Gabriel Evan

Gabriel Evan, a woodwinds specialist originally from Ossining, NY, performs over 300 shows per year, spanning traditional jazz, gypsy jazz and early Caribbean music. Receiving his first saxophone at 8 years old, Gabriel has spent the last 28 years studying his craft, with an early highpoint interning at WBGO jazz radio station out of Newark, NJ, during his high school years. He earned his Bachelor of Music from DePauw University in 2009, and immediately following graduation began performing professionally in NYC.

As a member of the traditional and gypsy jazz communities, Gabriel has been performing as both a bandleader and sideman for the last 15 years and released his first record Gabriel’s Swing as a bandleader in June of 2019 and second record Global Entry in 2021. In addition to operating his own sextet, Gabriel is an integral member of The Bailsmen, one of the most successful gypsy jazz ensembles in NYC, as well as a right hand man for Charlie Roman, a co-founder of their 10-piece 1920s dance band, Glad Rags Orchestra.

Gear

I proudly play Yanagisawa saxophones

Gabriel Evan Orchestra: Global Entry

Read "Global Entry" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
May 13, 2021

At least one dictionary defines an orchestra as “a large instrumental ensemble...which combines instruments from different families including bowed string instruments...woodwinds...brass...percussion..." and “other instruments such as the piano, celeste...and harp..." Or, in the vernacular of New York-based saxophonist Gabriel Evan, a jazz sextet with some but not all of the above. Which is an around-the-block way of saying that Evan's “orchestra" lands somewhere short of the normal definition. And that's by no means the only anomaly on ...

Global Entry is an unexpected delight with a first-class ensemble providing noteworthy renditions of a most intriguing and surprising repertoire. “

-Ron Weinstock

http://12.177.184.83/fmi/webd#jbr

”Lawdy, help my jaded ears! Evan loves kicking it with old timey stuff but he does not hit the usual bases. His opening Tchaikovsky track sounds like it should be the soundtrack for a "Little Rascals" short---and things go on from there. The funny thing here is that he's working out on legit pieces that he runs through a serious side of Spike Jones (?) and keeps them legit but turns the whole thing into a world of whimsy that we sorely need. This may be no way to get rich but it certainly is the way to warm the hearts of malcontents that need a grin everywhere. Killer stuff.”