Charlie Gabriel: The Spirit of 89
photo credit: Danny Clinch
“We weren’t planning on putting out a record,” 89-year-old Charlie Gabriel says of his new album, the first release credited solely to his name after seven decades as a working musician. Sub Pop issued the aptly titled 89, which finds Gabriel in a trio setting, performing tenor sax and clarinet with fellow Preservation Hall Jazz Band member Ben Jaffe on bass, drums and keyboards, and Joshua Starkman on guitar. The album presents two originals along with six jazz standards that Gabriel has played throughout his career, which began in 1943 when he sat in for his father with New Orleans’ famed Eureka Brass Band during World War II.
“Benjy and I get together just about every day and we play chess,” Gabriel explains. “We also play a little music and have a few conversations about different things. So this was just something we were doing in our everyday activities. We were just having a good time together, and then Ben brought it to the surface.”
Jaffe adds, “I wanted to document what happens backstage at Preservation Hall or when we’re on the road in a hotel room. Charlie will call me up and say, ‘Hey, bring the bass over.’ When he shows up in the Hall, he’ll immediately take his horn out, sit down and start playing something. Then, everyone will come over and we’ll have these sessions before we go out onstage. It’s our version of warming up our fingers and our instruments and our minds at the same time— everyone coming together. And Charlie’s the one who’s usually leading the conversation for us. He’s the one who’s bringing in an exercise that he’s been working on at home or a song that he wants us to play that night or an idea that he wants to turn into a song. These are some of the most beautiful moments to me. They’re the most pure and honest moments because it’s musicians for musicians.”
Gabriel has been communing with musicians throughout his life, as his family is deeply entwined within the fabric of New Orleans music. His great-grandfather Narcisse Gabriel was a bass player, his grandfather Martin Joseph’s instrument of choice was cornet and his father, Martin Manuel Gabriel, played drums and clarinet.
“I’m Confessin’,” which appears on 89, was one of Louis Armstrong’s initial signature songs, and Gabriel heard Armstrong perform it at the Coliseum, a boxing arena and music venue located near his family’s home. What’s more, Charlie recalls, “When I was 13 years old, my dad brought me up there to meet Louis, who put his hand on my shoulders and said, ‘I wanna take him on the road.’ Of course, he was just joking with my dad but it was memorable to me.”
Gabriel’s family eventually relocated to Detroit in the late 1940s, prompted by job opportunities in the auto industry. There, Gabriel pursued a life in music, performing in a variety of settings, including stints with Lionel Hampton, the J.C. Heard Jazz Band, Ella Fitzgerald and Aretha Franklin. Eventually, the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katarina led him back to the city of his youth in 2006.
The material on 89 draws from some of the musical staples that he first heard and performed while growing up in New Orleans.
Gabriel reflects, “The songs on the record have been important in making me the type of person I am today. I’ve lived just about all of these songs from the time when I was a young boy until now. ‘Memories of You’ is a Eubie Blake song I remember doing at my house with my father. ‘Chelsea Bridge’ is another one that we also did a little later on. ‘Stardust’ makes me think of Mr. Louis Cottrell. He played in the Sidney Desvigne Band—they were a big band with 17 pieces, like the Count Basie band or the Duke Ellington band. Mr. Cottrell played clarinet in that band, and it stayed with me all my life. ‘Three Little Words’ was another one of the things that my father liked to do, so I’ve fooled with that one quite a bit over the years.”
The opportunity to record 89 came together a few months into quarantine. For many years, Gabriel and Jaffe have played chess regularly in Jaffe’s former house, which now serves as the Preservation Hall office.
“After Hurricane Katrina, when Charlie joined the Preservation Hall Band full time, something I recognized very quickly was that chess wasn’t just something that Charlie did passively,” Jaffe says. “It was a daily activity for him, just like working out or meditating or practicing our instruments can be a daily activity. Without it, he felt empty.”
“I enjoy the game and I enjoy playing with other individuals,” Gabriel affirms. “A lot of times I lose, but it’s still a lot of fun. I’ve had a good time with Benjy, who I look at as a son. He does so many nice things with me, and we’ve played chess quite a bit. He whupped me a couple of times but I tightened up on him.”
“I have never beaten Charlie honestly,” Jaffe counters. “What I mean by honestly is: If you make a move and Charlie knows it’s the wrong move, he’ll let you know. The only times that I’ve ever managed to win, he’s told me: ‘You can take that back’ or he lets me try something else. We meet every day at our office to have coffee and play chess and make music. At the beginning of COVID, it took a long time before we felt comfortable being back together. I can remember wondering, ‘How do we do this? How can I make sure that Charlie’s safe?’ That was at a time when we wondered if COVID was hanging in the corner, or if it was in the air conditioning or in the drinking water. But Charlie and I finally started getting together again and playing chess, which eventually led us to playing music.”
Once the two musicians returned to this setting, Jaffe decided to use some of the recording gear gifted by My Morning Jacket’s Jim James to help capture what ensued. Jaffe reveals, “It became a way for us to do what we do every day, but it was also a process of healing, which we didn’t know at the time.”
The two original songs on 89 fit seamlessly with the standards. “Yellow Moon” is an instrumental that came together in a truly collaborative manner. Gabriel recalls, “Benjy was playing the banjo in the basement and he came up with all these different chord changes. I could hear him and let him know that he needed to put some melody to those changes. He said, ‘OK, do it.’ So we did.”
“The Darker It Gets” originated with a visit to the Hall by renowned songwriter Paul Williams when one of his children was at Tulane. Jaffe notes, “He said, ‘Let’s see where the energy takes us.’ As soon as Paul came in, we were off to the races. A lot of times, when you’re songwriting with someone who’s as prolific as he is, you’re writing in response to a moment. So we ended up responding to the way that Charlie improvises to the feeling of a moment. Paul is so experienced that I felt the same way that I do when I’m learning Charlie’s language and process. One of the great joys of my life is getting inside Charlie’s mind, seeing something that he’s done a hundred thousand times and watching him do it so effortlessly.”
Gabriel and Jaffe are joined on 89 by Joshua Starkman. Jaffe first learned of Starkman through the guitarist’s Have A Great Day! social platform, where he collaborates with other musicians and spreads good cheer. Jaffe explains, “I took it upon myself to track Josh down and it’s become a beautiful friendship. I introduced him to Charlie because he loves the sound of guitar. It is more popular in Detroit than in New Orleans because of the style we play. So during COVID, I asked Josh to come over and start hanging with me and Charlie. It became therapy for Josh too, and it’s been really beautiful with these two worlds starting to fit together seamlessly.”
Charlie Gabriel has always blended worlds, going back to his time in the Motor City. He acknowledges, “What I did in New Orleans stayed with me all my life. I never did leave New Orleans. One time, when I was playing with Aretha Franklin, this guy told me I was from New Orleans and I got angry. I said, ‘Man, I’m from Detroit. I’m with Aretha Franklin.’ He looked at me and said, ‘You’re from New Orleans. It’s in your music.’”
Gabriel laughs and then adds, “He was right. It was shocking to me when he said it, but you can hear New Orleans in my playing. It’s in my heart and it’s in my music.”
