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About Brent Jensen
Instrument: Saxophone, alto
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by Thomas Conrad
Wynton Marsalis recently said, The hallmark of a first-class jazz musician is the ability to adapt." It is a paradoxical statement. But Marsalis is not using the term adapt" in the Darwinian context of adaptation and natural selection. He does not mean adapting to, say, bad food on the road. He is referring to listening skills and lightning reflexes. Jazz improvisation is a moment-to-moment creative process of real-time interaction and discovery. It would be hard to find a ...
read moreBrent Jensen: More Sounds of a Dry Martini
by Jack Bowers
Two decades have passed since alto saxophonist Brent Jensen recorded his debut album for Origin Records, Sounds of a Dry Martini: A Tribute to Paul Desmond, in 2001. To Jensen's surprise, the album became so enormously popular that the possibility of a sequel was envisioned. There was, however, one large stumbling blockby 2007, Jensen had sold his alto sax and switched to soprano. It was not until 2017, after he had moved to Seattle, Washington, and bought another alto, that ...
read moreWellstone Conspiracy: Motives
by John Barron
The Wellstone Conspiracy is a collective venture for four of the more prolific jazz musicians residing in the Northwest region of the United States. The group consists of Idaho-based saxophonist Brent Jensen and from Seattle, pianist Bill Anschell, bassist Jeff Johnson and drummer John Bishop. The quartet, previously heard together on Jensen's One More Mile (Origin, 2008), hits the mark with Motives, a disc full of stunning interplay and individual showmanship. A highlight of the recording is the ...
read moreBill Anschell/Brett Jensen: We Couldn't Agree More
by John Barron
We Couldn't Agree More is a great example of what happens when two like-minded musicians gather for an impromptu session, playing through a list of well-worn standards. Pianist Bill Anschell and soprano saxophonist Brent Jensen deliver a relaxed, humorously inventive duo recording that happily swings from beginning to end. Recorded in Boise, Idaho, during a break from a tour of the state (Jensen is an Assistant Professor of Music at the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls), ...
read moreBill Anschell / Brent Jensen: We Couldn't Agree More
by C. Michael Bailey
By definition, the classical or jazz duo is the most intimate performance format. Intimacy requires two parties sharing with a base empathy. An example is Eddie Daniels and Roger Kellaway's A Duet of One (2008, IPO), where the two principles shared a great love for the mainstream and its sensitive presentation.
Enter west coasters, pianist Bill Anschell and soprano saxophonist Brent Jensen, with We Couldn't Agree More. This instrument combination instantly recalls the Steve Lacy and Mal Waldron recordings of ...
read moreBrent Jensen: One More Mile
by John Barron
Idaho-based saxophonist Brent Jensen seems to have found his musical soul-mates in the Pacific Northwest. For One More Mile, the College of Southern Idaho professor teams up with three of Seattle, Washington's finest--pianist Bill Anschell, bassist Jeff Johnson and drummer John Bishop--for an intriguing straight-ahead set of standards and originals.
Jensen is a well-rounded improviser who can get things cooking in a variety of styles and tempos. With his warm-toned soprano saxophone front and center, he moves easily from a ...
read moreBrent Jensen: Trios
by Dan McClenaghan
Alto saxophonist Brent Jensen reinterprets seven classic, time-tested standards on Trios; and if the word standards" makes you think mainstream," don't be surprised if the sound here incorporates a free and elastic vibe.The Idaho-based reedman--the Director of Jazz Studies and Woodwinds at College of South Idaho in Twin Falls--employs two very different trios on this, his fourth Origin Records release. Three tunes feature Jamie Findlay on guitar and Zac Matthews on bass--both from the Los Angeles-based Acoustic Jazz ...
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