CharlieGabriel
Charlie Gabriel is a fourth-generation New Orleans jazz musician and the senior-most member of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, a living link to nearly a century of the city's music.
Charlie Gabriel is a fourth-generation New Orleans jazz musician and the senior-most member of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, a living link to nearly a century of the city's music.
Biography
Charlie Gabriel is a fourth-generation New Orleans jazz musician whose family's musical lineage stretches back to the 1850s. Born in the city's Sixth Ward in 1932, he began playing clarinet professionally with the Eureka Brass Band at just eleven years old, often filling in for his father during World War II when older musicians were away at war. As a teenager he moved with his family to Detroit, where his career expanded dramatically — he toured with Lionel Hampton's band at sixteen and later performed with Aretha Franklin, Tony Bennett, and a run of early Motown sessions. After decades away, Gabriel returned to New Orleans in 2006, joining the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, where he now serves as the Preservation Hall Foundation's Musical Director and the group's senior-most member. In 2022, at ninety years old, he released his first-ever solo album, 89, a deeply personal record of jazz standards and originals. Gabriel remains a living link to nearly a century of New Orleans musical history.
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