Jazz and fusion filled Gabriel's ears from birth. As a toddler, whether at music festivals or listening to music in the car, he'd call out “the bass! the bass!”. At age 2 he was instantly hooked when watching a Jaco Pastorius video. He started bass lessons at 7, and learned to groove a few months later in a young Motown tribute band. While cutting his teeth on Motown classics, he also spent time transcribing jazz and fusion bass solos. At 11, his video of Jaco's solo from Weather Report's "Havona" went viral, and more videos followed. He became the first Markbass Rising Star, joined the Ernie Ball Music Man family of artists, and developed a custom bass string line with Carlos Pavicich in France. He endorses Paul Lairat Basses and Cortex Basses, and Lairat has built several custom signature basses for him. Gabriel also endorses Skull Strings (Carlos Pavicich), Singular Sound, Advanced Audio, Soundbrenner, Gruv Gear, and ErgoStraps.

 

After the Motown group disbanded, Gabriel played in a variety of bands, then formed the jazz fusion trio, Teen Town when he was 12. The trio won a 2019 DownBeat Student Music Award and the Central PA Music Hall of Fame's "Best Jazz Band" in 2020. Teen Town toured throughout Pennsylvania and the Midwest, opening for The Wooten Brothers, Sheila E., the Victor Wooten Trio, the Tierney Sutton Band, and the Original Drifters. They played many notable festivals including Musikfest, Berks Jazz Fest, Elkhart Jazz Festival, Dauphin County Wine & Jazz Festival, Scranton Jazz Festival, and TEDx Harrisburg. Their debut album, A Month of Sundays, was released in 2022, followed by 21: Teen Town Live at Metropolis, in 2023.

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Gabriel is a sought-after guest artist. His most recent tours include Seal, Leona Lewis, Shiela E., and Justin-Lee Schultz. He performed on the 2023 and 2024 Dave Koz and Friends Cruises with Justin-Lee as well as with Sheila E. and Eric Darius. He's opened for a variety of artists like Willow, Jon Baptiste, and Quavo. He's been an adjudicator and clinician at the Berks Jazz Fest Get JazzEd school jazz fest, a featured performer in the Wir Sind Wien Festival in Vienna, Austria, a host of the Berks Jazz Fest JazzED Jam and jazz education video, and a performer in the Berks Jazz Fest’s Chuck Loeb Memorial All-Star Concert and the All-Star Midnight Jam.

 

Earlier highlights include performing his award-winning original composition with the U.S. Navy Commodores at the 2020 Jazz Education Network Conference, serving as a panelist at the Jazz Philadelphia Summit, and performing at the Jazz Weekender, the COTA Jazz Festival, the Detroit BASSDAY, the Elkhart Jazz Festival, the Dallas International Guitar Festival, the Berkshires Jazz Festival, and several NAMM Shows. His teachers and mentors include bass icons Victor Wooten, Anthony Wellington, Gerald Veasley, and Adam Nitti. He's received awards and scholarships from the Zawinul Foundation for Achievement, the Jazz Education Network, Victor Wooten’s Bass & Nature Camp, Berklee College of Music’s Groove School, the Hudson Jazz Workshop, and the Central PA Jazz Camp, and attended Gerald Veasley’s Bass Bootcamp, the Keystone Jazz Institute, and the Uptown Music Collective. He spent two years at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami and currently resides in Hollywood, CA.

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