Charlie Gabriel - 89 (Gold Vinyl)

Limited translucent gold colored vinyl LP pressing. Charlie Gabriel's first professional gig dates to 1943, sitting in for his father in New Orleans' Eureka Brass Band. As a teenager living in Detroit, Charlie played with Lionel Hampton, whose band then included a young Charles Mingus, later spending nine years with a group led by Cab Calloway drummer J.C. Heard. While he's also fronted a bebop quintet, played and/or toured with Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennet, Aretha Franklin and many more, this is the first time his name appears on the front of a record, as a bandleader. Since 2006, Gabriel has been a member of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Eighty Nine was different, and not simply due to a smaller ensemble. ""We had no particular plan, or any particular insight on what we were gonna do. But we were enjoying what we were doing, jamming, having a musical conversation,"" Charlie says, further musing, ""Musical conversations cancel out complications."" Eighty Nine includes six standards and three newer pieces on which Gabriel is a writer: ""Yellow Moon,"" ""The Darker It Gets"" and ""I Get Jealous."" The record also marks Charlie's return to his first instrument, clarinet, on many of the tracks.