Christine Jensen

Collage

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• ALTO SAX, COMPOSITION• Christine Jensen is a jazz musician on the rise. She has received critical acclaim for her compositional skills, and is also emerging as a creative alto and soprano saxophonist on the international jazz scene.

Jensen's music has been transported all over the world for the most part via her sister, Enja recording artist Ingrid Jensen. Through their collaborations, Ingrid went on to win the 1997 Juno Award for her CD, Vernal Fields. This album contained three of Christine's compositions, including the title track. Her music has also been played by The Frankfurt Radio Big Band, The Banff Jazz Orchestra, Diva and The McGill Jazz Orchestra, amongst others.

Born in Sechelt, British Columbia, Jensen spent her formative years in Nanaimo, gaining a firm footing in the jazz and classi-cal tradition. Her mother, an accomplished pianist, had her tak-ing piano lessons starting at age seven. Four years later Jensen picked up the alto saxophone in order to participate in the award winning Nanaimo school music program. Her teachers, as well as her mother's record collection turned her in the direction of jazz, garnering her accolades for her saxo-phone playing at a national level.

After graduating from Nanaimo Secondary in 1988, Jensen went on to Malaspina College, where she obtained her Diploma in Jazz Studies and continued on to McGill University where she obtained her Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies in 1994. As lead alto saxophonist with the McGill Jazz Orchestra, she toured Europe appearing at the Guiness Jazz Festival in Ireland as well as recording a CD entitled Poppin' the Cork. She also attended the 1994 Banff Jazz Workshop, where she was able to have her music performed with Kenny Wheeler and Hugh Fraser.

Last summer Jensen was able to debut her own quintet at the Montreal Jazz Festival. She has also been featured with her sister, including a tour of Japan in 1997. In the past year, highlights have includ-ed Seattle's Jazz Alley, New York's Museum of Modern Art with vibraphonist Joe Locke, the S.S. Norway Jazz Cruise featuring Geoff Keezer, as well as a homecoming concert at Nanaimo's Port Theatre.

Currently, Jensen is busy taking part in the Montreal scene, working with various big bands as well as the Joel Miller Sextet, and can be heard on his recordings. She spent the fall of 1998 in New York studying composition with Kenny Werner, due to a Canada Council Grant. Expect to hear more from Jensen as she is working on an original big band project, which will be premiered in the sum-mer of 2000.

CHRISTINE JENSEN • COLLAGE • THE MUSICIANS

INGRID JENSEN• TRUMPET & FLUGELHORN • Selected by Down Beat ( June 1999 ) as one of the "25 most important improvising musicians of the future" and rated fourth in the following issues' Critics poll in the "talent deserving wider recognition" category, Ingrid already has an impressive reputation. A native of Vancouver, British Columbia, she studied at nearby Malaspina College before receiving a degree from Berklee College of Music in Boston. While touring Europe with the Vienna Art Orchestra, she auditioned successfully for the position of Jazz trumpet professor at the Bruckner Conservatory in Austria. There, her sitting in with Lional Hampton and the Golden Men of Jazz led to a recording contract with the German record label, Enja. Her first release, Vernal Fields, won a Canadian Juno Award as the best mainstream album of 1995; the second, Here on Earth, featuring Gary Bartz and Bill Stewart received a nomination two years later in the same category. Her latest release Higher Grounds with Victor Lewis, Gary Thomas, Ed Howard and Dave Kikoski has been acclaimed by both the press and her piers as "her best yet !"

Ingrid has recorded as a sidewoman with Ethel Ennis and Marc Copland, Virginia Mayhew, Dena DeRose, DIVA, and most recently Maria Schneider. Some of her performances around the globe and in New York where she is living have included gigs with Clark Terry, Maria Schneider, the Mingus Big Band, the Victor Lewis Quintet, the Marc Copland Quintet as well as with her own groups.

BRAD TURNER • PIANO & FENDER RHODES • Vancouver based Brad Turner is a phenomenal and equal talent on both piano and trumpet. He has two CD's out under his own name as a trumpet player and composer including Long Story Short and There and Back (Maximum). Both have received critical acclaim from the press. He is also a key member of the multi Juno award winning group, Metalwood. In 1998 he was chosen "Composer of the Year" by the magazine Jazz Report. His per-formances have included collaborations with Oliver Jones, Joe Lovano, Victor Lewis, Doc Severinson, and Freddie Hubbard amongst others.

JOEL MILLER • TENOR SAX • Winner of the 1997 du Maurier Jazz Prize from the Montreal Jazz Festival, Joel has received critical acclaim for his playing and writing with the release of his albums Find A Way (Page Music) and Playgrounds (Justin Time Records). He has had his music featured on C.B.C.'s Jazz Beat, performed with his group at jazz festivals across the country and recently has composed a work, entitled Finding the River for his group Playgrounds and string orchestra, under the auspices of the Canada Council.

FRASER HOLLINS • BASS • Originally from Ottawa, Hollins has just completed as residency in New York where he has been studying bass with Marc Johnson and Gary Peacock. He is also active on the Montreal scene where most noticeably he has played and recorded with saxophonist Dave Turner, Steve Amirault, Roddy Ellias and Billy Kerr. He has been the bassist of choice for New York musicians in Montreal including Kurt Rosenwinkel, Nneena Freelon, Nicolas Payton, Seamus Blake, Kevin Hayes and most recently, Mark Turner. He has also worked on a regular basis with the Ottawa Symphony over the past few years.

KARL JANNUSKA • DRUMS • Hailing from Brandon, Manitoba, Jannuska spent the last five years in Montreal, to pursue the jazz studies program at McGill University. While attending school, he performed and toured with Ranee Lee and Dave Young, the McGill Jazz Orchestra, Steve Amirault, Karen Young, Altsys and Kenny Wheeler amongst others. After graduating from the pro-gram in 1998, he has been fortunate to perform with the likes of Kurt Rosenwinkel, Seamus Blake, Kevin Hayes, and Mark Turner.

On her debut CD "Collage", alto & soprano saxophonist Christine Jensen directs and composes for a small group in a contemporary jazz setting. She has collaborat-ed on this outing with her sister, Juno Award winning jazz trum-peter Ingrid Jensen (Enja Records artist). It also features Brad Turner, keyboardist of Metalwood (Vancouver) and tenor saxophonist Joel Miller (1997 winner of the Du Maurier Prize at the Montreal Jazz Festival).

“[Her CD] "Collage" crackles with a vitality that is unique to its time and place.” James Hale, regular contributor to Downbeat and the Jazz Report

“Christine Jensen is truly a fresh, dynamic voice taking the music to new and beautiful places” Steve Wilson, alto saxophonist with Chick Corea "Origins"

Effendi Records Inc. : 1844, Sherbrooke Street East, Montreal QC H2K 1B3, Canada Telephone : (514) 523-4950 • Fax : (514) 523-8508 Email : [email protected] www.effendirecords.qc.ca