Breakthrough

Trumpeter Erik Jekabson showcases his jazz and orchestral skills on 2025s lushly realized Breakthrough. A Bay Area native, Jekabson has established himself as a revered improviser, touring and session player, and educator. While the core of his style is harmonically engaging and lyrical post-bop, he has explored string chamber music, Latin traditions, and even 70s-inspired funk-jazz alongside guitarist Gregory Howe in the collective Electric Squeezebox Orchestra. Again working with Howe as producer, Jekabson seemingly brings all of his varied experiences to bear on Breakthrough, an album that balances adventurous small-group jazz with intricate orchestral arrangements. Along with several special guests, the trumpeter is joined by a core ensemble of longtime associates, including pianist Dan Zemelman, bassist Dan Feiszli, drummer Jason Lewis, and (at various times) guitarists Jeffrey Burr and Max Brody. He also enlists a small army of orchestral string, woodwind, brass, and percussion musicians to bring his arrangements to life. Jekabson opens with the two-part "Jane Wants to Tell You Something," framing his warm trumpet lines with shimmering waves of woodwinds and strings, evoking a Steve Reich-ian take on ECM jazz. Its an organically textural approach that he returns to throughout the album, as on "A Centered Vibe," with vibraphonist Dillon Vado, and "Above the Clouds," with violinist Mads Tolling. Tolling also shows upon the airy "Washington as a Surveyor," where he and Jekabson soar birdlike against a dewy backdrop of flute, strings, and spacey electric guitar accents. A second multi-part movement, "Into the Jungle," rounds out the latter end of the album and, as with much of Breakthrough, finds Jekabson conjuring a vibrant blend of influences from the glimmering, minimalist orchestrations of Philip Glass and John Adams to the moody, sunbaked atmospheres of Miles Davis and arranger Gil Evans large-ensemble works. ~ Matt Collar