Juno-winning Canadian saxophonist and composer Christine Jensen is proud to announce her forthcoming jazz orchestra album Harbour, due out on June 28 via Nettwerk / Justin Time Records. The followup to her two previous award-winning jazz orchestra albums Habitat (2013) and Treelines (2010), Harbour features a searing set of originals penned by Jensen over the last decade.
Featuring some of New York and Montreal’s top improvisers, Harbour represents a departure point from leaving shelter and emerging into the new world, with the ensemble playing with acoustic and electric elements from Jensen’s compositions. The first taste of the album comes with Fantasy On Blue, a feature for Jensen commissioned in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Miles Davis’ seminal work, Kind Of Blue.
Christine reflects on the track: “I wore out more than one vinyl of Kind Of Blue, so it was appropriate that I got to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the recording in 2019 with this commission from the Saskatoon Jazz Festival. Ingrid takes a fantastic solo feature, capturing the punchy spirit of Miles with her contemporary improvisations, taking us on a celebratory jaunt that goes to all sorts of corners with the band.”
Jensen has lent her distinct voice to the creative jazz scene for the last 25 years with her large and small ensembles. Harbour features her Montreal-based orchestra, along with guest soloists including her sister Ingrid Jensen on trumpet and electronics, Gary Versace on piano, Chet Doxas on tenor saxophone, Jon Wikan on drums and Montreal-based Steve Raegele on guitar. This album captures over a decade of her compositions and commissions, with her sister’s improvisations infused throughout.
“I think of this collection of songs as my commissioning series, with each piece marking time since the beginnings of life for my daughter,” she says. “I chose the title Harbour because I think its place of shelter on the water, a respite before the new migrations that await on land. This ensemble of family and friends represents that feeling to me, as we all came out of so much turbulence to land together in a room, where my music could take flight.
“The musicians that I had the privilege to perform and record with took all this to another level and brought their own characters in through their masterful sounds and improvisations. This time around, I can’t be more thrilled with the magic that has surfaced, from the sculpting of forms to the performances that are so lovingly interpreted.”
Harbour Track List:
1 | Passing Lions Gate
2 | Swirlaround
3 | Wink
4 | Surge
5 | Harbour
6 | Cascadian Fragments
7 | Fantasy On Blue
Hear more from Christine Jensen below, and keep up with her on her website, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
