Gene Ess brings his award-winning musicianship from a very diverse background. He grew up playing the classical piano, due to his mother being a classical pianist and a well-known piano instructor on the island of Okinawa; his early years were filled with the classical sounds of Beethoven and Chopin. Simultaneously, Gene was receiving a mix of influences: he was exposed to the indigenous music of the island, and - growing up on a US Air Force Base- to the pop and jazz music coming out of the clu …