Students to Tour with Ingrid Jensen

Berklee's Masters on the Road series continues with alumna and jazz trumpeter Ingrid Jensen(Opens in a new window) ‘89 leading a student ensemble on a five-date concert tour in May. The Ingrid Jensen Berklee Quintet will perform at Boston’s Regattabar(Opens in a new window) (May 14), the Mary Lou Williams Festival(Opens in a new window) at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC (May 15), Philadelphia’s Clef Club(Opens in a new window) (May 16), the Side Door(Opens in a new window) in Old Lyme, Connecticut, (May 17), and Jazz at Lincoln Center(Opens in a new window) in New York City (May 18). 

The student group includes saxophonist Daniel Ko from Ottawa, Canada; pianist Zahili Gonzalez Zamora from Manzanillo Cuba; bassist Max Salinger-Ridley from Boston; and drummer Peter Barnick from Homewood, Illinois. Christine Fawson, assistant professor of brass, selected the students by audition, and rehearsed them in Jensen’s chosen repertoire throughout the spring semester. Jensen met with the group mid-semester so the players could perform their set with her in advance of the dates.

Watch the Ingrid Jensen Quintet perform live at Berklee:

This is the third edition of the Masters on the Road program in which star Berklee alumni mentor and rehearse top Berklee student performers, and then take them on tour. In 2013, jazz pianist, songwriter, producer, and bandleader Cyrus Chestnut ’85 performed with a student sextet at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola in New York and at the DC Jazz Festival. Last year, alto saxophonist Donald Harrison ‘81, whose New Orleans heritage is incorporated into the jazz, orchestral, and hip-hop music he writes and records, toured with a student group to clubs in New York and Connecticut.

Jensen is hailed as one of the most gifted trumpeters of her generation. After graduating from Berklee in 1989, she recorded three acclaimed CDs for the ENJA record label, and became a top session player on the global jazz scene. She has performed with multi-generational jazz artists from Clark Terry to Esperanza Spalding, alongside British R&B artist Corinne Bailey Rae on Saturday Night Live, and with Canadian pop icon Sarah McLachlan. Recently, she’s been a member of Terri Lyne Carrington’s Grammy-winning Mosaic Project, and recorded with the Juno Award-winning Christine Jensen Jazz Orchestra. Jensen also leads her own quintet, quartet, and organ trio.

Jensen has taught jazz at the University of Michigan and the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, and has performed and lectured at universities, colleges, and conservatories throughout the U.S. and Europe. She serves as a guest director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, mentoring and leading the all-star high school groups that tour the U.S. on outreach missions. A recent tour included a performance in Mississippi with the legendary Herbie Hancock and a visit to schools in the area. Jensen is also a familiar face at summer institutes and workshops, including the Centrum Jazz Workshop, The Dave Brubeck Institute, and the Banff Centre Workshop in Jazz & Creative Music.