Jocelyn Gould - So Delighted (2026)

With So Delighted, her new album, Jocelyn Gould returns to one of jazz’s enduring configurations: guitar, Hammond B3 organ and drums. At first glance, the choice might suggest nostalgia, but Gould’s intentions are more contemporary than retrospective. She is reconnecting with a musical tradition that has shaped her playing while asking what that tradition can still mean today. The album brings together five original compositions and five standards, with contributions from saxophonist Christine Jensen, trumpeter Jonathan Challoner and guitarist Joey Landreth. Gould makes no secret of her influences, among them Grant Green, Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell and, above all, Jimmy Smith. “Many of my favorite guitar players got their start in organ groups,” she explains. That lineage is audible in the warmth of her tone, the precision of her attack and the direct conversation between guitar, organ and drums. Yet Gould is not attempting to recreate the sound of another era. The organ trio is a point of departure, not a destination, and throughout the album she gradually searches for ways to make the format speak in her own voice. That distinction matters. So Delighted is most engaging when Gould moves beyond the familiar vocabulary of the tradition and allows her own musical personality to emerge.