Gabrielle Cavassa
Detroit Jazz Fest 2026
Hart Plaza
Detroit
September 6, 2026
From the beginning of her set on the main stage of the 2026 Detroit Jazz Fest, I wasn’t sure about Gabrielle Cavassa.
I was sure I loved her debut album for Blue Note Records. It’s called Diavola, and it features some heavy hitters performing alongside the vocalist. We’re talking about drummer Brian Blade (who previously served as an artist-in-residence for the festival), pianist Paul Cornish (who will be performing at Cliff Bell’s later this month), guitarist Jeff Parker (one of the hottest jazz guitarists on the scene right now), and frequent collaborator and saxophonist Joshua Redman.
I wasn’t sure, however, about what Cavassa was going to do in a live setting. Could she carry a 4:45 p.m. set on the main stage at the largest free jazz fest in the world? It didn’t help that I had just witnessed the expressive, full-bodied performance of Cyrille Aimée the day before. That’s a tough act to follow.
While Aimée commands an audience, however, Cavassa lets it smolder and stew.
By the time she settled in with her band about halfway through the set, I found myself full-on blushing in the front row when she got around to her closing number, running a few minutes over her set time to unleash the raunchy, bluesy “Blues for Elaine.”
“If you’re easily offended, just go to another stage,” quipped Cavassa.
Cavassa is a slow burn. While it certainly took a few songs for her to find her footing (in five-inch heels no less), by the time she got around to the one-two punch of “Diavola” and “Angelo,” which bring together the “devil” and “angel” themes of her latest album, she was in full control of the crowd.
Her voice, of course, was always a force, especially on the moody, soaring rendition of “Could It Be Magic,” by Barry Manilow.
Her touring band brings it to another level. I absolutely adored the guitar playing of Gabriel Schnider, who brought a lot of alternative rock and shoegaze elements married wonderfully with the subdued jazz guitarist thing. It was refreshing to hear these influences ring out over the crowd, who went wild after each extended solo that Schnider took. He was clearly a main focus point of the show, closely following the inflections of Cavassa and acting as a second musical mate to her alongside bassist Lex Warshawsky and always-in-the-pocket drummer Eric Harland.
Cavassa, in a lot of ways, is the perfect addition to the Detroit Jazz Fest, which is always trying to straddle the line between pleasing jazz purists and pushing the genre forward with younger acts.
Cavassa is no doubt younger, but brought a whole new wave of sonic sensibilities to the festival as well as her own material, like the standout track “Bossy Nova,” a slick bossa nova tune that’s deceptively simple. She always pleased the old school crowd by performing “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” albeit through an old-school telephone for an interesting effect on her vocals.
While Cavassa took a minute to settle in, she no doubt won me over (and the rest of the audience) by the end of her 75-minute set at the 2026 Detroit Jazz Fest.
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