'Music will heal': Canadian trumpeter Jens Lindemann faces losing home in wildfires

A handout photograph shows what remains of Jens Lindeman's home after the Los Angeles wildfires destroyed the property on Thursday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Jens Lindemann

Canadian trumpeter Jens Lindemann says his love of music will help carry him through the devastating loss of his family home in the Pacific Palisades wildfires.

The 58-year-old Edmonton native is about a month away from taking the stage in South Carolina for a concert written by legendary jazz composer Wynton Marsalis.

And he said preparing for that performance will be “a healing moment for the soul” as he faces life after the destruction of the California fires, which continue to burn with tens of thousands of people still under evacuation orders.

“This means more to me than any concert I have played to date — and I’m not overstating that,” Lindemann said in a video call on Monday.

“If I can immerse myself in that work, then I get distracted from the horrible reality that is going to be there for my wife and I for quite a while.”

“Music will heal,” he added.

As he and his wife fled on Thursday, Lindemann grabbed eight of his 35 trumpets, his Order of Canada pin and a few other items. Their home was engulfed in flames several hours later, which they learned by seeing the charred property on the TV news.

Over the weekend the couple relocated to a friend’s home in Phoenix to prepare for living as “vagabonds.”

“It’s not day-to-day,” he said. “It’s hour-by-hour.”

“The pain and the ache is something you can’t really explain,” he added, pointing to his piano and artwork as a couple of the countless items lost in the blaze.

“There’s a hollowness, and the stuff (you saved) just becomes things that you look at, and it makes you miss the fact that you quite simply don’t have a home.”

Other Canadian musicians and artists based in Los Angeles face similar displacement.

Brian Hughes, a longtime guitarist in Loreena McKennitt’s band, lost all of his recording equipment and a collection of guitars when the Eaton fire destroyed his Altadena home and studio.

Actors Eugene Levy and Joshua Jackson, as well as music producer Greg Wells, are among the other Canadians whose homes were lost.

Hearing stories like these motivated the Darcys to take action over the weekend.

The indie rock act, who originated in Toronto, lives in the Echo Park neighbourhood of L.A., a safe distance from the fires but close enough to feel the toll it was taking on the people around them.

“Without having children or pets of our own that we had to protect, we realized that our sense of wanting to take care of people was for ... our community,” said band member Jason Couse.

Turning to their fans on social media, they crowdsourced enough money to fill their large tour van with non-perishable food and other essential items.

Loaded up with bottled water, diapers, face masks and protein bars, they drove between the donation centres in the affected areas.

“We were a small and mighty team,” bandmate Wes Marskell said of their 2009 Chevrolet Express.

“And we’re lucky to have a job that allows us more time to keep accumulating supplies or moving things around for people.”

While the wildfires continue to burn, Lindemann said the numbing reality of the past week is slowly starting to set in. In some ways, he said, it has forever changed him.

“When you go through something like this, it’s something you’ll talk about the rest of your life,” he said.

“It’ll come up at dinner parties. It’ll come up in post-concert. With time, you’ll start to heal from this and hopefully be strengthened by it.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 13, 2024.

David Friend, The Canadian Press