Reviews that mention Ingrid Jensen
April 7, 2019
Invisible Sounds for Kenny Wheeler
Whirlwind Recordings WR 4729
Tiziano Tononi & The Ornettians
Forms and Sounds: Air Sculptures
Felmay fy 7058
Chris Pasin
Ornettiqueyye
Planet Arts 301820
Iro Haarla, Ulf Krokfors & Barry Altschul
Around Again – The Music of Carla Bley
TUM CD 054
Kresten Osgood Quintet
Plays Jazz
ILK Music ILK 28LP
Something In The Air: Saluting Musical Forbearers Without Replication
By Ken Waxman MORE
May 3, 2017
Darcy James Argue Secret Society
Real Enemies
New Amsterdam Records NWAM081.
By Ken Waxman
Taking the title as satirically as it’s meant to be, Real Enemies is an extended multi-media meditation on paranoia and conspiracy theories – and you can dance to it. Created by Vancouver-born composer Darcy James Argue and interpreted by 18 of New York’s top improvisers, the 13 tracks delve into all manner of 20th and 21st Century conspiracy theories ranging from subversive Communist threats to UFO sightings. Besides perceptive sonic pinpoints added by a slew of soloist, the thesis is amplified by narration taken from various books on the subject read by actor James Urbaniak as well as speeches and mediations on, and denials of, the subjects from figures as different as John F. Kennedy and Dick Cheney. As for the dancing part, when the band cuts lose on tracks such as “Dark Alliance” and “Casus Belli”, stuttering trombone blats from either Ryan Keberle or Mike Fahie evolving atop a Mambo-styled backbeat courtesy of Matt Clohesy’s electric bass thumb pops and Jon Wikan’s percussion slaps build up to a rhythm that’s half Motown and half-Mexican, allowing the music to swing, even despite ponderous speeches about 9-11 on the second tune. MORE
February 3, 2017
Ingrid Jensen
By Ken Waxman
“I’m still a gun for hire as long as the music is good and the pay is right,” jokes trumpeter/flugelhornist Ingrid Jensen describing her recent career. But Jensen, 51, who was brought up in Nanaimo B.C., but lives in Westchester, N.Y., now has to spread her musical gun-slinging talents among a many locations. In demand as an instructor at various international jazz schools as well as teaching individual student, she is also a regular in-demand sideperson in large groups headed by the likes of Maria Schneider and Darcy James Argue plus smaller bands such as Terri Lyne Carrington’s Mosaic Project, not to mention her own groups, most featuring her husband, drummer Jon Wikan. One band she’s particularly invested in premiers its new CD, Infinitude (Whirlwind Records) at the Jazz Gallery this month. Besides guitarist Ben Monder, an associate from the Schneider orchestra, the other person in the front line is Jensen’s sister, Christine, a respected Montreal-based alto saxophonist and composer. MORE
July 10, 2013
Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society
Brooklyn Babylon
New Amsterdam Records NWAM 048
The Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra /Barry Guy
Schweben
Maya Records MCD 1201
Maria Faust
Jazz Catastrophe
Barefoot Records BFREC025
Collectivo Bassefere
Senza Alibi
Collectivo Bassefere 85015
SITA: Sophisticated Expression From Large Improv Ensembles
By Ken Waxman
Fuelled by innovation rather than nostalgia, composers and arrangers continue to utilize the sonic parameters of larger ensembles to help tell their stories in the most expansive way possible. Whether it’s exposing individual original compositions or organizing the sessions into a thematic whole, these vital CD demonstrate why a big band of is still favored as an expressive vehicle for both free-form improvisation and tightly plotted compositions. MORE