Christine Jensen

Christine Jensen is one of Canada's most acclaimed saxophonists, composers, and bandleaders, celebrated for her distinctive voice on the creative jazz scene over the past twenty-five years. A multiple Juno Award winner, her jazz orchestra recordings Treelines (2011) and Habitat (2014) — the latter earning a rare 5-star review and Jazz Album of the Year in Downbeat — have cemented her reputation as one of the most compelling voices in large ensemble jazz. In 2017, she was awarded the prestigious Prix Oscar Peterson from the Montreal International Jazz Festival for her exceptional contributions to jazz in Canada.
Building on this legacy, her quartet collective CODE released Genealogy in 2020, followed by the Juno-nominated quartet album Day Moon (2023). Most recently, she released both CODE-Red (2024, Justin Time Records) — featuring Jim Doxas, Adrian Vedady, and Lex French — and the jazz orchestra album Harbour (2024), which captures over a decade of her compositions and commissions. A Downbeat Critic's Poll winner for Rising Star Big Band, Arranger, and Soprano Saxophonist, Jensen is equally at home leading intimate chamber settings and large orchestras, and has been invited as a guest artist with renowned ensembles including the Stockholm Jazz Orchestra, Luxembourg Jazz Orchestra, and UMO Jazz Orchestra in Finland.
As an educator, Jensen is a professor of jazz studies at the prestigious Eastman School of Music, where she teaches jazz composition and arranging and directs the award-winning Eastman Jazz Ensemble. She has previously been on faculty at McGill University, the University of Sherbrooke, and Purchase College in New York.