The Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra is Canada’s first community-based, non-profit professional jazz orchestra. Founded in 1997 (registered charity in 2000), the WJO has matured to become an important part of Winnipeg’s cultural landscape. The mandate of the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra is to be an instrumental force in the promotion and development of big band jazz in Manitoba and beyond, through performance, composition, recording and education.
Montreal-based alto and soprano saxophonist Christine Jensen is regarded as one of Canada’s most compelling composers and improvisers. She recently won the Downbeat Critic’s Poll for Rising Star Big Band, Arranger, and Soprano Saxophonist. She is also recipient of the Oscar Peterson Prize by the Montreal International Jazz Festival for her contributions to the Canadian jazz scene. Born in Sechelt and raised in Nanaimo, she has gone on to receive two Juno Awards for her jazz orchestra recordings Habitat and Treelines. Habitat received the coveted 5 stars in Downbeat, along with being included at the top of their critics polls for Jazz Album of the Year in 2014. She is on faculty at McGill University where she teaches composition and directs Jazz Orchestra 1.
A prolific composer and arranger, Jill Townsend is the leader of the critically acclaimed Jill Townsend Jazz Orchestra. JTJO has released two recordings to date earning them international recognition, and their 2015 recording Legacy, featuring the music of Ross Taggart was voted #1 in CBC’s Top Ten Outstanding CD’s of the Year. In addition, the Canadian National Jazz Awards twice nominated JTJO for Large Ensemble of the Year. Jill teaches jazz arranging and private composition at Capilano University, and is the Director of the Dues Big Band at Douglas College.
For the 2022 TD Winnipeg International Jazz Festival, Jill and Christine will present a Canada Council commission that will bring together their considerable writing talents to produce a unique work for the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra.