Good to be back, and on the air! While the Women's Ice Hockey semi-finals were fantastic, ol' Doc misses our usual Saturday morning meetings. A highlight of this week's show was getting a taste of Christine Jensen's newest album "Treelines". She's put together a Jazz Orchestra involving some of Montreal's (and New York's) finest musicians and creates a soundscape like no other. There is a real maturity and sophistication to her compositions and arrangements that comes through clear to the listener. I must share a brief passage from her liner notes...
"I caught the big band bug when I was fifteen years old while playing baritone saxophone in the Nanaimo Musicians' Association Big Band with my sister Ingrid as the trumpet soloist. I played the baritone saxophone, where I was positioned to soak up the rich bottom end of the orchestrations as we wailed through classics like Pennsylvania 6-5000 and String of Pearls on many a Saturday night."
First, one of the things I have come to appreciate about both Christine and Ingrid Jensen over the years is their respect for and acknowledgement of their musical beginnings and roots back here in Nanaimo. There isn't a release that either of them have put out that does not, in some way, pay respect to the scene here and to those who showed them leadership, guidance, and mentorship. They give back (to the community) what they got, and then some!
The second interesting bit of minutae is that yours truly currently holds down the aforementioned baritone saxophone chair in the Nanaimo Musicians' Association Big Band (and yes, we still play Pennsylvania 6-5000 and String of Pearls on rare occasion)! One of the the things that I have soaked up / absorbed in that band has mostly been the drippings on my shoulder from John Capon's bass trombone...ewwww! Just kidding...I can speak from my own experience that getting to work with such great musicians as John Capon, Claudio Fantinato, Larry Miller, Cameron Wigmore, Morris Macklin, Greg Bush, and (in my book one of the best lead trumpets anywhere) Lee Patten, not to mention two of the finest band leaders on this or any other planet in Steve Jones and Bryan Stovall...well, all this has done wonders for me and what I may loosely refer to as my own musicianship.
Thanks Christine, for tipping your beret back home, and for the great new music you create!
CHARLES MINGUS - MINGUS AH UM - BETTER GET IT IN YOUR SOUL
JODI PROZNICK QUARTET - FOUNDATIONS - HELP ME
CHRISTINE JENSEN JAZZ ORCHESTRA - TREELINES - DANCING SUNLIGHT
SHARON MINEMOTO QUINTET - CELLAR LIVE: THE FIRST FIVE YEARS - SLEEPING PEACEFULLY
LORI CULLEN - CALLING FOR RAIN - I THINK ITS GONNA RAIN TODAY
WIBIJAZZ'N - IN THE POCKET - WIBI FM (TAKE 2)
AL JARREAU - THIS TIME - SPAIN
VICTOR WOOTEN - A SHOW OF HANDS - WORDS OF WISDOM
CHARLES MINGUS SEXTET WITH ERIC DOLPHY - CORNELL 1964 - FABLES OF FAUBUS
ELVIS COSTELLO LIVE WITH THE METROPOLE ORKEST - MY FLAME BURNS BLUE - WATCHING THE DETECTIVES
HUGH FRASER QUINTET - RED & BLUE - THANK YOU VERY MUCH
GRP ALL-STAR BIG BAND - GRP ALL-STAR BIG BAND LIVE - CHEROKEE
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