Music
Charlie Gabriel
born 1932 · jazz saxophonist, clarinetist
New Orleans-born reed player who built his career in Detroit, playing with Lionel Hampton and Aretha Franklin, before returning home to lead the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
- Born
New Orleans, Louisiana
age 94- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Charlie Gabriel comes from a long line of New Orleans musicians, but when his family left the city he made his career in the Detroit area, where several of his relatives and descendants have also become jazz players in the brass-band tradition. Playing saxophone, clarinet, trumpet and flute, he worked in the Eureka Brass Band and in the bands of Lionel Hampton and Aretha Franklin, and he became a familiar figure in Detroit's traditional and mainstream jazz circles, recording with drummer J. C. Heard's Detroit groups and later with trumpeter Marcus Belgrave and singer Joan Belgrave. A devout Catholic, he co-founded the Jazz on the Lawn concert series at St. Augustine and St. Monica Catholic Church on the city's east side. After decades in Michigan he returned to New Orleans, joined the Preservation Hall Jazz Band in 2006 and became musical director of the Preservation Hall Foundation. His first solo album, 89, recorded at that age, came out in 2022.
Highlights
- Played with Lionel Hampton and Aretha Franklin
- Recorded with J. C. Heard and with Marcus and Joan Belgrave in Detroit
- Co-founded Jazz on the Lawn at St. Augustine and St. Monica Church
- Member of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band since 2006
- Debut solo album 89 (2022)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Founded · 2000s
St. Augustine and St. Monica Catholic Church
East-side parish in the former St. Catherine of Siena church, where Gabriel co-founded the Jazz on the Lawn concert series.