Ossia

Ossia - Italian for “alternate musical passage” - is an ensemble exploring what happens when musicians step beyond the expected.

Following a warmly received debut in 2026, Jess Deacon (vocals), Jessica Murphy (keys, melodica and vocals), Robert J. M. Kingi (guitar and bass), and Cam Steel (drums and percussion) bring their collective instinct to the Wellington Jazz Festival.

Drawing on jazz, soul, folk, groove, meditation and songwriting, Ossia takes familiar material apart and rebuilds it in the moment. Songs become starting points rather than fixed arrangements, stretched through improvisation and reshaped through spontaneous interplay. Intimate, responsive and intuitive, Ossia creates performances where structure gives way to possibility, listening matters as much as playing, and no two journeys are ever the same.