Erik Jekabson (born March 23, 1973) is an American jazz
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
er,
flugelhorn player, and
vibraphonist
The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...
. A Bay Area-based musician, he is known for the jazz group The Electric Squeezebox Orchestra, which he leads.
He is also a composer and arranger.
Biography
Jekabson graduated from the
San Francisco Conservatory of Music
The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) is a private music conservatory in San Francisco, California. As of 2021, it had 480 students.
History
The San Francisco Conservatory of Music was founded in 1917 by Ada Clement and Lillian Hodg ...
in 2006, having already studied at the
Oberlin Conservatory of Music
The Oberlin Conservatory of Music is a private music conservatory in Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. It was founded in 1865 and is the second oldest conservatory and oldest continually operating conservatory in the United States. It is one of ...
and having toured in Japan in the 1990s.
While in
from 1994 to 1998 he played with
Kermit Ruffins
Kermit Ruffins (born December 19, 1964) is an American jazz trumpeter, singer, composer, and actor from New Orleans. He has been influenced by Louis Armstrong and Louis Jordan and says that the highest note he can hit on trumpet is a high C. He ...
,
Eddy Louiss
Eddy Louiss (2 May 1941 – 30 June 2015) was a French jazz musician.
Eddy started playing in his father Pierre's orchestra in the 1950s. Pierre changed the family name from Louise to Louiss. As a vocalist, he was a member of Les Double Six of ...
, and the jam band
Galactic
Galactic is an American jam band from New Orleans, Louisiana.
Origins and background
Formed in 1994 as an octet (under the name Galactic Prophylactic) and including singer Chris Lane and guitarist Rob Gowen, the group was soon pared down to a ...
.
While enrolled at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, he toured with guitarist and singer
John Mayer, calling the tour "a whole other level of touring."
While in New York City, he performed with jazz saxophonist
Illinois Jacquet
Jean-Baptiste "Illinois" Jacquet (October 30, 1922 – July 22, 2004) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, best remembered for his solo on " Flying Home", critically recognized as the first R&B saxophone solo.
Although he was a pioneer of ...
;
on TV he has played on the
''Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' and ''
Late Night with David Letterman''.
In 2012, he co-released an album with pianist
Art Lande, ''The Silver Fox'', in the Arterik Quartet. The album included two discs, each disc including the compositions of one of the co-leaders. The same year he released ''Anti-Mass'', recorded in 2011 with the String-tet
chamber group, including
Dayna Stephens
Dayna Stephens (born August 1, 1978) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. In addition to leading his own group, Stephens has performed extensively with Kenny Barron, Ambrose Akinmusire, Taylor Eigsti, Julian Lage, Eric Harland, and Ger ...
. Jazz critic Matt Collar noted that, "while the nature of a string-based ensemble naturally encourages a ruminative, classically oriented sound, Anti-Mass is at its core a jazz album," comparing its style to the
Gil Evans
Ian Ernest Gilmore Evans (né Green; May 13, 1912 – March 20, 1988) was a Canadian–American jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest orchestrators in jazz, playing an important role i ...
/
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musi ...
collaborations of the early Third Stream era. The album was inspired by the
De Young Museum
The de Young Museum, formally the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, is a fine arts museum located in San Francisco, California. Located in Golden Gate Park, it is a component of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, along with the California Pala ...
, who commissioned Jekabson to write music for a sculpture in its gallery. Another recording in 2011, a live performance at the
Hillside Club
The Hillside Club is a neighborhood social club established in 1898 by residents of Berkeley, California's newly formed Northside neighborhood to protect the hills from unsightly grading and unsuitable buildings. It took its cue from the Arts ...
with percussionist
John Santos, was released in 2014 as the album ''Live at the Hillside Club.''
In 2020, he released ''One Note at a Time'' by the Erik Jekabson Sextet III, his eighth album as leader. Also on the album were saxophonist
Dave Ellis, guitarist Dave MacNab, bassist John Wiitala, drummer David Flores, and John Santos. Roger Farbey of ''
Jazz Journal
''Jazz Journal'' is a British jazz magazine established in 1946 by Sinclair Traill (1904–1981). It was first published in London under the title ''Pick Up'', which Traill founded as a locus for serious jazz criticism in Britain.Roberta Freund Sc ...
'' described the album as achieving a "consistently high level of musicianship" throughout its contrasting themes.
The Mercury News
''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidia ...
noted the album "The Last Days of Studio A" (2021) with Jekabson on trumpet as one of the "favorite 2021 releases by Bay Area artists," having been recorded shortly before the closure of
Fantasy Studios
Fantasy Studios was a music recording studio in Berkeley, California, at the Zaentz Media Center, known for its recording of award-winning albums including Journey's ''Escape'' and Green Day's ''Dookie''. Built as a private recording studio for ...
.
Jekabson has performed tributes to former jazz trumpeters, including
Chet Baker and
Clifford Brown.
Discography
As leader
* ''Intersection'' (2004,
Fresh Sound, New Talent)
* ''Crescent Boulevard'' (2010, Jekab's Music)
* ''Anti-Mass'' (2012, Jekab's Music)
* ''Live at the Hillside Club'' (2014, Jekab's Music)
* ''Cheap Rent'' (2015, OA2 Records)
* ''A Brand New Take'' (2016, OA2 Records)
* ''Erik Jekabson Quintet'' (2017,
Wide Hive Records
Wide Hive Records is an independent record label based in Berkeley, California. It was founded by Gregory Howe in 1997 in San Francisco's Mission District as a record label, live music venue, recording studio and café.
In its early incarnation ...
)
* ''The Falling Dream'' (2018, OA2 Records)
* ''Erik Jekabson Sextet'' (2018, Wide Hive Records)
* ''Matter Is'' (2019, doubleOone)
* ''One Note at a Time'' (2020, Oklahoma Wind Music)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jekabson, Erik
Living people
American trumpeters
21st-century trumpeters
1973 births