Composers & Arrangers - Christine Jensen

Canadian saxophonist and composer Christine Jensen has been a distinctive voice in the creative jazz scene for the last twenty-five years. As a Downbeat Critic’s Poll winner (Rising Star: Big Band, Arranger, Soprano Sax), she is constantly in motion leading her own jazz orchestra and small ensemble. Her jazz orchestra recordings Habitat (2014) and Treelines (2011) both won Juno awards, and Habitat received five stars in Downbeat as Jazz Album of the Year, topping several international critic’s polls. Jensen is a two-time recipient of SOCAN’s Hagood Hardy award, and in 2017 won the Prix Oscar Peterson at the Montreal International Jazz Festival.

Jensen’s music has taken her all over the world through numerous commissions and conducting opportunities in Canada, the US and Europe. In 2023 she arranged and conducted the hr-Bigband (Frankfurt) and Mark Turner in a program of his music, alongside her mentor Jim McNeely. She has been an invited guest artist of the Frost School of Music (Miami), The New School (New York), and the University of Michigan, and with many other ensembles. She is founding artistic director and conductor of the Canadian National Jazz Orchestra. Between 2012 and 2022, Christine collaborated extensively with l'Orchestre National Jazz de Montreal, most notably in composing, conducting and recording the suite "Under The Influence", which received the Prix Opus for jazz recording of the year in 2017.

In 2022 Jensen joined the faculty of the Eastman School of Music as professor of jazz studies, where she teaches jazz composition and arranging and directs the award-winning Eastman Jazz Ensemble. Since 2006, she has also held saxophone, composition and arranging positions at McGill University, Purchase College (NY), University of Sherbrooke, and l'Université de Montréal.