Reg Schwager was born in the Netherlands in 1962. When he was three his family moved to New Zealand where he studied Suzuki violin. When he was six his family moved again, this time to Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. There he took music lessons in recorder, flute and piano before settling on the guitar as his main instrument. By age fifteen he was playing jazz gigs in big band and small group settings and in duet with his sister Jeannette.
It was at two jazz workshops conducted by Phil Nimmons - at the University of Toronto (1978) and the Banff Centre (1979) that Reg met some of the musicians he would begin working soon after he moved to Toronto in 1979. These included fellow students Renee Rosnes and Ralph Bowen and faculty members including Nimmons, Dave McMurdo, Herbie Spanier and Pat Labarbera. Since then he has been working steadily on the Toronto jazz scene and in other musical areas including new music (New Music Concerts, Hemispheres and Sound Pressure, among others) and improvised music (with musicians such as Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink).
Reg has toured extensively across Canada and worldwide with George Shearing, Diana Krall, Peter Appleyard, Rob McConnell and many others. He appears on over 80 commercially released recordings with such artists as Junior Mance, Gary Burton, George Shearing and Mel Tormé. CDs released under his own name include "Resonance", "Border Town" and "Live at Mezzetta".
Reg has written written hundreds of jazz compositions, some with lyrics by Jeannette Lambert. His arrangements for big band have been recorded by the Dave McMurdo Jazz Orchestra. His arrangements for string orchestra and jazz ensemble appear on Mike Murley's CD "The Melody Lingers On" (CBC Records).
Reg has been the recipient of the Guitarist of the Year award from Canada's National Jazz Awards for three consecutive years (2005, 2006 and 2007) .
For the past seven years Reg has been maintaining a popular weblog devoted to news about Brazilian music at bmth.blogspot.com . He has attended workshops and classes with such Brazilian masters as Guinga, Dori Caymmi, Marcos Silva, Jovino Santos Neto, Paulo Sergio Santos and Hamilton de Holanda - mainly at the California-Brazil Camp .
See Reg's discography here .
See reviews here .
