Award-winning vocalist Gabrielle Cavassa will release her Blue Note debut Diavola on May 1, marking a defining artistic statement.

Co-produced by Joshua Redman and Don Was, the album presents Cavassa as both a commanding bandleader and a nuanced interpreter, balancing original compositions with luminous, carefully shaped arrangements. The project also features a standout ensemble including Jeff Parker, Larry Grenadier, Brian Blade, Paul Cornish and Redman on tenor saxophone.

At the heart of Diavola is a meditation on duality. Cavassa describes the album as an exploration of coexistence—between light and shadow, control and surrender, urgency and stillness. “I’m not willing to let go of either,” she says, framing the project as both a personal and artistic self-portrait that resists easy definition.

The release also underscores Cavassa’s creative partnership with Redman, who first brought her into wider view during his own Blue Note debut, where are we (2023). Their collaboration began in unlikely fashion after Redman’s manager heard Cavassa perform at a wedding in New Orleans—an entry point Cavassa herself has described as a “Cinderella story.”

That opportunity led to touring as part of Redman’s ensemble, a formative experience within the jazz tradition. “It was such a rare opportunity as a singer to be able to tour on that level as a sideman,” Cavassa notes, describing the experience as both a breakthrough and a rite of passage.

In the studio, Redman and Was took complementary roles in shaping Diavola. Redman guided the musical architecture and performance details, while Was brought a broader perspective on pacing and listener impact. The result is an album that foregrounds Cavassa’s voice not just as an instrument, but as a narrative force—precise, searching and unafraid of contradiction.

With Diavola, Cavassa arrives not only as a rising voice in contemporary jazz, but as an artist fully in command of her aesthetic—one that embraces tension as a source of beauty rather than something to resolve.