Gabriel Perez

Saxophonist

Born in Córdoba 1964, winner of the WDR Jazz Award, Gabriel Pérez is an Argentinian musician rooted in Germany who combines the expressive power of jazz with traditional styles of his native land, thus creating a unique sound. His music career starts in the School of Music Alfredo L. Nihoul and continues in the Conservatory of Music Félix T. Garzón. Hereafter he enters the Banda Sinfónica of the theatre Libertador San Martín and in 1983, is cofounder of the professorship in the College of music education and investigation. Soon after, he moves to Europe, with the prospect of studying at the prestigious University of Music in Cologne, where he receives his diplomas of jazz saxophone and composition / arrangement with summa cum laude.

Extending the «Música Agentina» to «Música Argentina para Big Band», he records the album «La Banda Grande» with the Cologne Contemporary Jazz Orchestra and the saxophone player David Liebman as well as the harmonica- player Matthias Broede and the argentinian bandoneon-player Carlos Nieto. For this CD, Gabriel also composes the piece «Achalay!», a prose-collage of words in the two languages Spanish and Quechua, already foreshadowing the next major centre piece of his career. His projects and various cooperation take him to Italy, Switzerland, Brazil, the United Arabian Emirates, Kuwait, Mexico, Finland, Ireland, Senegal, Spain, France, Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba and Martinique. For the production with the WDR Big Band, besides bringing his own compositions, he arranges pieces of the Argentinian colleagues Marcio Doctor, Quique Sinesi, Ariel Ramírez, Astor Piazzolla and Sergio Aranda.