Gabrielle Cavassa was born July 5, 1994, in Escondido, California, and is of Italian descent. She earned a B.A. in Music from San Francisco State University and moved to New Orleans in 2017, where she worked with Adonis Rose and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra and with trumpeter Irvin Mayfield, and collaborated with drummer and vocalist Jamison Ross, who produced her self-titled debut album, released independently on August 21, 2020.
In 2021 she won the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition at the James Moody Jazz Festival. Saxophonist Joshua Redman then invited her into the studio and on the road — his manager had heard her sing at a New Orleans wedding — and she sang on his 2023 album where are we and his 2025 album Words Fall Short, on the track “Era's End.” She signed to Blue Note Records in August 2024.
Her Blue Note debut, Diavola, arrived May 1, 2026, co-produced by Redman and Don Was. The album mixes original songs with interpretations of Burt Bacharach, Luigi Tenco, Barry Manilow, and others, backed by Jeff Parker on guitar, Larry Grenadier on bass, Brian Blade on drums, Paul Cornish on piano, and Redman on tenor saxophone — a California-born, New Orleans-based singer working across jazz, soul, and Italian pop traditions.
