Christine Jensen Jazz Orchestra: Harbour

There's something special about Christine Jensen Jazz Orchestra's Harbour. Foremost, the album builds on Jensen's acknowledged talent as master composer for over 25 years. She writes songs that stimulate the emotions as well as the intellect, and she arranges them using rich, cross-instrumental blends and fresh, punctuated motifs.

While Jensen already has won JUNO awards in Canada for best jazz album, Harbour raises the bar. That is because it is inspired by deeply personal themes and because her orchestra and cameo soloists devote themselves to bringing her compositions to life.

Harbour is Jensen's third recording with her Montreal-based jazz orchestra. The material on the album is inspired by touching themes, including memorable moments spent with her daughter, the sense of adventure and peace experienced while journeying and the uncertainties of migrating to new countries and cities. Each of the tracks, written over the course of a decade, tells a story based on a mood, memory or homage. Here are three of them:

"Passing Lion's Gate" kicks off the recording with a mysterious soundscape that captures the ship horns of local ferries. One minute in, it switches to a horn chorale, which segues into a gorgeous trumpet solo. The groove feels as if it is phase-shifting between 4/4 and triplet time. Who other than Jensen would conceive of such a sequence? The title of this track refers to the picturesque Lion's Gate Bridge in Vancouver, leading to the mountains, launching family travels and ultimately "leading me to embark on a voyage into the urban jazz sound," says Jensen.

The opening tone of "Swirlaround" blends flute, clarinet, bass trombone and oscillating pink noise, then introduces soprano sax (from Jensen herself) plus muted trumpet. To change the pace, the piece features a ripping, distorted guitar solo over a steady backbeat.

Commissioned by Festival Jazz Vannes, "Wink" captures the feeling of French jazz musicians converging on "le club" late at night to jam and the "joie de vivre" of that festival's artistic director.

Each of the principal performers on Harbour weaves their solos into the fabric of the pieces. Rather than simply playing against the changes, these players rely on groove, inflection, invention and space to create memorable music that expands on the composer's original vision. Jensen refers to them as "my pied pipers guiding the band forward." Among them, Christine's sister, Ingrid Jensen, lends her warm trumpet tone to the entire album, including the Miles Davis-inspired "Fantasy on Blue." Guitarist Steve Raegele adds pop / rock / folk facets to Jensen's prism. Gary Versace, pianist, improvises musical microcosms from Christine Jensen's high-level vision, especially on "Surge." Drummer Jon Wikan wraps it all in a light swing feel, as though he were skipping stones in a pond.

Jensen notes that she has gotten better at defining and expressing the "sound design of my life. It then becomes a question of what story do I need to tell today, then tomorrow?" Harbour keeps the ear and the heart engaged from start to finish.

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