Gillet has forged a path for the cello in the New Orleans music scene since her arrival in 2002. She has performed extensively across the United States and Western Europe. Beginning cello lessons at the age of nine, Gillet has taken her classical education all the way to a Master’s Degree (Beloit College ’00, Loyola University New Orleans ’04). Her training as an improviser began with North Indian Hindustani vocal ragas in 1998, which launched her into the worlds of free improvisation, jazz, funk, rock and French chansons. Gillet has performed at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Voodoo Festival, Copenhagen Jazz Festival and Hindsgavl Festival in Denmark, Mirano Oltre Festival in Italy and at the Kennedy Center Center in Washington D.C. and tours extensively in music venues across North America and overseas.Gillet has four self-released albums out:

Her latest instrumental duo album Ferdinand (2013) features her 10 year musical relationship with acclaimed New Orleans Bassist James Singleton. The album was nominated for best Contemporary Jazz album of the year in Offbeat Magazine. Her solo self-entitled album Helen Gillet (2012) includes original works of looped cello and french and english vocals; Running of the Bells (2011), an instrumental album by the “Helen Gillet Trio” featuring Tim Green (saxophones and bell tree) and Doug Garrison (drums and percussion), which received a four-star review in the October 2011 issue of Downbeat magazine; and Newton Circus(2009) with debut album with her French band “Wazozo.”