Julius Gabriel is a saxophonist who can be regarded as a virtuoso in an existentialist sense. His expanding body of solo work explores the boundaries and intricacies of the saxophone, delving into the dynamic interplay between corporeality, acoustics, transcendence, and hypnosis. His solo recordings and performances range from acoustic improvisations to electro-acoustic compositions and amplifier-driven soundscapes.

Born and raised in East Berlin in 1988, he began his musical journey at an early age, experimenting with a tape recorder, whistling, his voice, a trumpet, and kitchen tools. By the age of ten, he had turned his focus to the saxophone, eventually studying music at conservatories in Berlin and at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, before continuing with an autodidactic approach.

He has collaborated  across a wide range of genres, including jazz, noise, minimalism, drone, free improvisation, electronica, indie pop, space rock, metal, as well as baroque, contemporary, and Indian classical music. He is a member of the Blue Shroud Band, an ensemble of fourteen musicians with diverse musical expertise and backgrounds, and has also performed with the London Jazz Composers Orchestra—both directed by composer and bassist Barry Guy. He is a founding member of the agitational avant-garde group Das Behälter, the jazzcore trio Ikizukuri, and the trance-inducing duo Paisiel. He has been a member of the large sound collective The Dorf. Additionally, he has worked as a musical director and researcher for dance pieces, sound choreographies, and performative lectures with Luísa Saraiva and Carlos Azeredo Mesquita.

He has toured extensively across Europe and in India, performing at venues and festivals within both the independent and underground scenes, as well as prominent cultural institutions, such as Casa da Música, Teatro Rivoli, Gulbenkian, National Forum of Music, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Alte Oper Frankfurt, South Bank Centre, Indian Music Experience Museum, Unerhört!, Wien Modern, Berlin Biennale, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Fusion Festival, Moers Festival, NOW!, Open Source, Zappanale, Keroxen, Ad Libitum, Krakow Jazz Autumn, Jazztopad Festival, Jazz em Agosto, Guimarães Jazz, Milhões de Festa, Sonic Blast, SWR Metalfest, Tremor and Primavera Sounds.

Details on his solo works:

In Dream Dream Beam Beam (2018), his debut solo album, he organizes his idiosyncratic musical influences, that can be understood as the possible synthesis of a long jazz tradition interspersed with imaginative drone and noise intrusions. In Ætherhallen (2019), he keeps his tendency, with a detour to the minimalist sounding like eccentric dust particles dancing in slow motion, proposing to those who hear them a requiem for eternal life. Geminga (2020) is a ten piece album in which he uses the spatial dimensions of an ancient chapel to expand his improvisations on soprano, tenor, and baritone saxophone. Eyes in Orbits (2020) can be considered a drone doom piece, based on exhaustive circular breathing, various electronic effects and a wall of amplifiers, offering psychedelic visions and cosmic moments. Tales from the Subterranean (2024) embodies a blend of primal energy and inventive exploration across twelve tracks, with tearing rhythms that sound like a frenetic tap dance, a saxophone with natural drone capabilities, or the merging of saxophone finger percussion with a continuous siren whisper, provoking euphoria, fear and satisfaction all at once.