Brooklyn Music School's 5th Annual Middle School Jazz Festival 3/3

Brooklyn Music School (BMS) presents the 5th Annual Middle School Jazz Festival on Saturday, March 3, 2018 from 12pm to 6:30pm, with a concert at 5:30pm. BMS is located at 126 Saint Felix Street, Brooklyn. Concert tickets are a $10 suggested donation. For more information, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bmss-5th-annual-middle-school-jazz-festival-tickets-41240917695.

The festival will feature performances by participating middle schools, clinics by the BMS faculty, professional development for participating school faculty members, and a closing concert/awards ceremony. Previous guest artists have included: Dr. Victor Lewis, Robin Eubanks, Sherman Irby, and Duane Eubanks.

The 2018 guest host is the exciting jazz trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, who has brought her dynamic trumpet sound into the music of influential bandleaders like Terri-Lyne Carrington and Esperanza Spalding, as well as the big bands of Darcy James Argue and Maria Schneider. She also leads her own groups, which have continued to garner glowing reviews and a loyal fan base around the globe. As a dedicated jazz educator at the University of Michigan, the Peabody Conservatory, and with the Thelonious Monk Institute - Ingrid looks forward to working with the students and performing with the Brooklyn Music School Jazz Faculty Ensemble. She will bring her expertise to work with middle school students throughout the day and perform with the Brooklyn Music School Jazz Faculty Ensemble for a closing concert at 5:30pm.

Though the festival is noncompetitive, the guest artist and the BMS faculty will be adjudicating performances to offer suggestions/encouragement and will award certificates for outstanding musicianship. The Brooklyn Music School intends for this festival to strengthen middle school jazz programs and build jazz community among young musicians in Brooklyn.

Born in Vancouver and raised in Nanaimo, British Columbia,

Ingrid Jensen has been hailed as one of the most gifted trumpeters of her generation. After graduating from Berklee College of Music in 1989, she went on to record three highly acclaimed CDs for the ENJA record label, soon becoming one of the most in-demand trumpet players on the global jazz scene.

After a teaching stint in Europe in her early twenties - as the youngest professor in the history of the Bruckner Conservatory in Linz, Austria - Ingrid settled in New York City in the mid-1990s where she joined the innovative jazz orchestras of Maria Schneider (1994-2012) and Darcy James Argue. More recently, Ingrid has been performing with the Grammy-winning Terri-Lyne Carrington and her Mosaic Project. Ingrid is a featured soloist on the Christine Jensen Jazz Orchestra's Juno-award-winning album, Treelines (2011), and its successor, Habitat (2013). She has performed with a multi-generational cast of jazz legends ranging from Clark Terry to Esperanza Spalding; Ingrid has also performed alongside British R&B artist Corrine Bailey Rae on Saturday Night Live, and recorded with Canadian pop icon Sarah McLachlan. In addition to her busy sideman and featured soloist schedule, Jensen leads her own quintet, quartet and organ trio. Her own bands have garnered glowing reviews and a loyal fan base in Australia, South Africa, almost every country in Europe, across Canada, the US, South America (including Brazil, Peru and Chile), Japan and Mexico.

Jensen is also a dedicated jazz educator, having taught trumpet at the University of Michigan and Peabody Conservatory, performing and lecturing as a guest artist with the Thelonious Monk Institute High School group featuring Herbie Hancock, and performing and teaching at the Centrum Jazz Workshop, The Dave Brubeck Institute, the Banff Centre Workshop in Jazz & Creative Music and the Stanford Jazz Camp and the Geri Allen Jazz Camp for young women.

Since her victory at the Carmine Caruso Trumpet Competition in 1995, Jensen has since sat on the judges' panel twice for said competition. She is regularly invited to trumpet festivals around the world, including a prestigious invitation in 2011 to work with classical trumpet maestro Håkan Hardenberger and the Swedish Wind Orchestra. Ingrid plays a custom Monette trumpet, built personally by the master builder Dave Monette.

One of Ingrid's most frequent and closest collaborators is her sister, the saxophonist and composer Christine Jensen. In addition to Christine's Jazz Orchestra, the sisters recently released an exciting small group recording featuring the brilliant guitarist Ben Monder.

Other projects Ingrid has been invited to lend her voice to include: David's Angels (Sweden), Kari Ikonen (Finland), Marianne Trudel (Montreal), Ellen Rowe (USA), Adam Birnbaum (USA), Sharel Cassity (USA), Dwight Adams (USA),Tobias Meinhart (Germany/US), numerous all-star groups including a recent European tour with Renee Rosnes, Terri-Lyne Carrington, Anat Cohen, Linda Oh and Melissa Aldana.

Ingrid was recently hired as the official Artist in Residence for the 2018 Monterey Jazz Festival alongside saxophonist and bandleader Tia Fuller.

The Brooklyn Music School views music and performance as the birthright of all people, an essential way that human beings connect with others and explore their creativity. The study of music has been demonstrated to enhance academic learning and helps to develop discipline and confidence that will serve children well throughout their lives. As part of the vision of reinventing the community music school for the 21st Century, BMS is dedicated to:

* Making high quality musical instruction approachable and affordable to a wide range of students,

* Creating frequent opportunities for performance for our students and cultural enrichment for our community,

* Representing a wide range of musical traditions, including European, African, Middle Eastern, and American to represent the diversity of Brooklyn's musical talent, and

* Offering a warm and welcoming space for families and individuals to explore new talents and make lasting friendships.

For more information, visit www.brooklynmusicschool.org.