Ingrid Jensen

Ingrid Jensen, Dean of Jazz Arts; Jazz Trumpet

Ingrid Jensen has been hailed as one of the most gifted trumpeters of her generation. As a sought-out teacher, collaborator, and soloist, it is easy to see why the New York Times calls her “as versatile as she is vigorous.”

After graduating from Berklee College of Music in 1989, Jensen was offered a position at the prestigious Bruckner Conservatory in Linz, Austria. In the 1990s, she recorded three highly acclaimed CDs for the ENJA record label, becoming one of the most in demand trumpet players on the global jazz scene.

Settling in New York City, she joined the innovative jazz orchestras of Maria Schneider (1994-2012) and Darcy James Argue (2002-present). She has performed with a multigenerational cast of jazz legends ranging from Clark Terry to Esperanza Spalding. Jensen has also performed alongside British R&B artist Corrine Bailey Rae on Saturday Night Live and recorded with Canadian pop icon Sarah McLachlan. Jensen is prominently featured on the Grammy Award winning Mosaic Project, led by drummer Terri-Lyne Carrington.

One of Jensen’s most frequent and closest collaborators is her sister, the saxophonist and composer Christine Jensen. She is a featured soloist on the Christine Jensen Jazz Orchestra’s Juno-award-winning album, Treelines (2011), and its successor, Habitat (2013). The sisters released a highly regarded small group recording entitled Infinitude (2016) on the Whirlwind label featuring the brilliant guitarist, Ben Monder and have further collaborated with Nordic Connect, an international band featuring pianist and composer Maggi Olin.

A dedicated jazz educator, Jensen has resided on the jazz trumpet faculties at the University of Michigan, Peabody Conservatory and Manhattan School of Music.

She also served on the jazz faculty, teaching composition and arranging at Purchase College and the New School for Jazz in NYC.

She performed and lectured as a guest artist with the Thelonious Monk Institute High School group featuring Herbie Hancock; and performed and taught regularly at the Centrum Jazz Workshop, the Brubeck Institute, the Banff Center for Jazz and Creative music,

the Stanford Jazz Camp, the Geri Allen Jazz Camp for Young Women and the Betty Carter Institute under the direction of Jason Moran. She is currently the Dean and Director of Jazz Arts at the prestigious Manhattan School of Music.

Since her victory at the Carmine Caruso Trumpet Competition in 1995, Jensen has sat on the judges’ panel twice. She is regularly invited to trumpet festivals around the world and served as artist-in-residence with Tia Fuller at the prestigious Monterey Jazz Festival, where she also performed with her own quintet.

Her second project on the Whirlwind label honoring the late great Kenny Wheeler-Invisible Sounds (2018) was featured on NPR’s Jazz Night in America hosted by Christian McBride, receiving critical acclaim both in the US and abroad. Glowing reviews have earned her a loyal fan base around the globe, and she was hailed by the JJA as 2019’s Trumpeter of the Year as well, she is consistently listed in the top 5 in the Trumpet category of the Downbeat critics poll.

Ingrid records often as a guest on scores of side projects, appearing at major venues around the world both as a performer and an educator.

She is an integral member of the highly acclaimed Blue Note recording band, Artemis and continues to write for and perform with her own projects both in New York and beyond.

Ingrid plays a custom Monette trumpet, built personally by the master builder Dave Monette.