Tom Gaebel

Germany's Tom Gaebel is a popular vocalist known for his swinging brand of retro pop and jazz. Influenced by crooners like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, he is best known for leading his big band, with whom he has recorded such albums as 2005's Introducing: Myself, 2014's So Good to Be Me, and 2018's Perfect Day. Born in 1975, in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, Gaebel was drawn to music at a young age, and played drums, trombone, piano, glockenspiel, flute, and violin at various times while growing up. Even during his high school days, he was a member of various bands including two big bands and a rock band called Goresaw, which managed to land opening slots for popular bands like the Donots and Jazzkantine. He then studied jazz vocals at the Amsterdam Conservatory, where he graduated summa cum laude, and after performing and singing in various big bands (the Young Sinatras, Tobias Kremer Big Band) and also moving to Cologne, he formed his own 12-piece group in 2005: Tom Gaebel & His Big Band. His debut album, Introducing: Myself, featured a mixture of standards and a few of Gaebel's own compositions, and in several concerts and TV appearances, Gaebel proved himself to be a popular swing and big-band leader as well as an effortless entertainer. A live DVD, Live in Concert, was released in 2006. Gaebel's second album, Good Life, released in 2007, featured more originals and inspired comparisons to Frank Sinatra, Tom Jones, and Burt Bacharach. 2008's Don't Wanna Dance saw Gaebel broaden his palette and featured arrangements which nodded to vintage soul, before 2010's Music to Watch Girls By reinforced his love of vocal pop material usually associated with the likes of Glen Campbell and Bob Crewe. That release was swiftly followed by Easy Christmas, and although it was 2014 before his next studio album, So Good to Be Me, was issued, Gaebel continued to make regular appearances on German TV in the interim. He returned in 2018 with the full-length Perfect Day. ~ Christian Genzel