Christine Jensen - Habitat

2014

The blurry photo that adorns the cover of Habitat is completely at odds with what awaits inside the package: Some of the most incredibly focused and finely wrought large ensemble music to emerge in recent memory. Canadian saxophonist/composer Christine Jensen won plenty of fans with the her last jazz orchestra album—Treelines (Justin Time Records, 2011)—but this one puts her in an entirely different category.

With Habitat, Jensen joins the ranks of the large ensemble elite. Jensen's inspirations come from different corners of the world, as she explores Afro-Peruvian ideals ("Blue Yonder"), expands on an idea born in Brooklyn ("Sweet Adelphi"), and reflects on her experiences in Haiti and the horrible earthquake that ravaged Port-au-Prince ("Tumbledown"). She manages to work with a global gaze, yet her music is spoken in a single language.

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/habitat-christine-jensen-justin-time-records-review-by-dan-bilawsky