The debut album from beloved New Orleans saxophonist, clarinetist, and singer
Charlie Gabriel, 2022's
Eighty Nine is a warm and intimate showcase for the longtime
Preservation Hall bandmember. Given
Gabriel's over-seven-decade-long career -- one which has found him living in New Orleans and Detroit, working with luminaries like
Lionel Hampton,
J.C. Heard, and
Ella Fitzgerald -- it's almost unfathomable that
Eighty Nine (his age at the time of its recording) is his first album as a leader. Primarily a live and touring musician,
Gabriel (who started out in the 1940s playing in his father
Manny Gabriel's
Eureka Brass Band at age 11) has been a key member of the
Preservation Hall Jazz Band since 2006. While his work with
Preservation Hall has found
Gabriel bringing his New Orleans jazz roots to funk and Latin sounds, on
Eighty Nine he takes a more stripped-down approach, applying his dusky tenor, clarinet, and vocals to his favorite jazz standards, including "Memories of You," "Chelsea Bridge," and a particularly enrapturing take on "I'm Confessin'." Poignantly, the album came together in the wake of his brother's death from COVID-19 in 2020. Mourning his sibling's passing,
Gabriel sought the company of
Preservation Hall bassist and bandleader
Ben Jaffe. Initially forsaking music in favor of low-key chess games, they eventually started jamming, bringing along guitarist
Joshua Starkman, drummer
Walter Harris, and percussionist
Djallo Djakate. While some cuts like "Stardust" are spare duets, others -- including "Three Little Words" and
Gabriel's vibrant rendition of
the Neville Brothers' "Yellow Moon" -- are more robust, evoking the Afro-Cuban sound of
Preservation Hall's acclaimed 2018 record
Tuba to Cuba. While it might have taken all 79 of
Gabriel's performing years to make an album,
Eighty Nine was well worth the wait. ~ Matt Collar