Christine Jensen has another award to put on her mantle.
The Nanaimo-raised musician earned a Juno Award for Contemporary Jazz Album of the Year for Treelines, recorded by her 18-member band The Christine Jensen Jazz Orchestra.
Jensen left Nanaimo in 1990 to pursue a jazz performance degree from McGill University in Montreal, which she followed up with a master’s degree in the same discipline.
She performed all over the world but continues to make education a priority, leading workshops, clinics and adjudicating new generations of music students.
She regularly returns to Nanaimo, often with her sister, trumpet player Ingrid Jensen, to host workshops and classes with students from Vancouver Island University and Wellington Secondary School.
Christine Jensen shared a Juno Award with Ingrid in 1995 for writing the title track to her sister’s debut album Vernal Fields.
The Kerplunks, the children’s entertainers from Gabriola, were nominated for the Children’s Album of the Year but lost to Peter Lenton and his album Proud Like a Mountain.
The Juno Awards were handed out in two ceremonies this weekend, with the bulk awarded during a dinner and gala the evening prior to the televised broadcast. For a full list of winners, please visit http://junoawards.ca.
