Gabrielle Ducomble Band

‘An astonishingly beautiful voice’ – Emma Freud, BBC Radio 4 Loose Ends

Now a firm favourite in her adopted UK, talented vocalist Gabrielle Ducomble brings a special blend of Gallic charm and sophistication to the British jazz scene.

Singing in English and her native French, Gabrielle performs Parisian-style jazz and tango, putting a contemporary spin on songs by Edith Piaf, Jacques Brel, Serge Gainsbourg and Astor Piazzolla, plus her own original material. Her band, including some of Europe’s finest musicians in an authentic line-up of guitar, violin and accordion, provides the perfect anchor for her superlative vocals.

Featuring modern jazz arrangements of songs such as “Je ne regrette rien” and “Sous le Ciel de Paris”, and international musicians Nicolas Meier, Gilad Atzmon and Chris Garrick, Notes from Paris was acclaimed by critics, who called it “Polished, classy and refined … such a strong statement”. After a special guest appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Loose Ends for the International Women’s Day, presenter Emma Freud praised Gabrielle’s “astonishingly beautiful voice”.

Gabrielle has performed at top London venues, from intimate jazz clubs to concert halls. She sang with the Aurora Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall – Southbank Centre as part of 2013’s The Rest Is Noise festival, has performed at Ronnie Scott’s, The Royal Albert Hall, Pizza Express in Soho and Hideaway. In 2014 she starred at the St James Theatre as part of its Jazz Diva series alongside Jacqui Dankworth and Tina May.

With her own band Gabrielle has completed two UK tours, in 2012 and 2014, gathering fans in jazz clubs from Wakefield to St Ives, and received warm praise for her performances at Lichfield, Marlborough, Norwich and Porthcawl Jazz Festivals. Further afield, she was delighted to play recently a series on concerts in Italy, with the accordionist Vincenzo Castrini, and at the Savanna Jazz Club in San Francisco.

Gabrielle was born in Belgium – her mother tongue is French – and started singing at a young age. Her talent was soon noticed, and she had success at local and national singing competitions. She first came to fame when she reached the final of the French Pop Idol in 2003. Along with the other finalists, she signed to BMG Sony France and the resulting album went double gold. Gabrielle then wrote music and recorded with Belgian jazz and pop legends Mimi Verderame and Jean-Louis Daulne, and toured with the pop star Lara Fabian on her international tour ‘Un Regard Neuf’.

After hearing Dee Dee Bridgewater’s album Dear Ella, Gabrielle was inspired to find out more about jazz. She came to London to study jazz at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and, after graduating in 2009, soon made a name for herself as a technically brilliant singer in many styles, from bossa nova to swing to French chansons. Her speciality is Parisian-style jazz and tango, including well-known songs by the likes of Edith Piaf (“La Vie en Rose”, “No Regrets”), Michel Legrand (“What are You Doing for the Rest of Your Life?”), Jacques Brel (“Ne Me Quitte Pas”), and Astor Piazzolla (“Libertango”, “Oblivion”).

In London she formed the Gabrielle Ducomble band – Nicolas Meier on guitar, Dan Teper on accordion/piano, Nick Kacal on double bass and Saleem Raman on drums. In collaboration with Meier, she wrote many of the unique jazz arrangements of well-known French songs that appear on her albums J’ai Deux Amours (2011) and Notes from Paris (2014).


Band members:
Gabrielle Ducomble – Vocals
Nicolas Meier – Guitar
Dan Teper – Accordion
Nick Kacal – Double Bass
Saleem Raman – Drums

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