Jensen sisters

[scielle]

Jensen sisters share jazz genes
James Hale.
The Ottawa Citizen.
Ottawa, Ont.: Dec 4, 2004.


The concept of siblings collaborating toward a common goal is more prevalent in jazz than in any other field of endeavour. Take your Alou brothers in baseball, your Bridges brothers in film, your Reichmann brothers in finance: They don't hold a candle next to the long list of prominent jazz siblings who have improvised together.

From Elvin, Thad and Hank Jones to the four jazz-playing Marsalis brothers, jazz has been in the genes.

For trumpeter Ingrid and alto saxophonist Christine Jensen -- who perform together with the latter's quartet Tuesday at the NAC's Fourth Stage -- the path was clear from childhood. The sisters shared a piano-playing mother who encouraged their love of music, the same high school music program in Nanaimo, B.C., that groomed Diana Krall, and a dream that Ingrid once described as "being Miles Davis and Cannonball Adderley forever."

Ingrid, at 38 the oldest by four years, set a tough pace to follow.

After studying at Boston's Berklee College of Music, Ingrid became the youngest teacher at Austria's Bruckner Conservatory, won the prestigious Carmine Caruso International Jazz Solo Trumpet Competition and a Juno Award for her debut recording, Vernal Fields. DownBeat magazine named her one of the 25 most important improvising musicians of the future.

The inclusion of three songs on Vernal Fields co-written by sister Christine signalled that Ingrid wasn't the only Jensen to be reckoned with.

Following a jazz studies diploma at Nanaimo's Malaspina College, Christine had taken a much different path than her sister, staying in Canada to study at McGill University, and developing as a composer as well as an instrumentalist.

Their bios speak volumes of their divergent personalities. Ingrid can be brash and outspoken (her last Ottawa gig, in 1999, was marked by an onstage temper tantrum); Christine is introspective.

What they share is a fearlessness to push themselves into unfamiliar ground, and a musical communication that only comes from a shared background.

Ingrid, who lives in New York City where she leads her own band and works extensively with the Maria Schneider Orchestra, says: "The sibling thing adds a very unique intimacy to the mix. Since we both grew up hearing similar music and processing it in our own ways, there is a heavy understanding that couldn't really be thought up or planned. I would venture to say that there are no two players out there who can copy the sound we get together."

Christine, who describes composing as "writing short stories my band members can tell," says she loves writing for her sister. "What I try to do is wrap the band around her. I'm into creating little cushions in my music where the soloists can relax and create something beautiful."

"Christine's writing evokes moods that we both relate to from our childhoods," says Ingrid. "Her sense of space and melody make it easy to find a new direction or mood to take off on every time I play her tunes. She has a tremendous respect for the organic nature of improvisation -- it's not always what's on the page, but where what is written can send you. It's just a joy for me to play with her."

Joining in on the joy Tuesday will be bassist Fraser Hollins, pianist Paul Shrofel and drummer Martin Auguste.

[scielle]

New Ingrid album on the way!
And it's got a tune on it called kd lang - dedicated to - guess who - kd lang...

You can hear it here: http://www.artistshare.com/media_player.aspx?artistID=51&langID=1&mediaID=170&isHomeRadio=0&infoType=1

And Ingrid's (awesome) site is here: http://www.ingridjensen.com/bio.aspx