Ingrid Jensen

One of the most gifted jazz trumpeters of her generation, Canada's Ingrid Jensen has earned accolades for her forward-thinking post-bop jazz. Influenced by the progressive style of artists like <a href="spotify:artist:0yvEf1tqWWPiZu4ZbjyKGs">Woody Shaw</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4L9xEztn5PKQIO5WnI5W3u">Art Farmer</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:2GIms8u3bruipn5MOR5wcs">Kenny Wheeler</a>, Jensen arrived on the international jazz scene in the early '90s and won a Juno Award for her 1994 debut Vernal Fields. Often playing with her husband, drummer Jon Wikan, and sister, saxophonist <a href="spotify:artist:6ILqwG2NEsYuwmqIzZ1Spu">Christine Jensen</a>, she has issued a handful of highly regarded albums, like 2005's At Sea and 2011's Spirals, that display her love of harmonically adventurous improvisation and atmospheric group interplay.

Born in 1966, Jensen grew up in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. Introduced to music at a young age, she played trumpet throughout elementary school but became more serious about jazz in her teens. After high school, she further honed her skills studying jazz on scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Graduating in 1989, she moved to Europe where she toured with the <a href="spotify:artist:4RigOYSEhd9LEUaBcJUTRH">Vienna Art Orchestra</a> and taught at Austria's Bruckner Conservatory. Following a tour with <a href="spotify:artist:2PjgZkwAEk7UTin4jP6HLP">Lionel Hampton</a>, she returned to the States, where in 1994 she joined the all-female big band <a href="spotify:artist:4OO82884uf58jv1Tv3k8Bo">DIVA</a>. Also that year, she signed a recording contract with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Enja%22">Enja</a> and released her debut album, Vernal Fields, featuring altoist <a href="spotify:artist:40iNUL4JRFh1PLeunwMbNi">Steve Wilson</a>, tenor saxophonist <a href="spotify:artist:6R3SYfbZcOM2mjID1KMaVZ">George Garzone</a>, pianist <a href="spotify:artist:5gncn8f4S1TH6B25s2Scq7">Bruce Barth</a>, bassist <a href="spotify:artist:4HGsz6HI7mw7t14Fb2irLV">Larry Grenadier</a>, and drummer <a href="spotify:artist:478WAnkTtQach00La2gvxR">Lenny White</a>. Well-received, the album showcased her harmonically sophisticated, motivic style of playing and earned her the Juno Award for Best Traditional Jazz Album. Two more highly regarded albums followed on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Enja%22">Enja</a> with 1997's Here on Earth and 1999's Higher Grounds.

Over the next few years, Jensen continued her work with <a href="spotify:artist:4OO82884uf58jv1Tv3k8Bo">DIVA</a> and played with artists like <a href="spotify:artist:5b65oADm6oCMzH5YL4qExc">Virginia Mayhew</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:61bWkkCyCh1jSBmAKdC7sg">Maria Schneider</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:2Ror5pi9KTS40JRNzcWxj3">Dena DeRose</a>. In 2003, she issued her third album as leader, the funky organ-jazz production Now as Then, on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Justin+Time%22">Justin Time</a> label. Featured on the album were keyboardist <a href="spotify:artist:3bklSQEy3caQzQT5GQ5Nhp">Gary Versace</a> and her longtime collaborator, drummer Jon Wikan (whom Jensen married the following year). At Sea followed in 2005 and once again featured Wikan, along with keyboardist <a href="spotify:artist:5rlMzX0jL0ENT9XEVPJMnu">Geoff Keezer</a>, bassist Matt Clohesy, and guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:1QspC2BZg5TrVDc5eZ177E">Lage Lund</a>. With 2007's Flurry, Jensen introduced her cooperative <a href="spotify:artist:4qL53oTzhVo0CpxOWCJ2fh">Nordic Connect</a> ensemble with her sister <a href="spotify:artist:6ILqwG2NEsYuwmqIzZ1Spu">Christine Jensen</a> on saxophone, Wikan on drums, Mattias Welin on bass, and <a href="spotify:artist:0sUkS3YgdYQQcnUK3dG13u">Maggi Olin</a> on keyboards. The group returned in 2011 with Spirals. Also that year, the trumpeter played on her sister's Juno Award-winning Treelines.

Along with various teaching and leading workshops, Jensen has worked on projects with pianist Ellen Rowe, drummer <a href="spotify:artist:02HpkiuAylAwAnQBswaXlP">Terri Lynne Carrington</a>'s Mosaic Ensemble, vocalist <a href="spotify:artist:7nwrblOf59ulOiB6djwPVh">Dianne Reeves</a>, pianist <a href="spotify:artist:0OStvzVRU3mUgqWrzWXYfe">Helen Sung</a>, and others. In 2015, she paired with pianist <a href="spotify:artist:1ydw5TMqZC6HCz5l9z3xvL">Jason Miles</a> for the loosely <a href="spotify:artist:0kbYTNQb4Pb1rPbbaF0pT4">Miles Davis</a>-inspired Kind of New. The following year, she collaborated with her sister and guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:2CH9bD5RtnDcm9O23JByN7">Ben Monder</a> on Infinitude. In 2018, she celebrated the music of late British trumpeter <a href="spotify:artist:2GIms8u3bruipn5MOR5wcs">Kenny Wheeler</a> on Invisible Sounds: For Kenny Wheeler. ~ Matt Collar, Rovi