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 theater 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.
Having settled down in the city of Cologne, the following years, he starts his CD- series "Música Argentina", presenting himself as a multi-instrumentalist, as well as a composer and arranger, working with musicians such as Oliver Leicht, Ralf Hesse, Nils Wogram, Jürgen Friedrich, Volker Heinze, Quique Sinesi, Marcio Doctor, Jürgen Neudert and Afra Mussawisade.


The distinctive style of particularly the third CD, "La Banda Grande", enables Gabriel to work with ensembles like:

 

WDR Big Band Cologne / Germany
HR Big Band / Radio Frankfurt / Germany
NDR Big Band / Radio Hamburg / Germany

The SoundTrip Orchestra / Germany

Youth Jazz Orchestra NRW / Germany
Cologne Contemporary Jazz Orchestra CCJO / Germany
Córdoba Symphonic Wind Orchestra / Argentina

Dresdner Sinfoniker / Dresden / Germany
Zurich Jazz Orchestra ZJO / Switzerland

Croatian Radiotelevision Jazz Orchestra
Parco della Musica Jazz Orchestra PMJO / Rome / Italy

Sunday Night Orchestra SNO / Nuremberg / Germany
Orchestra Jazz della Sardegna / Italy
Kyoto University Jazz Orchestra / Japan
Amsterdam Conservatory Big Band / Holland
Garay - Beytelmann - Moyano / Paris / France

Alfonso Pacín Trío / Paris / France
Youth Chamber Orchestra NRW / Germany

Youth Jazz Orchestra Sachsen / Germany
Youth Symphony Orchestra of the Concert Hall Duesseldorf / Germany
Tokyo F.O. Lab Band / Japan
G. Francomano Big Band / Paris / France

Ensamble Pangea / Bogotá / Colombia
Sain Louis Big Band / Italy
Utrechts Jazz Orkest / Holland
EOS Chamber Orchestra / Germany
Chamber Orchestra Leipzig University / Germany

Grand Central Orchestra / Germany
Kicks'n Sticks Big Band / Germany
Aachen Big Band / Germany
Curuba Jazz Orchestra / Germany
Wipperfuerth Big Band / Germany

RMS JazzO / Germany

Osnabrück University / Germany
New Project Orchestra -Tango / Italy

Midnight Sounds Jazz Orchestra / Japan

Jugend-Jazz-Orchester Münsterland / Germany

Orquesta Juvenil de Asunción / Paraguay

Keio University Light Music Society / Japan

Kempen Big Band / Germany

TroJazz Big Band / Troisdorf / Germany

Daimler Big Band / Stuttgart / Germany

Chamber Choir Forum Vocale Köln / Germany

The Rhine Phillis Orchestra / Koblenz / Germany

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 center 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, Argentine, Paraguay, 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.

But his latest project is the album "Guaraní, Música Argentina para Big Band y Orquesta de Cámara", for which he formes the SoundTrip Orchestra and invites the saxophone player Chris Potter, as well as the accordionist Luciano Biondini, the singer Sabeth Pérez and the percussionists Afra Mussawisade and Martín Bruhn. The music evolves around two legends of the Guaraní, an indigenous people living mainly in Paraguay, Argentine, Brazil, and Bolivia, and it's close relationship with nature.
In his inexhaustible efforts to spread the music of his country, Gabriel is in contact with argentinian colleagues such as Gerardo Di Giusto, Javier Girotto, Leandro Guffanti, Martín Bruhn, Lisandro Mansilla, Marcio Doctor and Minino Garay, all rooted in Europe and renowned for their great work.


From 2008 on, he is one of the permanent musical directors of the Youth Jazz Orchestra of North Rhine-Westphalia (JJO NRW), the first Youth Jazz Orchestra of Germany, where he passionately dedicates himself to the education of young musicians of great talent.