From its organic beginnings in 2013 as a group of trumpeters getting together at bandleader, composer and educator, Ashlin Parker’s New Orleans apartment to share practice techniques, the Trumpet Mafia has grown into an international collective of creative excellence. Their unexpected arrangements mix traditional jazz and hip-hop. Since 2016, the rotating assembly of horn players has performed energetic “takeovers” both in street pop-ups and at numerous festivals in New Orleans and abroad, including the New Orleans Jazz Festival and French Quarter Festival, garnering an OffBeat Magazine “Best Emerging Artist” Award in 2017.

Gabrielle Cavassa is an American vocalist-composer of Italian descent who is garnering attention for her distinctive voice and intimate expression. She was crowned a winner of the International Sarah Vaughan Jazz Vocal Competition in 2021 after the independent release of her critically acclaimed debut album. Cavassa is featured on celebrated saxophonist Joshua Redman’s inaugural album with Blue Note Records, ‘where are we’, released September 2023.