleston, he performs with his own group, The Gino Castillo Quartet. He also appears with the Charleston Jazz Orchestra and a number of other local groups.