Christine Jensen

Christine Jensen, a Canadian saxophonist, composer, arranger, and conductor active with both compact jazz groups and full orchestras, entered the world in 1970. She first took up the saxophone at age 12 before earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Montreal’s McGill University. From that foundation she built a far-reaching career marked by international tours, multiple well-received recordings of her original works, and partnerships with musicians including Lenny Pickett, Brad Turner, Maggi Olin, Phil Dwyer, Terrence Blanchard, and Ben Monder, as well as her sister, the equally celebrated trumpeter Ingrid Jensen. In addition to performing, she has served on the faculties of McGill’s Schulich School of Music and Rochester’s Eastman School of Music, among numerous other schools. Her honors encompass Juno Awards for Contemporary Album of the Year for both Treelines (2011) and Habitat (2014), together with two presentations of SOCAN’s Hagood Hardy Jazz Composer Award. Harbour appeared in 2024.