OUT NOW: Day Moon – Christine Jensen Quartet

The exceptional alto and soprano saxophonist from Canada releases the compelling Day Moon with her impressive quartet on Justin Time Records.

The music is at turns, melancholic and ebullient, sober and playful. It’s a date where she creates an improvisational community of close friends in quartet and duo settings. “I got hit hard by the pandemic because I felt alone and was not doing what I’m supposed to do,” Jensen says. “So, I focused on my saxophones, teaching myself to present my sound, my solo voice. It’s almost like becoming the vocalist.”

Jensen invited her regular rhythm team of bassist Adrian Vedady and drummer Jim Doxas to mask workshop in small spaces to bring new colors into the ebb and flow of her compositions. The quartet members became, as she writes in her liner notes “my refuge and sanctuary.” She continues, “I feel like we met on thin ice through two cycles of seasons, meeting, greeting, and expanding on this repertoire, so that we could find a place that allowed us to trust and support each other at the highest level—not just in the music, but also in friendship, empathy and love, all words that the lockdown was attempting to repress.”

“…well-crafted, memorable themes from a discerningly mature composer who’s delivered the goods pretty consistently since the 1990s (…) Committed and heartfelt performances all round, especially from Jensen who sounds reinvigorated as both improviser and composer following tough times.”

-Jazzwise Magazine UK – Editor’s choice

Band

Christine Jensen – alto/soprano saxophone
Adrian Vedady – upright bass
Steve Amirault – piano
Jim Doxas – drums