GABRIEL BLOWS HIS HORN: A Musical Prodigy Dances to His Inner Melody

Gabriel Angelo Master Blaster G is a thirteen-year-old trumpeter with a passion for song and dance. A self-described cross between Louis Armstrong and Fred Astaire, he makes all the world his stage and glories in the sheer pleasure of entertaining, be it in front of San Francisco's Ferry Building or at the Giants stadium. A native of Oakland, he attends the School for the Arts but spends all his spare time either practicing or performing. I first encountered Gabriel strutting and trumpeting like a rare bird in full plumage before a lunchtime crowd streaming in and out of the Ferry Building and like others was so taken by his charm and audacity that on the spot I interviewed him. One evening I ran into him again, this time after the streets had emptied of eligible spectators. But there he was still, trumpeting "When the saints..." for an audience of none but himself, for the pure pleasure of dancing to the melody of his heart.