Concert Review: Ingrid and Christine Jensen with the Whirlwind Jazz Orchestra

Our young reviewer Rebecca shares with us her experience of Ingrid and Christine Jensen with the Whirlwind Jazz Orchestra at Turner Sims on Friday 15 November. 

On 15 November 2019, I saw Ingrid and Christine Jensen with the Whirlwind Jazz Orchestra perform at Turner Sims. It was a cold night but when we arrived in the foyer I was relieved to be in the warmth of the venue and was looking forward to the performance. This was not the first Turner Sims concert I had been to, so I was familiar with the venue. When I got into the auditorium the wall behind the stage was lit up with red, purple turquoise and dark blue lights which was a nice touch. Including Ingrid and Christine, there were 16 performers in total, playing saxophones, trumpets, trombones, piano, guitar, bass and drums. This created an exciting explosion of sound when everyone was playing together. The numbers also featured many soloists from the band. There were various interesting techniques used throughout the performance, for example when Ingrid hit the mouthpiece of the trumpet with the palm of her hand, using it as a sort of percussion. Also, at one point Ingrid played the trumpet into the open section of the grand piano. This could have been done for the sound of the trumpet to reverberate throughout the piano. I noticed that a lot of mutes were used for the brass instruments, which gave them a softer sound. Generally, the numbers would change dynamics, shifting from quiet to loud and the band building the sound up throughout a solo. In a guitar solo multiple effects were used to alter and distort the sound. This was a feature that I haven’t heard very often in big band jazz music. The style of the music also fitted its name – ‘contemporary’, with a more modern sound in comparison to some jazz music I’ve heard in the past. I found this to be an enjoyable genre of jazz as I’ve mostly heard small groups in the past.

It was great to see the group being headlined by and featuring some female performers, which is something that was uncommon in the past. On the pianist’s solo, her hands were using the whole range of the keyboard, involving her crossing her arms over, which was impressive.

One of the performers also composed one of the numbers and came up to conduct it. It was nice to see her conduct her own music.

I enjoyed the evening and it was an awesome experience. I would recommend anyone to go and hear this band, if you are into or new to jazz.

Rebecca, 2019

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