(Review by Lance).
I'd made up my mind I wouldn't like this before I'd even played it!
Why?
Kenny Wheeler!
The Canadian trumpet player/composer/arranger can be rated as tops in at least 3 if not 4 of the many strings to his bow. His Windmill Tilter with Dankworth is one of the all-time great jazz suites - I'm still vainly trying to find a copy after I, foolishly, loaned mine to 'a friend' who left with it for Venezuela (or it may have been Wales) shortly after. Don Quixote notwithstanding, whilst I've appreciated his later work, despite the brilliance, it has always left me slightly cold compared to, say, Gil Evans or Mike Gibbs. I'm in a minority here - just as, at school, my fantasies evolved around Doris Day rather than Marilyn Monroe (no they didn't go to Jarrow Central!) - and Kenny, as a trumpet player always rested, for me, in between two other Kenny's - Baker and Ball.
Jensen is a truly remarkable player and I'm not even going to mention gender issues to avoid embarrassing my side of the jazz street! If I'd been x years younger I'd have asked her to marry me!
With a tenorman like Treseler on the scene, I wouldn't have a look in. He's a guy you don't want to meet on a dark night at a jam session! Keezler, I've long admired - just listen to his solo on Everybody's Song But My Own and Wikan, like Wind, does the job to perfection.
The album was released in October gone but Whirlwind only despatched it to me last week otherwise it would have been one of the 2018 contenders for CD of the Year. As it is I suggest you check it out, and, Kenny Wheeler, wherever you are, am I forgiven?
Lance.
Available Whirlwind WR4729.
Ingrid Jensen (trumpet & effects); Steve Treseler (tenor sax/ clarinet/ bs. clarinet); Geoffrey Keezer (piano); Martin Wind (bass); Jon Wikan (drums) + Katie Jacobson (voice 2 tracks); Christine Jensen (soprano sax 1 track).
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