New Orleans is a place filled to the brim with music. It makes it hard to imagine with so much of it visible on the streets, the sheer amount of unheard music that this city must contain. The amount of closed notebooks and forgotten compositions that could never quite make it past the din of nightly club music and into the recording studio is immeasurable. One such example is New Orleans jazz legend Charlie Gabriel. For years, Gabriel has been composing his own original music, but not until recently, in his 89th year, was he able to put these pieces on wax.

Six years ago, Branden Lewis, a trumpet player in the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, discovered that his senior bandmate Gabriel possessed a book of original compositions, most of which had never existed outside of his mind. It hasn’t been until this year that the two have started the process of recording these pieces. The album will feature 10 of Gabriel’s original songs as well as a bonus track. Musicians to be included on this record include the legendary Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ricardo Pascal, Herlin Riley, and Brandon Lewis. The project is also being produced by Academy Award winner Donald Markowitz.  

Born in 1932 to a classically-trained family of emigrants from Santo Domingo, Gabriel began his professional career playing clarinet with the Eureka Brass Band. He was just eleven years old. Gabriel has collaborated with legends such as Tony Bennett, Frankie Avalon, Brenda Lee, Eddie Willis, Joe Hunter, and many more. In the early 1970s, he was a player in Aretha Franklin’s Orchestra. 

Lewis has established a GoFundMe page in the hopes of raising enough money to complete the recording, editing, and mixing processes. Thus far, fans have raised over $16,000 dollars in support of the project, but more donations are needed if it is to reach its goal. Information on the project itself as well as the donation page may be found here.