Lukas Gabric an Austrian native was born on November 13th 1987. He first discovered his passion for music when he heard a recording of Paul Desmond when he was about seven years old. From that moment on he was mysteriously attracted to the sound of the saxophone and improvised music, especially jazz. Soon after this experience his parents enabled him to take lessons on the alto saxophone. His first teacher at a local music school nourished his interest in jazz by exposing him to more music from the idiom. In this period he developed a sincere interest for the tenor saxophone and its great heroes like Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Stan Getz, Joe Henderson, Michael Brecker, etc., and began to study their solos and personal styles.
At the age of fourteen he was admitted to the conservatory of his province(Kaerntener Landeskonservatorium) which he attended parallel to highschool and where he had the chance to broaden his musical interests and develop his skills. During summer and winter holidays he attended workshops and seminars in and out of Austria. At the Scholarship Tour he was offered a scholarship by the Berklee School of Music in Freiburg/Germany in 2003.
In 2004 he was awarded for being the best soloist in an Austrian Jazz competition. In 2005 Lukas was awarded with the cultural award form his province. This enabled him to tour and produce his first project as an artist. This album "tribute to my brother" was dedicated to his brother and featured four originals and one rearranged/reharmonized J. Coltrane composition. Lukas and interviews with him appeared on radio stations and tabloid newspapers. His first album served him as an audition tape for the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in Manhattan/NYC to which he was accepted with a scholarship basis. In his sophomore Year he received the M. D. Thomas Award for academic and musical excellence. At the New School University he had the opportunity to study with Jazz greats/legends like Walt Weiskopf, Jimmy Owens, Reggie Workman, Chico Hamilton, Ari Hoenig, Adam Nussbaum, Michael Karn, Jimmy Owens, Charlie Persip, Andrew Cyrille, Armen Donelian, Bill Mchenry, Jane Ira Bloom, Joel Frahm, Billy Harper, Hal Galper, Leanne Ledgerwood, ... etc. He graduated from the New School with honors in 2010 and is going to continue his education at CCNY.
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