Among all the musical genres in the world, the sound of jazz is still the top international language spoken by musicians. A good example of the current state of global jazz can be appreciated on the 2025 album by Australian singer-songwriter Bonnie J Jensen. Produced by Ms. Jensen, Rise is actually her fifth solo album and it’s the perfect introduction to her voice and musical production.

Backed up by some top musicians and recorded in Sydney, Australia, RISE centers on a range of jazz classics, dusted off and reintroduced by Ms. Jensen and company. “People Make The World Go Round” (written by Thom Bell) and a 2025 version of Little River Band’s “Reminiscing” starts off the album. Both songs, long revered by music fans, are effectively delivered by Ms. Jensen with style and grace.

Also on RISE are covers of Herbie Hancock’s “Cantaloupe Island” (with lyrics by Mark Murphy) along with another Hancock cover of “Butterfly” (lyrics by Herbie’s late sister Jean Hancock) along with further covers written by Michael Franks (“Jive”), Chick Corea (“Spain”) with the album closing out with James Taylor’s “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight”.

The artist’s earlier albums, released between 2001 and 2011, Lucky So and So, Blue Joy, The Sapphire Tree, and Shimmer established Ms. Jensen earlier on with jazz fans in Australia. So clearly, armed with a stellar range of fresh covers and originals, RISE may very well be the album to bring Bonnie J Jensen’s talents front and center among American jazz fans.

 

RMR speaks with Bonnie J Jensen

RMR: You released four albums between 2001 and 2011. Is RISE your long-awaited back album? 

Bonnie J Jensen: After releasing Shimmer in 2010, I got busy with other aspects of my life, then Covid happened. A couple of years later, inspiration and serendipity struck, the planets aligned, and RISE was born!

 

RMR: Since you produced RISE, did you also choose the tracks you wanted to feature on the album and did you also choose the musicians you wanted backing you on the album? Who else was key in helping you create the RISE album?

Bonnie J Jensen: For this album, I chose, and wrote two, of the songs and all the ensemble musicians. Three of the tracks (“Reminiscing”, “Cantaloupe Island” and “Spend a Little Time with Me”) were recorded with the acclaimed Dan Barnett Big Band, but I chose all the soloists. As the years have progressed, I’ve have an increasingly clear idea of arrangements, instrumentation and the musicians I’d like to work with, and thankfully, everyone I wanted to collaborate on RISE was keen and available. As credited in the liner notes, Graham Jesse prepared all the music and wrote all the horns parts in addition to two of the Big Band charts for “Cantaloupe Island” and our original, “Spend a Little Time with Me”.

 

RMR: Tell us something else about your other album releases, and how would you compare RISE with your earlier albums?

Bonnie J Jensen: Each album has been a musical evolution of sorts. They’re all comprised of jazz standards, originals and my signature jazz-treatments of more contemporary tunes that often include reharmonization and rhythmic alterations. I enjoy putting a new spin on well-trod standards and pop tunes.

 

RMR: What is your musical background like? Did you study music, singing and songwriting formally and what artists, composers and musicians were most influential on your musical background?

Bonnie J Jensen: I grew up in New Zealand in a musical family, received piano, guitar and singing lessons from an early age and did all my classical exams on clarinet. Songwriting came naturally, perhaps initially inspired by the likes of James Taylor and Carole King, and by the time I was 18, I was working professionally as a pianist / vocalist and writing songs.

Discovering the beautiful and harmonically-sophisticated songs of Antonio Carlos Jobim had a profound effect on me. I also learned a great deal from listening to Shirley Horn, Julie London, Dianne Reeves, Miles Davis, Keith Jarrett and of course, Herbie Hancock.

 

RMR: What’s the current jazz music scene like in Australia and what Australian artists do you admire and currently listen to?

Bonnie J Jensen: I particularly admire vocalists Vince Jones and Michelle Nicole, whose style is very different to mine. There are numerous world class jazz instrumentalists in Australia, including Geoff Hughes (guitar), Matt McMahon (piano), Graham Jesse (multi-instrumentalist), Brett Hirst (bass), Ray Cassar (trumpet) and Nicolas McBride (drums) who is quite famous in China. They all collaborated on RISE. Pianist Joe Chindamo and saxophonist Dale Barlow are two other outstanding Australian talents.

 

RMR: Tell us about your record label. Was the RISE released by MGM Metropolitan Groove Merchants? The CD sounds and looks great. I’m happy artists are still releasing music on CD.

Bonnie J Jensen: MGM Metropolitan Groove Merchants and MGM Records are the same and not my record label, they are my distributor. I am an Independent artist fulfilling all label functions myself. MGM are my long time distributors, they make my music available all over the world for people to listen to.

 

RMR: Your cover of the Little River Band’s “Reminiscing” is a highpoint of RISE. What prompted you to record that track? Also the two Herbie Hancock covers of “Cantaloupe Island (with lyrics by vocalist Mark Murphy) and “Butterfly”, with lyrics by Herbie’s late sister Jean. You also cover Thom Bell, Chick Corea, Michael Franks and James Taylor too. Are those tracks long favorites of yours? Which covers were the most fun and which presented the most challenges?

Bonnie J Jensen: “Reminiscing” was a huge hit when I was in my late teens and I have the fondest memories of dancing around the lounge room with my sister to that wonderful song. I thought it would lend itself well to a Big Band format, so I asked the acclaimed arranger Andrew Robertson to arrange it for Big Band and I just love the lush chart that he wrote for it.

I’d been performing “Cantaloupe Island” for years and singing the wonderfully evocative lyrics that Mark Murphy wrote, always receiving a great reception, so it was a no-brainer to record that and Graham Jesse wrote the brilliant Big Band arrangement.

I was keen to record one of the songs from Michael Frank’s wonderful 1976 album The Art of Tea and chose the groovy 5/4 track “Jive” which we had fun with. Chick Corea’s “Spain” was perhaps the most challenging tune but we recorded it in only 3 takes as we’d all prepared well. There are not many vocal versions of "Spain" and I’m particularly proud of this recording which features a riveting piano solo from Matt McMahon.

 

RMR: Does living in Australia present special challenges as it’s so far from North America and Europe? What other musical activities do you have planned for 2025?

Bonnie J Jensen: Naturally, I wish that Australia wasn’t so far away from the USA and Europe, but we sure do have wonderful beaches and Sydney is a gorgeous place to live! I love to holiday and perform in Europe. I’ve just returned from two weeks in France and expect to be working in Sydney for the rest of the year where we’re presently working on a launch show for RISE.