News Hopper
Aitkin, Minnesota November 26, 2005
Grand Rapids pianist does benefit to
help Katrina victims
by Connie Pettersen Freelance writer
If you've been to the
Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, you may have seen Michael Jensen
playing piano for tourists, especially during the 2004 and 2005 Judy
Garland Music Festivals.
Jensen has been asked
to do an upcoming benefit concert to support Hurricane Katrina
victims. The event, sponsored by Itasca Community College Student
Government, will be Wed., Dec 7 at 11:30 a.m. and again at 7:30 p.m.
at Davies Theater, Itasca Community College, Hwy. 169 E., Grand
Rapids. Donations will be accepted at the door and all proceeds go to
Hurricane Katrina relief.
Jensen, a self-taught
pianist, quickly credits his musical and writing talent as a "God
given ability." He also comes from a family of gifted artists and
musicians. Two of his siblings are nationally or internationally
renown in art, his mother is an artist/writer, and his deceased
sister, Jackie Jensen-Dingmann, was an established portrait artist.
Although Michael
Jensen had no formal piano lessons while growing up, he took a few
required for liberal arts in college. Over the years, he has
accumulated fans that have encouraged him to record. Jensen has now
released his second solo piano CD, Over the Rainbow.
"The song, Over the
Rainbow, had a major impact on me as a kid," Jensen said. "I
bonded with it. That's how it ended up on my first album, Red Sky
at Night. I sold that CD to the director of the Judy Garland
Museum and he invited me to play for the festival."
Having been along time
fan of Judy Garland, Michael Jensen also shares the bond of both
coming from Grand Rapids roots. Honored to be asked to play for the
Festival, Jensen soon discovered that Garland had been baptized at the
same Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids where he had practiced playing
piano as a young man.
Although Judy Garland
left the area as a child, Jensen remained there until college. In May
1992, his mother, Helen, had a stroke. Jensen, a certified CNA,
volunteered to leave Minneapolis and return to the area to care for
Helen, who was then in a convalescent center. "The day I came home,
they released her," Jensen said. "it was a real nice feeling wheeling
her out of there and bringing her home."
Since being back in
the Grand Rapids area, Judy Garlands' music has again impacted Michael
Jensen's life. His CD, Over the Rainbow, features four
different versions of the title song as well as, The Smiles that Go
On, which Jensen wrote and dedicated to three important women in
his life: his mother for her lifelong encouragement and love of the
arts, in Judy Garland's memory because of her musical influence, and
in memory of his sister, Jackie, who founded the Judy Garland museum
in 1975 and who died in 1999 of breast cancer.
Jensen's interest in
piano began as a youth. Third youngest of eight brothers and sisters,
they didn't have a piano at home while growing up. "I was raised
Catholic, but was often at the Methodist Church to attend Boy Scout
meetings," Jensen said. "Several of us would ride share with
neighbors." Sometimes there would be two-hour waits after troop
meetings to get a ride home. There was a piano sitting all by itself
in the Sunday school area and Jensen was "just drawn to it."
By the time Jensen
reached high school, his interest in piano became a passion. He
joined the Episcopal Church's Youth Corps. "Rev. Father Paul Berg
told me I could use the Fellowship Hall piano anytime I wanted,"
Jensen recalled. "He could hear me playing from his office and liked
my music."
In college, Jensen
continued playing and people often were drawn to listen. "In my life,
I only took ten piano lessons to fulfill college requirement," Jensen
said, who obtained a Bachelor's Degree in geography form the
University of Minnesota and an Associate of Applied Science from I
Itasca Community College. A grand piano at ICC was available for
Jensen's use and he played during noon hours. "I started hearing
people come in. I didn't look up as I was kind of nervous, but people
regularly stopped by to listen."
Also during college,
Jensen saw an advertisement about an employment agency that set
students up with jobs in Europe. Excited about working abroad, he
decided it would be a great opportunity to see the world. "But when I
got there, I found they'd sent me to a job that didn't exist. At one
time the agency was legitimate, but when things got tougher, they went
illegitimate."
Jensen not only found
the employment company closed, they had absconded with everybody's
money. He was able to find work on his own, washing dishes in
Grindelwald, Switzerland. The waiters, waitresses, and kitchen help
all lived in an old chalet that was once the hotel. "It had creaky
floors and everything, but I liked it a lot," Jensen said. "There was
a piano there that I used to play a lot and some of the wait staff
would come listen." While in Europe, Jensen also worked in London at
a clothing store, and for a shipping company in Italy. By then, a
year later, he was getting homesick to return to the States.
Besides his musical
ability, Jensen also has written two novels, two motion picture
screenplays, twenty one short stories and numerous personal
experience/memoirs about interactions with people or wildlife. He
admits to being "very close to nature."
When asked to play for
his very first public performance at the 2004 Judy Garland Festival,
Jensen remembers being a bit tense. He decided to set pictures on the
piano of his mom, Judy Garland, and his sister Jackie. "I don't know
if it was nervous energy, or what, but I wrote a song about Judy
Garland's smile," Jensen said. "That song also closely related to
other smiles that go on, and I thought about my sister Jackie and my
mother. I wanted to recreate that metaphor. I explain it in the text
inside my album cover."
Both album covers of
Jensen's CD's were designed by him. For, Over the Rainbow, he
used a 1940's autographed photo of Judy Garland that she'd given her
hairdresser. After mailing his Red Sky at Night album to Lorna
Luft, Judy Garland's daughter, Luft granted Jensen rare permission to
use her mother's photograph and signature. A rainbow and picture of
Garland's childhood home, now the Judy Garland Museum, is on the
outside cover. Then after obtaining authorization from the publisher
of Over the Rainbow to use the words, he superimposed them over
the portrait Jackie had painted of Judy Garland.
Helen Jensen, now 89,
is one of her son's greatest fans. "God has given Michael a special
talent and wants that gift to be known," Helen said. She accompanies
her son on what he calls his "CD journeys" where he has sold CD's
across North and South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, and Utah, many to
establishments with waiting areas like salons and clinics who enjoy
his soothing piano solos.
Both of Jensen's CD's
are available at
www.michaeljensenpiano.com at the Judy Garland Museum, Wings and
Willow, Shaw Florist, A-1 Nail salon, and Crippa music in Grand
Rapids. They can also be found at the Beanery in Aitkin, Northern
Lights Books and Blue Note Cafe in Duluth, or ordered from Michael
Jensen at his website or email
mwjensen@2z.net or phone 218/326-5368.
"A fan is designing a
web site for me
www.michaeljensenpiano.com " Jensen said, "but it's still under
construction. God does have wondrous ways. So many things are
happening at no cost to me. I very much appreciate all the help and
support I have received and thank everyone."
I feel the very best bio
I could give is to share a few of the many compliments I've received
from fans of many walks of life in regard to my debut album. I feel
like they are all here at the launching of my ship. Also read several
recent newspaper articles about me found below the quotes. Other than
that, I've played piano since age 11. I credit my family of eight
brothers and sisters of exceptional artistic talent (two of national
and another of international renown) for my music. The Director of
The Wurlitzer Foundation ordered (I've been awarded artist
residencies there on three occasions.) seven copies as gifts for the
Foundation's anonymous selections committee. Since 1954 Wurlitzer
Foundation has awarded residencies artists from all over the world
that stay there. Thanks for your consideration!!!
"An essence shines through the CD which this world
seems to be too "at large" to consider or comprehend/produce. Change
is in the air - and it's artwork like yours that is the vanguard of
the transformation."
"I just listened to your CD with my daughter. We both agree, it's the
most beautiful thing we've ever heard!"
"I feel your album is truly anointed!"
"I played it when I got home from work and just sat there and listened
to the whole album five times over."
"It is a wonderful recording. I am enjoying it thoroughly, playing it
over and over again and enjoying it more with each new playing. It's
delightful! It is meditative, contemplative, emotional and
heartwarming. I am confident it will do well. In fact, I would like to
purchase copies for members of the board and others..." an arts
foundation director.
"I play it often in my shop and have so many customers comment on it.
My husband is also a fan of your music. Stop next trip through Rapid
City, South Dakota."
"What an amazing job you did... you should be very proud. You have a
gift for flowing music, reminiscent of some early George Winston
records I have. Very listenable - very inspiring. ...I will treasure
it." Retired piano instructor
"Had some guests over last evening and your beautiful piano playing
was a great backdrop to a lovely evening. Had lots of good comments
about your CD."
"When I heard it, I cried."
"I was cleaning my windows and listening, your music... made them
somehow clearer."
"Your music is wonderful. I haven't chosen a favorite yet and I find
sometimes I will listen to it very loud or very quiet; it also depends
what the weather is doing. It's music for all my feelings."
"Beautiful CD!"
"Red Sky at Night, is fantastic! We are grateful for the encouragement
he (son who is studying piano) gets from the realization that hard
work and talent can result in works such as yours."
"Blessings and joy to you - and that's what you bring to others. I'm
enjoying your CD so much - and wondering about the next project."
"...regarding your own album, which, by the way I think is a
masterpiece. I say this to you from the bottom of my heart, that
moment in Judy's (Judy Garland Festival 2004) with you beautifully
playing "Over The Rainbow" while I was standing on the very landing
she went up and down as a child, I was looking at her baby photo atop
the piano, will remain one of the most glorious images in my mind for
eternity. There were tears in my eyes. Your gift as a pianist is
nothing less than extraordinary." Professional vocalist
"Thanks again for agreeing to play for us again-we are really looking
forward to it!" Depot Heritage and Arts Center Duluth, Minnesota
"Thank you so much for the CD, it is very relaxing & beautiful. You
will go far."
"I have been enjoying listening to your compositions over the last
week or so. It is quite a lengthy CD that you composed and I was very
impressed by not only its artistic contents but its sensitivity and
actual length ...an accomplished pianist...."
"...you have a gift."
"If we get a Jerome Foundation grant, I want to have my students
perform a ballet around your music." Director American Ballet Company
"I just wanted to let you know I am now a member of your fan club! The
CD is fantastic; I wish I could play even remotely close to how you
do! Too bad we don't live closer and you could give me lessons ha ha!
Let me know if you make more CD's in the future!"
"Loved listening to your recording!"
"Just to drop a line that I played, Stranger On The Shore"....
Beautiful piece!" radio announcer at WTIP FM 90.7 North Shore Radio
"I already think you are great, and listen to your CD often. I play it
loud so I can hear every key stroke. My neighbors must think I have a
piano, and know how to play it."
News Hopper
Aitkin, Minnesota November 26, 2005
Grand Rapids pianist does benefit to
help Katrina victims
by Connie Pettersen Freelance writer
If you've been to the
Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, you may have seen Michael Jensen
playing piano for tourists, especially during the 2004 and 2005 Judy
Garland Music Festivals.
Jensen has been asked
to do an upcoming benefit concert to support Hurricane Katrina
victims. The event, sponsored by Itasca Community College Student
Government, will be Wed., Dec 7 at 11:30 a.m. and again at 7:30 p.m.
at Davies Theater, Itasca Community College, Hwy. 169 E., Grand
Rapids. Donations will be accepted at the door and all proceeds go to
Hurricane Katrina relief.
Jensen, a self-taught
pianist, quickly credits his musical and writing talent as a "God
given ability." He also comes from a family of gifted artists and
musicians. Two of his siblings are nationally or internationally
renown in art, his mother is an artist/writer, and his deceased
sister, Jackie Jensen-Dingmann, was an established portrait artist.
Although Michael
Jensen had no formal piano lessons while growing up, he took a few
required for liberal arts in college. Over the years, he has
accumulated fans that have encouraged him to record. Jensen has now
released his second solo piano CD, Over the Rainbow.
"The song, Over the
Rainbow, had a major impact on me as a kid," Jensen said. "I
bonded with it. That's how it ended up on my first album, Red Sky
at Night. I sold that CD to the director of the Judy Garland
Museum and he invited me to play for the festival."
Having been along time
fan of Judy Garland, Michael Jensen also shares the bond of both
coming from Grand Rapids roots. Honored to be asked to play for the
Festival, Jensen soon discovered that Garland had been baptized at the
same Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids where he had practiced playing
piano as a young man.
Although Judy Garland
left the area as a child, Jensen remained there until college. In May
1992, his mother, Helen, had a stroke. Jensen, a certified CNA,
volunteered to leave Minneapolis and return to the area to care for
Helen, who was then in a convalescent center. "The day I came home,
they released her," Jensen said. "it was a real nice feeling wheeling
her out of there and bringing her home."
Since being back in
the Grand Rapids area, Judy Garlands' music has again impacted Michael
Jensen's life. His CD, Over the Rainbow, features four
different versions of the title song as well as, The Smiles that Go
On, which Jensen wrote and dedicated to three important women in
his life: his mother for her lifelong encouragement and love of the
arts, in Judy Garland's memory because of her musical influence, and
in memory of his sister, Jackie, who founded the Judy Garland museum
in 1975 and who died in 1999 of breast cancer.
Jensen's interest in
piano began as a youth. Third youngest of eight brothers and sisters,
they didn't have a piano at home while growing up. "I was raised
Catholic, but was often at the Methodist Church to attend Boy Scout
meetings," Jensen said. "Several of us would ride share with
neighbors." Sometimes there would be two-hour waits after troop
meetings to get a ride home. There was a piano sitting all by itself
in the Sunday school area and Jensen was "just drawn to it."
By the time Jensen
reached high school, his interest in piano became a passion. He
joined the Episcopal Church's Youth Corps. "Rev. Father Paul Berg
told me I could use the Fellowship Hall piano anytime I wanted,"
Jensen recalled. "He could hear me playing from his office and liked
my music."
In college, Jensen
continued playing and people often were drawn to listen. "In my life,
I only took ten piano lessons to fulfill college requirement," Jensen
said, who obtained a Bachelor's Degree in geography form the
University of Minnesota and an Associate of Applied Science from I
Itasca Community College. A grand piano at ICC was available for
Jensen's use and he played during noon hours. "I started hearing
people come in. I didn't look up as I was kind of nervous, but people
regularly stopped by to listen."
Also during college,
Jensen saw an advertisement about an employment agency that set
students up with jobs in Europe. Excited about working abroad, he
decided it would be a great opportunity to see the world. "But when I
got there, I found they'd sent me to a job that didn't exist. At one
time the agency was legitimate, but when things got tougher, they went
illegitimate."
Jensen not only found
the employment company closed, they had absconded with everybody's
money. He was able to find work on his own, washing dishes in
Grindelwald, Switzerland. The waiters, waitresses, and kitchen help
all lived in an old chalet that was once the hotel. "It had creaky
floors and everything, but I liked it a lot," Jensen said. "There was
a piano there that I used to play a lot and some of the wait staff
would come listen." While in Europe, Jensen also worked in London at
a clothing store, and for a shipping company in Italy. By then, a
year later, he was getting homesick to return to the States.
Besides his musical
ability, Jensen also has written two novels, two motion picture
screenplays, twenty one short stories and numerous personal
experience/memoirs about interactions with people or wildlife. He
admits to being "very close to nature."
When asked to play for
his very first public performance at the 2004 Judy Garland Festival,
Jensen remembers being a bit tense. He decided to set pictures on the
piano of his mom, Judy Garland, and his sister Jackie. "I don't know
if it was nervous energy, or what, but I wrote a song about Judy
Garland's smile," Jensen said. "That song also closely related to
other smiles that go on, and I thought about my sister Jackie and my
mother. I wanted to recreate that metaphor. I explain it in the text
inside my album cover."
Both album covers of
Jensen's CD's were designed by him. For, Over the Rainbow, he
used a 1940's autographed photo of Judy Garland that she'd given her
hairdresser. After mailing his Red Sky at Night album to Lorna
Luft, Judy Garland's daughter, Luft granted Jensen rare permission to
use her mother's photograph and signature. A rainbow and picture of
Garland's childhood home, now the Judy Garland Museum, is on the
outside cover. Then after obtaining authorization from the publisher
of Over the Rainbow to use the words, he superimposed them over
the portrait Jackie had painted of Judy Garland.
Helen Jensen, now 89,
is one of her son's greatest fans. "God has given Michael a special
talent and wants that gift to be known," Helen said. She accompanies
her son on what he calls his "CD journeys" where he has sold CD's
across North and South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, and Utah, many to
establishments with waiting areas like salons and clinics who enjoy
his soothing piano solos.
Both of Jensen's CD's
are available at
www.michaeljensenpiano.com at the Judy Garland Museum, Wings and
Willow, Shaw Florist, A-1 Nail salon, and Crippa music in Grand
Rapids. They can also be found at the Beanery in Aitkin, Northern
Lights Books and Blue Note Cafe in Duluth, or ordered from Michael
Jensen at his website or email
mwjensen@2z.net or phone 218/326-5368.
"A fan is designing a
web site for me
www.michaeljensenpiano.com " Jensen said, "but it's still under
construction. God does have wondrous ways. So many things are
happening at no cost to me. I very much appreciate all the help and
support I have received and thank everyone."
Grand Rapids Herald
Review
Grand Rapids,
Minnesota March 9, 2005
Tracks and Trails
of Life in Northern Minnesota Magazine
Musical Dreams
of Grand Rapids Native
by Britta Arendt Staff
Writer
He plays with a
soothing modesty evocative of remote whispers from the forest, tiny
ripples on the lake and the soft colors of a delicate rainbow. What
was once a comforting secret shared only with those chance enough to
catch an earshot is now an open door into the beautiful dreams of
Grand Rapids native Michael Jensen -- inspired by nature, fostered by
family and enlightened by a special connection with the late Judy
Garland.
"My means of artistic
expression with piano is derived from a common theme in life, one of
love and kindness, a reaching out that something I can only hope
brings peace and inspiration to all, an appreciation of the beauty of
God's creation," explained Jensen whose debut solo album "Red Sky at
Night" has recently been described as "Graceful," "Articulate," and
"Progressive," by the world's largest online distributor of
independent musicians CDBaby.
Jensen first began
playing the piano when he was a young man in Boy Scouts. Born into a
family of nine children, his father worked for a nearby mercantile and
they could not afford a piano. So, while he waited for a ride home
from Boy Scout meetings at the Grand Rapids Episcopal Church, Jensen
started to teach himself to play on the youth room piano.
"The piano was within
hearing distance from the office of Rev. Paul Berg who said, "'That
sounds so very nice, you come back here anytime, I mean anytime you
want,'" smiled Jensen as he remembered the kind minister who was first
to appreciate the music of the timid and talented Boy Scout. "So I
would go back many times in the off hours to play."
In college at Itasca
Community College, where there were many pianos available to students,
Jensen took a course in beginner's piano. During lunch breaks, he
liked to play the grand piano on stage in Davies Hall. Turning on a
single backstage light, Jensen felt comfortable midst the darkness of
the auditorium and would play from his soul. But, every so often, he
remembers hearing the door open and close slightly. Too shy to move
his eyes off the keys, Jensen said he didn't dare move his head to
check who had tiptoed into the theater seats to listen.
"My own music helped
me relax, so it became a regular thing since I knew where the light
switch was."
During the evenings at
the college, Jensen had access to one of the oldest buildings on
campus, Bergh Hall, with his student custodial job. Often the person
to close up Bergh Hall, Jensen would venture up to an old piano that
was at the top floor and play while his music echoed down four flights
of stairs in the empty building. On one of these evenings the college
art teacher was getting supplies when she heard the beautiful music.
And after climbing up all of the stairs, she was very impressed to
find Jensen at the keys.
"I have to admit I
always played in the off hours. I didn't ever think I was really
good."
As he continued his
schooling at the University in Minneapolis and throughout several
travel experiences and jobs, Jensen continued to be drawn to the piano
as an instrument of personal comfort; but he was always too reserved
to play for others.
Then, he returned home
to Grand Rapids to take care of his mother and something happened that
would change his life forever.
"One of my mother's
friends heard the story of when my mothers was 18 and she gave her
piano to the church when her father died. That friend said God should
bring my mother back a piano. And, within about one day's notice, a
big delivery truck brought a very nice Baldwin to our house."
A very spiritual and
creative person, Jensen's entire family is artistic -- whether in
music, visual arts, or writing. His grandfather played the violin and
his mother Helen had a gift for playing the piano since she was
child. Jensen said he remembers he first fell in love with music when
he would listen to his sister Mary play her flute at dusk atop a hill
near their family farm.
"I related to them as
my roots, being around them -- that's where my creativity comes from,"
he said.
Although he is proud
of all of his very talented siblings like his older brother Gendron
Jensen whose artwork is displayed all over the world including the
Smithsonian in Washington D.C., he was especially inspired by his late
sister Jackie (Jensen) Dingmann whose paintings grace the halls of
many buildings in Grand Rapids as well as the Minnesota Capitol
rotunda in St. Paul. The original founder of the Judy Garland Museum
in Grand Rapids, Jackie died of breast cancer in 1999.
"'For Jackie,' my own
composition, occurred when I was grieving over the struggle of my late
sister Jackie," explained Jensen. "She deeply enjoyed earlier drafts
of many of my songs, including, 'For Jackie,' many times over in the
her final days."
In fact, it was his
sisters and mother who encouraged Jensen to record.
"If my sisters hadn't
told me I should record, all of this wouldn't have happened because I
didn't believe in myself," said Jensen who set up a recording studio
at his home to record "Red Sky at Night" and his anticipated second
album "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," which features variations of
Harold Arlen's "Over the Rainbow," sung by Judy Garland in the 1939
classic "The Wizard of Oz."
Last summer, Jensen
was invited to play during the annual Judy Garland Festival in the
living room of the Judy Garland Museum. Dressed in 1920s attire, he
played a rendition of "Over the Rainbow," as well as "For Jackie" and
"Judy's Smile" which was inspired by a photo of Judy Garland on the
museum piano. On breaks from playing, Jensen studied the displays at
the museum and came across the framed original of Judy Garland's
baptismal certificate which showed that Judy was baptized in 1922 at
the Episcopal Church where Jensen had first started to play piano.
Also a prolific
creative writer, guitar and banjo player, Jensen said he is influenced
by the music of Earl Scruggs, Vince Giraldi, George Winston and Leo
Koettke among others.
"My music comes from
my soul and from my dreams," said Jensen who also draws from nature
for inspiration. "The north woods is very important to me. I liked
what Ralph Emerson said, 'If you go into the woods long enough
something will happen.' And it's that truth and purity in nature that
speaks back to me. I always will write but my music is important for
my soul. It's my way of serving others and I have to get used to
playing in front of people. Birds don't sing in caves, they sing on
branches."
"Red Sky at Night" is
available in Grand Rapids at A-1 Nails, Cub Foods, Ogles Foods, Wings
and
Willows, Shaw Florists, the Judy Garland Museum gift shop, Crippa
Music, and The Blue Note in Duluth. Or, it can be ordered online at
www.michaeljensenpiano.com
or call Jensen at 218/326-5368.
