LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC CHARLIE GABRIEL

WHEN CHARLIE GABRIEL, 87, WAS A YOUNGSTER OF maybe eight or nine years old, he had a talk with God.

- GERALDINE WYCKOFF

“I remember myself saying: I want to be a musician and I don’t want to play just one style. I want to be able to play music so wherever I am at and somebody needs a saxophone player they’ll call me because I’ll be qualified to play all styles of music.”

Through his love and dedication to music and the influence of his very musical family members who guided and inspired him, Gabriel’s prayer was granted. “I never had a day job,” declares Gabriel, who at age 11 began playing clarinet and saxophone professionally with New Orleans’ renowned Eureka Brass Band. The native New Orleanian moved to Detroit as a teenager and following decades in the Motor City, returned to his hometown to become a much-admired member of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band since 2008.

“Charlie lights up the stage,” says Ben Jaffe, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s artistic director and sousaphonist. “His energy is a gigantic glowing sun. When you hear him play, you’re hearing the whole history of jazz.”

Even in a city that boasts numerous musical families, the Gabriels stand out. Charlie’s great grandfather, Narcesse Gabriel, who was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and arrived in New Orleans in 1856, was a bass player. His grandfather, Martin Joseph “Big Manny” Gabriel, blew trumpet in the National Jazz Band in 1902, a group that also included noted saxophonist and bandleader Harold Dejan. Charlie’s father, Martin Gabriel, who was also known as Manny, played drums and alto saxophone. Not to be left out, his mother Emily was also musically inclined and played saxophone. Charlie’s uncles and cousins filled the musical ranks and the Gabriel legacy continues into a next-generation as Charlie’s nephew, trumpeter Dameon Gabriel leads the Gabriel Brass Band in Detroit that includes more kinfolk.