Christine Jensen Jazz Ensemble: Best in Canada?

At MusicFest Canada, students had a chance to watch The Christine Jensen Jazz Ensemble perform. This concert was found by spectators to be far too loud and messy. Each person seemed to be trying to play louder than the one next to them. The melody was barely heard and when it was, it was shrill and borderline painful. The songs composed by the conductor were the worst in those regards. As for the others, they would have been better if not so terribly balanced.

Another problem I had with this particular performance was the way they performed. At one point, for example, during yet another long trumpet solo, the conductor walked off stage for no apparent reason. What’s more, there were points at which she just stopped conducting. There wasn’t even any sort of indication that she was keeping time for her musicians. Most ensembles fall apart when their conductor starts walking around. One does have to credit them with being able to stay in time with no direction, even though it appeared unprofessional.

On that note, another thing that was found to be irksome was that the trumpet soloist was not wearing any shoes at all. Even most percussionists wouldn't try that. The soloist didn’t seem to care that she was doing a concert. It was as though she was rehearsing at home or something.

This performance was too trumpet-oriented, perhaps because the soloist was the conductor’s sister. The rest of the ensemble spent most of their time standing around listening as though they had never heard these pieces before. Of course, perhaps they had never heard the full songs before that night. The pieces selected were very long and very similar. The concert could have been one single selection, broken only by Ms. Jensen’s explanations of the next bit.

When this concert finished, it was almost a relief to escape the noise. The audience contained fans of most types of music, from Bach to Slipknot, but The Christine Jensen Jazz Orchestra was just too loud, messy and unorganized for the tastes of most of these high school students.