Bio
Download PDFGlobe Trotting, multi-faceted, jazz-based cellist, singer, composer and improviser Helen Gillet is a "mixed bag" of musical influence. She has won awards as best "other instrument" in New Orleans' Best of the Beat Awards and Downbeat Magazine recently nominated her a Rising Star in the 61st Annual Critics Poll. She believes music to be an expression of the entire human condition, performing an eclectic mix of French pop, Avant Garde Jazz, North Indian, Folk and Classical styles.
Helen Gillet was raised in Belgium, Singapore, Illinois and Wisconsin, and landed in her current hometown of New Orleans in 2003. She has performed at the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, French Quarter Festival, Kennedy Center, Italys Mirano Otre Festival and more. Recent collaborators include, Kid Koala, Hamid Drake, Van Dyke Parks, Marianne Faithful, Cassandra Wilson, The Mardi Gras Indian Orchestra.
She has 4 self-produced albums: Newton Circus (2009) by her French big band Wazozo; an instrumental jazz album Running of the Bells (2011) by The Helen Gillet Trio with Tim Green (saxophones/bells), and Doug Garrison (drums) which received a four star review in Downbeats October 2011 issue. Her unique solo album Helen Gillet (2012) combines real-time cello, loops, and vocals in a beautiful pastiche of sound and her latest album is a live duo recording entitled: Ferdinand (2013) with jazz bassist James Singleton.
Helen Gillet was raised in Belgium, Singapore, Illinois and Wisconsin, and landed in her current hometown of New Orleans in 2003. She has performed at the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, French Quarter Festival, Kennedy Center, Italys Mirano Otre Festival and more. Recent collaborators include, Kid Koala, Hamid Drake, Van Dyke Parks, Marianne Faithful, Cassandra Wilson, The Mardi Gras Indian Orchestra.
She has 4 self-produced albums: Newton Circus (2009) by her French big band Wazozo; an instrumental jazz album Running of the Bells (2011) by The Helen Gillet Trio with Tim Green (saxophones/bells), and Doug Garrison (drums) which received a four star review in Downbeats October 2011 issue. Her unique solo album Helen Gillet (2012) combines real-time cello, loops, and vocals in a beautiful pastiche of sound and her latest album is a live duo recording entitled: Ferdinand (2013) with jazz bassist James Singleton.
