MORE JAZZ FEST: CHRISTINE JENSEN HAS MUSIC IN HER BLOOD
Saxophonist-composer and her trumpet-playing sister two of many famous products of Nanaimo’s vibrant scene
Christine Jensen Jazz Orchestra Featuring Ingrid Jensen Saturday at 7 p.m. | Performance Works Tickets and info: coastaljazz.ca
Saxophonist-composer Christine Jensen, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, vocalist Diana Krall and guitarist-singer David Gogo all share one key building block to their careers. They all grew up in Nanaimo.
Was there something in the water to spawn such a fertile musical crop?
No, says Christine, younger of the two famous jazz-playing Jensen sisters. Nanaimo had schools with vibrant music programs. Her junior high school, with just 300 students, had two big bands and no shortage of young musicians trying to become band members.
“There was a community of support for us, and the music teachers at the time were all very much into jazz,” says Jensen, on the phone from her home in Montreal. “We had music all around us because of our teachers.”
Citing music teacher Bryan Stovell as an inspiration, Jensen says, “You wanted to get into those bands because they were doing such amazing things.”
With a mother who taught piano, oldest sister Janet playing trombone and middle sister Ingrid devoted to the trumpet, young Christine always had music around the house. She started on piano, and switched to saxophone before high school.
“The record player was the most important component in the house to be around as a family,” the 46-year-old recalls.
A graduate of the excellent jazz program at Montreal’s McGill University — where she teaches — Jensen started playing professionally with sister Ingrid. She became a formidable small-combo musician, but really made her mark in the past few years as a composer for larger jazz orchestras. The Christine Jensen Jazz Orchestra, which appears Saturday at Performance Works, achieved a five-star review in Downbeat Magazine for its latest recording, Habitat.
Composing for jazz orchestra can be complex. Besides concentrating on melody, harmony and rhythm, one must be conscious of getting the right voicings for each section, keeping the dynamics rising and falling to avoid overkill, and focusing on the strengths of individuals in the band.
Jensen feels it’s important for a jazz composer to know how to play all forms of the music.
“I remember one of my teachers saying, ‘We’ll talk about this once you figure out the first step, which is understanding the tradition of this music.’ That’s a valuable ideal to instil in young minds. I love the idea of composers doing their own thing and trying out ideas, but I also hope that everybody gets a strong foundation, and know why they’re doing things.”
So, once the foundation is there, where do you go?
“For me, composing is daunting to start and daunting to end, and when I’m in it I love it,” says Jensen. “First, I have to think about a theme, and that might happen not thinking about the orchestra at all. I think about drums a lot, and I consider drums its own orchestra, which probably comes from listening to Gene Krupa. The drummer is so important to the music.”
Keeping the rhythm in mind, Jensen composes a harmonic idea on the piano, then works out the sectional parts. Sometimes she will use structures that she first heard as a child.
“I can’t ignore Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey for my sectional writing.”
And she may also be influenced by some of her icons: Gil Evans, Maria Schneider, Jim McNeely and Vancouver’s Hugh Fraser. But, as was evident on Habitat, she really has her own compositional voice.
Jensen still does small combo work, mostly with sister Ingrid. The two will be in studio later this summer to record with guitarist Ben Monder.