A magnetic resonance system (10), and corresponding method, image a subject using a conversion-free interleaved black and bright blood imaging (cfIBBI) sequence. A MR scanner (12) is controlled to perform a plurality of repetitions of a black blood imaging sequence (52). The black blood imaging sequence (52) includes a tissue nulling sub-sequence followed by a black blood acquisition sub-sequence (56) performed a time interval (TI) after the tissue nulling sub-sequence. The MR scanner (12) is further controlled to, between successive repetitions of the black blood imaging sequence (52), perform a bright blood imaging sequence (54) including the tissue nulling sub-sequence followed by a bright blood acquisition sub-sequence (58) performed the time interval (TI) after the tissue nulling sub-sequence. The time intervals (TI) of the black blood imaging sequence (52) and the bright blood imaging sequence (54) are of the same duration.