IN CONCERT
What: Christine and Ingrid Jensen Band (with Ben Monder)
Where: Dave Dunnet Theatre, Oak Bay High School
When: Tuesday, 8 p.m.
Tickets: $28, 250-388-4423 or 250-386-6121)
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For jazz musicians Ingrid and Christine Jensen, making music is truly a family affair.
The Vancouver Island-raised sisters 鈥� Ingrid鈥檚 a trumpeter and Christine鈥檚 a saxophonist 鈥� perform next week at the TD Victoria International Jazz Festival. Their group includes Ingrid鈥檚 husband, Jon Wikan, on drums as well as guitar whiz Ben Monder and bassist Fraser Hollins.
Ingrid says she loves the family vibe.
鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty hard for me to feel like I鈥檓 alone on stage,鈥� she said with a chuckle.
Ingrid phoned this week from the village of Ossining, New York, where she lives with Wikan and their six-year-old daughter.
Ingrid and Christine attended the same Nanaimo high school as jazz star Diana Krall. A virtuoso musician, Christine is a widely admired composer. Ingrid, who also composes, was deemed by All Music Guide to be 鈥渙ne of the most gifted hard-bop trumpeters of her generation.鈥�
Now 51, Ingrid said the musical bond between her and Christine is forged by years of playing with one another. The fact they鈥檙e sisters makes this connection all the more powerful.
鈥淸In performance] there鈥檚 a web of trust. And sometimes in the web, there鈥檚 a web of mystery too. You don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 going to happen. But because there鈥檚 so much trust in each other, it can turn into something pretty cool,鈥� she said.
As the Christine and Ingrid Jensen Band they鈥檙e touring their 2016 album Infinitude. This ensemble features the same musicians as the recording.
Infinitude has attracted considerable critical acclaim, with Down Beat magazine deeming it a 鈥渃ritic鈥檚 pick.鈥� Although it has plenty of fiery moments (many of them provided by Monder, who solos with Jeff Beck-like ferocity), Infinitude is more typically balladic and contemplative.
In the liner notes, jazz writer James Hale says he hears the 鈥渘orthern esthetic鈥� espoused by pianist Glenn Gould and other Canadian artists. 鈥淩aised on Vancouver Island, the sisters鈥� music is redolent of the rainforest and raw Pacific Coast,鈥� Hale writes.
Ingrid agrees. She said, for example, one of her compositions on Infinitude, Hopes Trail, projects a 鈥渞eally West Coast-y feeling for me鈥� replete with 鈥渋magery from stuff that we grew up doing.鈥�
When she was a youngster, her newly divorced mother moved the family to the district of Cedar, just outside Nanaimo.
鈥淲e were outdoorsy kids,鈥� Ingrid said. 鈥淚 had a horse and I rode a lot. I rode a lot in the rain and in the sun and on the beach. It was kind of a fantasy life.鈥�
She fell in love with jazz as a high-school trumpeter. Ingrid would repeatedly listen to a mix-tape of trumpeters such as Clark Terry and Freddie Hubbard. Pianist Krall, a year older and already gigging professionally in Nanaimo, was another role model.
The Jensens鈥� mother was an amateur pianist. The family home was filled with the sounds of Louis Armstrong, Rosemary Clooney, Frank Sinatra and Duke Ellington.
Ingrid remembered her younger self as 鈥渙utgoing鈥� and a 鈥� leader,鈥� while Christine was more shy.
鈥淓ven though [Christine and I] were lazy sometimes and didn鈥檛 clean our rooms, we were always busy doing things with our hands and our ears and our brains,鈥� she said.
Ingrid graduated from the prestigious Berklee College of Music in 1989. She spent time in Denmark鈥檚 jazz scene, then based herself in New York City, where she played in the jazz orchestras of Maria Schneider and Darcy James Argue.
Jazz, particularly trumpet- playing, tends to be male-dominated. According to one of Ingrid鈥檚 old Nanaimo band teachers, back then she was a forceful personality who鈥檇 try extra hard to prove herself. In a 1999 interview with the sa国际传媒, Brian Stovell recalled her saying: 鈥淵ou have to play better than the guys.鈥�
Ingrid said for years she 鈥渨orked and struggled鈥� to perfect her technique. The acquisition of a trumpet seven years ago, custom-built by master craftsman David Monette, helped.
鈥淔or my [musical] ideas, it鈥檚 more of a channelling device than a trumpet,鈥� she said.
Today, Ingrid places less emphasis on the pursuit of technical virtuosity, preferring to approach the creation of music from a more transcendent point of view.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 even care about my playing being better or worse any more. I care about it being in the moment and the now.
鈥淚鈥檓 interested in how easily can we get our egos out of the way so we can truly make the most of these moments of music-making.鈥�
She is especially pleased to be touring with Monder, a veteran New York guitarist with whom she has collaborated on and off for 25 years. Ingrid finds Monder to be a versatile, intuitive musician who sidesteps typical jazz-guitar comping patterns.
鈥淗e encompasses a broader sound spectrum. It works really well for me.
鈥淐hristine heard that very early on. She heard it before I heard it.鈥�
It appears these days that Ingrid鈥檚 music-making 鈥攚ith her sister, husband and friends 鈥� has reached a career apex.
鈥淚t鈥檚 funny you say that. I feel like it is the best time. I have these amazing projects that I鈥檓 involved with and I鈥檓 playing with these incredible musicians that happen to be incredible people,鈥� she said.
鈥淎nd it pays. I鈥檓 actually going to get a decent car this fall when it鈥檚 time to go back to teaching. Not a new car. But a really good car鈥� not a 鈥榡azz car鈥�.鈥�