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Friday, January 17, 2025
Neither a classical chamber orchestra, despite its strings, bassoon and oboe reeds, and french horn and tuba brass, nor a standard jazz big band with guitar, acoustic and electric bass, vibes, and vocalise singers, but more accurately an ensemble of 22 Bay Area musicians who created a brilliant, powerful amalgamation of classical and jazz, including free and fusion, in a contemporary, adventurous version of Third Stream. The music is not jazz improvisation 'with strings' nor jazz-like classical music in the manner of Gershwin. The arrangements are as warm as Ellington's, as comfortable as a Copland ballet, as romantic and colorful as Maria Schneider's scenic offerings, and as dynamic as Ravel and Prokofiev. Erik Jekabson is a jazz trumpeter and composer with conservatory training at Oberland and San Francisco and with jazz gig experiences in New Orleans, New York, and France.
Influenced by minimalistic and avant-garde classical composers who look to rock and free jazz for exploration, Jekabson's new album, Breakthrough, is a collection of new and revisited originals that also push boundries. Interestingly, his is within a zeitgeist that finds, via commissions from Ryan Truesdell, jazz composers writing classically for string quartets, Joshua Redman joining with the Brooklyn Rider quartet in a classical fusion work, and the same quartet and ETHEL quartet performing with traditional world music groups. The opening tracks, inspired by his then seven-year old daughter, depict her lively quirky spirit with lyrical, joyful trumpet and woodwinds twirling, skipping. The Whisperer begins with drum fanfare that continues the pulsing rhythm against brass harmonies, Jekabson's flugelhorn, and electric bass until the guitar solo of Jeffrey Burr sings the message in the middle section. After the strings introduce A Centered Vibe, the vibraphone of course makes an appearance, but the strings dominate in the tense flow.
Speedway Meadow, an area in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, has the two vocalists, in jazz harmony, pairing with Mads Tollling's violin and Matt Renzi's clarinet in the happy tropical romp. Pizzicato quartet strings figure in Sun on the Keys in dialogue with trumpet. Mads returns in Above the Clouds with trumpet in pursuit as strings bow the rapid beat; the vivid image shifts to propelling bass and drums as the duo instruments soar higher. El Don brings forth the tuba in a two-decades-old brass, piano, and guitar work written with Birth of The Cool in mind. The strings rest. The peculiar title Washington As a Surveyor is based on a poem, and has solo violin, oboe, and flute featured in the richly lyrical theme; guitar arpeggios mark the territory at the end. The three parts of Into the Jungle was a piece for the San Francisco Composer Chamber Orchestra and is the most classical in score, being essentially a trumpet concerto and tone poem. The deep gong and vibraphone with other percussion and woodwind bird and animal sounds mark the first section's tropical atmosphere. The 69-minute album leaves the listener breathless, amazed, and excited. Orchestral, nay, Chamber Ensemble Jazz has planted the flag. More, more!