Bild på Gabrielle Cavassa

Gabrielle Cavassa

A Cinderella story. That’s how jazz vocalist Gabrielle Cavassa describes the past three years. It started when Joshua Redman’s manager heard her sing at a wedding in New Orleans. Redman then invited her to join him as a collaborator on his 2023 Blue Note debut where are we, and on the tour that followed. Three years on, Cavassa is on the road with her own album, having just made her Blue Note debut with Diavola.

Diavola was produced by Redman and Don Was, with Jeff Parker, Larry Grenadier, Brian Blade and Paul Cornish in the studio. The repertoire covers a lot of ground. There’s Bacharach’s “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” with a soft, easy sway, and “Prisoner of Love”, sung loose and unhurried by a self-confessed Billy Eckstine devotee. There’s also Luigi Tenco’s “Angelo” in Italian, and an original bossa nova with Cavassa on rhythm guitar.

Cavassa grew up in California with Italian roots and is largely self-taught. Her real schooling came in the clubs of New Orleans. She sings in long, measured tones, with phrasing that stays close to speech, and holds back where others would push. Jazz Trail has called her “one of the brightest new discoveries in vocal jazz”, and DownBeat named her “a star in the making”.