Berkeley native Erik Jekabson and his String-tet celebrate the release of their new CD, Anti-Mass, a chamber-jazz concept album inspired by artwork from San Francisco's de Young Museum.  Erik is a young trumpeter, composer, and educator, with a sound that Allmusic Guide has described as "a perfect balance between melodic artistry and probing, knotty jazz improvisation."  You might hear the influence of early Miles Davis in playing that comes across as crisp and precise, yet capable of soaring buoyantly into uncharted territory.  His first two albums, Intersection and Crescent Boulevard, are filled with well-crafted originals, but also include a few re-imagined classics like Harold Arlen’s "My Shining Hour."
 
Erik earned his Bachelor's degree from the Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College and his Master's from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.  He's spent time on the road with Illinois Jacquet, John Mayer, Galactic, and the Howard Fishman Quartet, and has performed at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Algonquin Room, and Madison Square Garden, as well as on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with David Letterman.  He currently divides his time between leading his own groups, playing and composing for other bands, and teaching at Chabot College, Cal State East Bay, and our neighbor, the Jazzschool.
 
His talented String-tet includes Michael Zilber on tenor sax, Mads Tolling on violin, Charith Premawardhana on viola, John Wiitala on bass, Smith Dobson on drums and vibraphone, and Erik himself on trumpet and flugelhorn.  For a jazzy take on classical, and a classical take on jazz, be sure to catch Erik and his String-tet at the Freight.

What happens if you take five extremely talented classical musicians, bring them together in a Mission District café every Sunday night for a few years, and turn them loose for a chamber music jam session?  The answer is the Musical Art Quintet, who play what they call Nuevo Chamber, a new genre that blends world music with classical, weaving together strands of everything from Argentine tango to Afro-Cuban son, from klezmer to electronica. SF Weekly calls it "globe-hopping, dance-inspiring, gorgeous work." Whatever you call it, it’s catchy, intricate, and lovely.  With Anthony Blea and Jory Fankuchen on violin, Charith Premawardhana on viola, Shain Carrasco on cello, and Sascha Jacobsen on string bass, the Musical Art Quintet brings classical music out of the concert hall and into the Coffeehouse, sweetened with influences from around the world and stirred with clever improvisation.

Visit Erik Jekabson's website

Visit Musical Art Quintet's website

Listen to a track from Erik Jekabson:

Musical Art Quintet photo by Freda Banks