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A summer full of jazz. I seriously didn’t see it coming. The beautiful songs I have featured so far, and the one I am about to share today, have all pulled me in to a special type of a mood. A mood that is both introspective and cozy at the same time. I promise that more varied music is returning to this website very soon, but in the meantime, in comes Gwen Sampé. 

To say that Gwen Sampé is a jazz singer is an understatement, a complete mistake, to be honest. She is so much more than that, on so many levels of creativity. A singer, yes, but also a poet, composer and a performance artist. Her recent project, including the below track, “Passion Flower”, is a tribute to Duke Ellington’s collaborator, Billy Strayhorn. It is also a collaboration with Harry Swift, who accompanied Gwen mainly on double-bass. 

The result? A beautifully comforting jazz minimalism which massages your tired mind and stays with you a long time after the last sounds of the final song. Over the past few years, both Gwen and Harry have dedicated themselves to researching and arranging the music of Billy Strayhorn, turning his compositions into their own interpretations. Packed with improvisations and minimal arrangements, this project took shape of a complete album, “A Lovesome Thing”. 

What I unconditionally love about “A Lovesome Thing” is its consistency in arrangement which, actually, quickly becomes its uniquely recognisable trademark. It is “just” two instruments most of the time. Gwen’s incredible voice and Harry’s double-bass. Plenty of space to think, to immerse yourself in, and to admire the complete lack of any compromises. The stripped-down nature of “A Lovesome Thing” is something that, if you give it a chance, you will appreciate and come back to. It will stick to you and won’t let you go easily. Which is really the most amazing thing I could say about any good album. 

All things aside, this is exactly why people like me are continuously on the lookout for new records. To share a common emotion, and to experience musical brilliance of someone we have never even met. For me, Gwen and Harry’s “A Lovesome Thing” is definitely one of the unexpected highlights of 2025 so far.

On her new single, "When Winter Called," Gwen Sampé weaves together strands of jazz that no longer live within the confines of genre. Recorded live and utterly unscripted, the song represents that serendipity at work and the magic that happens when two artists connect through sound and trust.

First performed as a duo set at a tranquil Italian country estate, the piece was never supposed to be more than a fleeting concert memory. So when Sampé's longtime collaborator, the pianist Jobic Le Masson, decided to record the piece, something far better than expected emerged as a raw and living document about chemistry.

Sampé's voice, which radiates with experience and emotion, flows effortlessly over Le Masson's intuitive piano lines. Together, they trade off between moments of somber reflection and feral moments of expressive freedom, a conversation between two souls fluent in the same language. The faint background noise makes the experience more intimate and immersive, grounding you in that space for the night they were there to witness it.

Having worked together on countless stages and explored a variety of jazz idioms from free improvisation to standards, the duo's comfort with each other is clear. "When Winter Called" is a document of actual musical presence, where openness and proficiency collide. Part of an upcoming live album born of that serendipitous session, the track serves as a testament to jazz's affinity for spontaneous combustion and a reminder that some of its most unforgettable moments are those we never plan.