Miguel Gandelman

Early life

Miguel was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he lived until high school. Son of Brazilian Saxophonist Leo Gandelman, Miguel started playing the Saxophone when he was only five years old. He spent many years travelling with his family, as his father toured Brazil. Miguel could be seen at age 1 on the stage with major artists such as Lulu Santos. At age 7, he composed and performed his own composition for the Italian feature film "Pure Juice."

When he was 10, the Brazilian press featured him as a "rising star" and soon after, Gandelman was participating in studio recording sessions that paid homage to some of his father’s work as well as other artists.

Miguel won a scholarship to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston, when he was a junior in high school and graduated at sixteen. At Berklee Miguel met some of the musicians who would later shape his professional circle such as Ray Monteiro.

Career

After graduating, Gandelman joined Monteiro in a world tour with Baby Face, where his career took off. He moved to California and alongside Ray, Randy Ellis and Garrett Smith, started The Horns. The four musicians have been playing together since 2003 The Horns have since played with some of the biggest names in the music business, including Christina Aguilera, Prince, the Jonas Brothers, Stevie Wonder, Sting; James Brown, The Black Eyed Peas, Earth, Wind and Fire, James Taylor; Babyface, Whitney Houston, B.B. King, Diana Ross, Justin Timberlake, Jamie Foxx, Alicia Keys, Mariah Carey, John Mayer, Jennifer Hudson, Patti Labelle, Aretha Franklin and Shakira. The Horns were featured in Christina Aguilera's "Back to Basics Tour" as well as the Jonas Brothers' World tour in 2009.

The Horns became the horn section of the "The Tonight Show Band" under the musical direction of Rickey Minor in 2010.

Gandelman lives in Los Angeles.