Erik Jekabson

Breakthrough

Wide Hive

Bay Area trumpeter and composer Erik Jekabson’s album title “Breakthrough” may sound pompous on the surface but it’s an honest description as he’s never delivered an orchestral work as a leader. This highly textural album is at times positively breathtaking as he’s assembled the combination of a chamber orchestra and a jazz combo, comprising 15 musicians. Strings, brasses, and woodwinds commingle with a jazz rhythm section as Jekabson embraces the Third Stream. It may not be quite as risky as it seems though as Jekabson has long admired contemporary minimalist classical composers and the European strains found in the ECM sound. He is continually searching for new avenues as he is the house arranger/composer for the west coast Berkeley label, Wide Hive.

Jekabson recruited this bevy of talented musicians, mostly from the Bay Area, including pianist Dan Zemelman, bassist Dan Feiszli, drummer Jason Lewis, vibraphonist Dillon Vado, and guitarists Jeffrey Burr and Max Brody. The A-list string section includes multi-Grammy Award winner violinists Mads Tolling (Turtle Island Quartet) and violist Charith Premawardhana, both of whom appeared on Jekabson’s acclaimed 2012 “Anti-Mass.” Woodwinds include Mary Fettig (Stan Kenton Orchestra) on flutes, Dana Bauer on oboe and English horn, Matt Renzi on reeds, and Jeff Cressman on trombone. Jekabson is ever present on expressive trumpet and flugelhorn.

The opening two-part “Jane Wants to Tell You Something” revolves around the spirit of his the seven-year-old daughter. You’ll hear hints of minimalism, and as it evolves into playfulness, the leader enters with an emphatic solo. The music is both cinematic and buoyant in feel and sets the stage for an album that takes many twists and turns and keeps one most engaged. Feiszli’s bass solo alone is captivating, welcoming the swelling surge of the orchestra. Although Jekabson did not set out to compose a suite, “The Whisperer” dovetails so smoothly as Jekabson authors a poignant, introspective flugelhorn solo, bathed in orchestral backdrop that yields to a arresting guitar spot from Burr. The tune abruptly breaks, setting up an ostinato passage followed by expressive trumpet and multiple layers of strings, brass, and woodwinds.

The string section establishes a fluttering groove with the full orchestra soon joining on “A Centered Vibe,” a feature eventually for vibraphonist Vado as the title indicates. Vado shines in the spotlight; his fluid touch pillowed by the orchestral colorings and grooving strings. While there is plenty of tension and release in this piece, “Speedway Meadow” is a stunning left turn with Jekabson’s trumpet beckoning the two soaring wordless vocalists Becca Burrington and Alexis Lane Jensen. Renzi on clarinet, Burr, and Jekabson deliver declarative solos. Pizzicato strings are prevalent in the string quartet backing Jekabson’s soaring trumpet in the classically imbued “Sun on the Keys” and the high flying “Above the Clouds” is a rapt duet between the trumpeter and Tolling, another with a classical feel.

The timbre of the project shifts toward jazz with “El Don,” a piece written almost two decades ago and inspired by Miles Davis’s nonet configuration on “Birth of the Cool.”  As with that one, strings are absent  and instead we have a chamber jazz feel punctuated by tubist Jonathan Seiberlich’s sole appearance and Renzi’s clear toned alto and tenor voicings along with Jekabson and pianist Zemelman. The lustrous, fully orchestral sound rejoins in “Washington as a Surveyor,” a lyrical piece driven by oboe and flute as well as Burr’s guitar, trumpet not withstanding. This odd meter piece is inspired by an Elizabeth Bishop poem .

It does turn out that there is a suite. The three-part “Into the Jungle” was originally written by Jekabson for the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra. In this setting, it is mini-trumpet concerto that evokes a myriad of visual imagery. Again, it speaks to Jekabson’s fondness for minimalism, stripping the drums out and keeping it within the framework of a chamber orchestra with the various woodwinds conjuring both bright and eerie sounds of nature. The brief reprise of “Sun on the Keys” becomes “Sunset on the Keys” in the closer which takes on a twilight tone as opposed to its bright predecessor.

Perhaps ‘landmark’ would be an equivalent title to ‘breakthrough.’ This masterful work sets the bar for that rare combination of classical and jazz. You will find your mind wandering to many places as you listen to this brilliant work.

– Jim Hynes

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