About
Photo by EBAR
Gabriel Morales is a Venezuelan-American guitarist, vocalist, composer, and producer based in Brooklyn, NY.
As an instrumentalist, Gabriel has performed and recorded with numerous internationally acclaimed musicians and bands such as Snarky Puppy, Michael League, Kassa Overall, Cory Henry, Ben Williams, Lil’ John Roberts (George Benson, Janet Jackson), Robert “Sput” Searight, Jamey Haddad, Larnell Lewis, Jay Ashby, Lucy Woodward, Carla Canales, Becca Stevens, Nathan Schram, The Jamie McLean Band, Banda Magda, Darrell Scott, Matt Schofield, and Arun Ramamurthy, among others.
Pulling on influences ranging from electric blues and jazz to contemporary composition and Latin-American folk, the work Gabriel creates as a solo artist rejects strict categorization. His writing is rooted in the blues, while exploring a wider harmonic and rhythmic palette paired with modern songwriting sensibilities. Going in hand with these aesthetic choices, his lyrics deal with themes of identity, change, and perception.
Gabriel has performed at venues ranging from the Jefferson Center and the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Virginia to Rockwood Music Hall in New York, NY to Finney Chapel in Oberlin, Ohio. He has also opened for artists such as Robert Cray and The Wooten Brothers.
In 2023, Gabriel worked as an instrumentalist with artists such as Butterfly Black (Ben Williams, Syndee Winters, along with BIGYUKI and Jharis Yokley), Kassa Overall, and SIRINTIP.
In addition to performance, he produces, engineers, and mixes projects for various artists ranging from latinx-folk songwriter to indie jazz genres.
Passionate about music and arts advocacy, Gabriel has worked with non-for-profits and organizations such as The Canales Project, Music Lab at Jefferson Center, Education Through Music (New York), Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, Oberlin Center for the Arts, and Taubman Museum of Art.
Gabriel studied under Bobby Ferrazza (Donald Byrd, Clark Terry), earning a B.M. in Jazz Guitar Performance in June, 2022 from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio.
Music
FIND ME
July 19, 2024
Written and recorded in 2022, this song explores the points of intersection between songwriting, contemporary composition, blues, improvisational, and production influences. Lead and background vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, oberheim four voice, mellotron, electric bass, percussion, drums, production, lyrics, composition, recorded, mixed, and mastered by Gabriel Morales
From Here
August 26, 2021
A third single released in the summer of 2021. Written, mixed, and mastered by Gabe Morales. All instruments and vocals performed by Gabe Morales with exception of drum kit performed by Jeremy McCabe.
Smoke
July 16, 2021
A second single released in the summer of 2021. Initial rhythm section recording session with Daniel Faust (drums) and Alex Bingham (bass) in North Carolina in January, 2019. Additional instruments and vocals recorded, mixed, and mastered by Gabe Morales in June-July, 2021.
Remember
June 25, 2021
A new single written, recorded, mixed, mastered, and produced by Gabe Morales in the summer of 2021
Concerts
Video
Gabe Morales’ solo on "Recife's Blues" by Claudio Roditi in Cleveland, Ohio on May 21, 2022 with Mark Ligonde, Arthur Welsh, Jamey Haddad, and Jay Ashby
"These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)" by Eric Maschwitz and Jack Strachey at Oberlin Conservatory of Music on April 23, 2022
Gabe Morales’ solo on "Fred" by Allan Holdsworth as part of Jeremy McCabe's Junior Recital at Oberlin Conservatory of Music on March 7, 2021
Gabe sitting in with Snarky Puppy on their song "What About Me" at the Jefferson Center on June 17, 2015
“Smoke” written by Gabe Morales, performed at Rockwood Music Hall in New York, NY on December 16, 2017
“Dying Love” written by Gabe Morales, performed by the Gabe Morales Trio at Blue 5 Restaurant on September 23, 2017
“All The Way” written by Gabe Morales, performed while opening for Robert Cray at the Jefferson Center on October 9, 2014
Gabe with Snarky Puppy and Jayna Brown on her song, "I'll Do Me" as a part of Family Dinner Volume One at the Jefferson Center on March 8, 2013
