Ingrid & Christine Jensen

“Infinitude”

(Whirlwind Recordings WR4694)

With this release Whirlwind label owner Michael Janisch casts his net even further afield. Whirlwind has always encouraged international musical collaboration but I think this is probably the first album on the label to be fronted by Canadian musicians.

Sisters Ingrid and Christine Jensen were brought up in Nanaimo on on Vancouver Island and shared an early love of the music of Miles Davis and Wayne Shorter with Ingrid going on to specialise on trumpet and Christine on alto and soprano saxophones. Ingrid studied jazz at Berklee College of Music in Boston while Christine went to McGill University in Montreal, the city in which she is still based and where this album was recorded.

Both sisters have enjoyed fruitful musical careers with Ingrid having collaborated with trumpeter Clark Terry, drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and composer Maria Schneider among many others.

Christine leads her own critically acclaimed eighteen piece Jazz Orchestra as well as a number of smaller groups. Among those with whom she has collaborated are pianists Geoffrey Keezer and Gary Versace and saxophonists Donny McCaslin and Joel Miller (her partner).

Both sisters have recorded relatively frequently and readers are referred to their individual websites for further biographical and discographical details.
http://www.ingridjensen.com
http://www.christinejensenmusic.com

Ingrid and Christine have recorded together on numerous previous occasions but “Infinitude” introduces a new quintet with Ben Monder appearing on electric guitar. One of the leading musicians in New York, where Ingrid is now based, Monder has also worked with Maria Schneider and his exhaustive list of sideman credits dating back to 1992 include albums by Donny McCaslin and the late, great drummer and composer Paul Motian. Monder also leads his own small groups in which he collaborates with many of New York’s foremost cutting edge jazz musicians including vocalist Theo Bleckmann, bassists Drew Gress, Kermit Driscoll and Ben Street and drummers Jim Black and Ted Poor. Monder was also part of the band, led by McCaslin, that accompanied David Bowie on his final album “Blackstar”. More on Ben Monder can be found at
http://www.benmonder.com 

The quintet is completed by bassist Fraser Hollins and drummer Jon Wikan (Ingrid’s husband), both of whom have recorded with the sisters before.

The title “Infinitude” refers to the concept of ‘boundless possibility’ but the album is also a manifestation of the concept of “Nordicity”, a term coined by Louis-Edmond Hamelin to describe the “Northern Aesthetic”. These matters are addressed by James Hale in his liner notes to the album and there’s certainly a sense of place about much of the music with the writing of both sisters exhibiting a strong cinematic quality. In a sense this current quintet is an extension of the quintet Nordic Connection in which Jensen, Jensen and Wikan teamed up with Swedish musicians Maggi Olin (piano) and Mattias Werlin (bass). 

The material on “Infinitude” features five compositions by Christine Jensen, three by Ingrid, one piece from Monder and one from the sisters’ fellow Canadian, the late, great Kenny Wheeler.

The disc commences with Christine’s “Blue Yonder” which establishes the template for the album as a whole. The focus is very much on melody and the music also possesses a strong pictorial quality. Christine is an accomplished composer for large ensembles and has no difficulty in bringing a richness of colour and texture to this smaller group, something exemplified by Ingrid’s playing of a kalimba during the introductory phases. The blend of her reeds with her sister’s trumpet is particularly effective and gives the music a singing, vocal quality. The composer takes the first solo, her alto tone sleek and polished, before Monder’s subtly distorted guitar muddies the waters and adds a welcome touch of grit to the oyster.   

Hollins’ double bass introduces “Swirlaround”, a second Christine Jensen composition. Guitar and drums sidle in quietly eventually prompting the sinuous intertwining of Ingrid’s trumpet and Christine’s soprano. Christine takes the first solo on soprano followed by Monder, whose sustain heavy guitar soars stratospherically. He also combines well with Ingrid’s subtly smeared trumpet on an evocative, attention grabbing piece that is impressive in its scope.

Monder’s own “Echolalia” fits in superbly with the aesthetic of the album with its airy melodies and gently propulsive grooves again giving the impression of big, open Canadian/Nordic skies and wide horizons. Ingrid Jensen’s vaguely Miles-ian trumpet shares the solos with Monder’s guitar, with the composer this time adopting a more orthodox jazz guitar sound.

Christine’s “Octofolk” begins with a brief dialogue between Hollins’ bass and Wikan’s drums and there’s also a melodic solo from the bassist a little further into the piece. This presages a series of engaging exchanges between the composer’s alto and Monder’s guitar.

Ingrid’s “Duo Space” is altogether sparser, and as the title suggests is an absorbing dialogue between her mournful, Wheeler like trumpet and Monder’s guitar, the mood varying between the lightly conversational and the positively confrontational as Monder abruptly turns up the volume half way through, demanding a similarly assertive response from Jensen. The piece then mutates into a more freely structured passage characterised by spacey atmospherics before eventually seguing into the Kenny Wheeler composition “Old Time” which is given an unusual treatment that combines elements of the blues with the sound of electric era Miles Davis. Wikans’ relentless drum grooves drive the song as trumpet, alto and guitar swirl around each other on the front-line, variously intertwining and exchanging phrases in a battle for supremacy that is ultimately won by the tireless insistence of Wikans’ drums.

After this the gentle lushness of the theme to Ingrid’s “Hopes Trail” comes as something of a relief.
The rich blend of the twin horns is a delight, and as elsewhere on the album sometimes sounds like the product of a larger ensemble. Things become more edgy and abstract as the piece progresses and Monder begins to make his presence felt - and one is reminded that Ingrid no longer lives on Vancouver Island, but in New York City.

Monder is credited with hammertone guitar on Christine’s piece “Trio : Garden Hour”. It transpires that the instrument is some kind of amalgam between an electric mandolin and a twelve string guitar. Monder’s ringing overtones form the backbone of this pastoral meditation that sees him combining with Ingrid’s magisterial trumpet and Christine’s feathery soprano as the rhythm team sits it out.

Also by Christine Jensen the quintet piece “Margareta” moves through several phases with the composer’s lithe, fluent alto solo giving way to Ingrid’s bouyant, agile trumpet feature. The sisters then combine to restate the theme prior to a final distortion heavy solo from Monder.

The album concludes with Ingrid Jensen’s “Dots and Braids” which opens with a supremely atmospheric passage that wouldn’t sound out of place on an ECM recording, such is the masterful use of sound and space – that “Nordicity” again, I suppose.  In time this evolves into something more in keeping with a jazz ballad with Ingrid’s trumpet and Christine’s alto seamlessly exchanging melodic lines before the piece resolves itself with another passage of atmospheric abstraction.

“Infinitude” represents my first real exposure to the Jensens’ music, although they’re obviously a pretty big deal in North America, but I have to say that I’ve been very impressed by what I’ve heard. The writing is rich, colourful and varied and also highly evocative with a true cinematic quality and a real sense of place. Everybody plays superbly with Monder’s guitar a good counter balance to the inherent sweetness of the sister’s playing as he ruffles the surface of the music and makes excellent use of his various effects. He represents an inspired choice for this quintet. 

Unfortunately despite the fact that the album is released on a British label it seems high unlikely that this quintet will undertake a tour over here. This is music that is likely to have considerable across the board appeal, so I guess I’ll just have to urge you to buy the album instead. 

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