"A History of New Orleans Music" will be the theme for a musical presentation and discussion at 7 p.m. Feb. 24, in Bernath Auditorium in the David Adamany Undergraduate Library, 5155 Gullen Mall, at Wayne State University. The event is free and open to the public.

Larry Gabriel (left) and Charlie Gabriel (right).

Sponsored by the Department of Africana Studies and the University Library System, the evening will feature author/musician Larry Gabriel and internationally renowned jazz musician Charlie Gabriel and his band.

A book signing for Daddy Plays Old-Time New Orleans Jazz by Larry Gabriel will follow in the Community Room on the third floor in the library. Refreshments will be served.

Music has been the Gabriel family's trade since bass player Narcisse Gabriel immigrated to New Orleans from Santo Domingo in 1856. Daddy Plays Old-Time New Orleans Jazz tells the story of a family of musicians living in New Orleans as jazz developed, through the swing and bebop years up to the modern era. During that time the Gabriels have played in bands with music greats from King Oliver, Johnny St. Cyr, Roy Brown and Fats Domino, to Jay McShann, Lionel Hampton, Aretha Franklin, and Harry Connick Jr.

Larry Gabriel tells the stories that have passed down through the family with more than 75 historic photos and documents, poetry and even family recipes for okra gumbo and shrimp creole. Daddy Plays Old-Time New Orleans Jazz blends the genuine flavor of jazz at its roots, the musician's life on the road during the 1940s and 1950s, and a joyful African-American family that embraces its heritage into a savory cultural stew worthy of New Orleans itself.

Charlie Gabriel, born in New Orleans and a fourth-generation New Orleans jazz musician, is a member of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. He has played New Orleans music with top traditional musicians such as Kid Howard, Kid Sheik, Jim Robinson, George Lewis and others on Bourbon Street, at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and around the world. He was asked to join the Lionel Hampton band at 16, and in the early '70s, Charlie was a member of Aretha Franklin's Orchestra. He continued to play throughout the United States and abroad, also working with Nancy Wilson, Joe Simon and JC Heard.

He performs with his group, the Gabriel Traditional Jazz Band, in the United States, Europe and Asia, and has performed in Barcelona for the Swingfonia Festival as well as the Ascona Jazz Festival in Switzerland. He also is a traveling member of the Marcus Belgrave Louis Armstrong Tribute Orchestra.

His CD, Live at the Kerrytown Concert House (recorded with Red Richards), won the grand prize for the 1994 best Foreign CD, presented by the Hot Club de Limoges in France. The Hot Club de Limoges then released a double-CD, Jubile, in 1998, featuring music recorded by Charlie Gabriel, Red Richards (piano/vocal), Reggie Johnson (bass), and Georges Bernasconi (drums). Gabriel's recordings span the range from the earliest traditional jazz to modern, and his own contemporary and spiritual compositions.

For more information call (313) 577-2321.

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