A cerebral and discerning artist with refined jazz technique, trumpeter and composer Erik Jekabson began his career as an independent musician in the Bay Area during the closing years of the 1990s. Residing in San Francisco, he divides his schedule between live performance and instruction, maintaining faculty roles at the California Jazz Conservatory, Los Medanos College, and Diablo Valley College. Although post-bop remains his primary focus, releases such as the 2012 album Anti-Mass, the 2017 recording Erik Jekabson Sextet, and the 2018 project The Falling Dream with his large ensemble the Electric Squeezebox Orchestra venture beyond expectations through explorations of Latin rhythms, funk, and chamber string textures.
Born in Berkeley, California, Jekabson took up music in childhood before choosing the trumpet at the age of ten. During adolescence his abilities secured a place on a 1991 tour of Japan alongside the Monterey Jazz Festival High School All-Star Big Band. Following secondary school he pursued jazz studies at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, which included nationwide travel to promote the institution’s jazz curriculum.
Upon completing his degree in 1994, Jekabson relocated to New Orleans, where his performances encompassed collaborations with trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, organist Eddy Louiss, and the jazz-funk ensemble Galactic. His 1998 relocation to New York City led to engagements with the Howard Fishman Quartet, the Illinois Jacquet Big Band, and his own post-bop group Vista. In 2003 he entered the graduate composition program at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music; while immersed in the local scene he also toured with singer/songwriter John Mayer.
The 2010 release Crescent Boulevard marked his next recorded statement. Two years afterward Anti-Mass appeared, presenting his string arrangements for the compact chamber jazz group the String-tet. The 2014 live recording Live at the Hillside Club captured performances with his quartet and percussionist John Santos. In 2016 he issued the refined A Brand New Take. The 2017 album Erik Jekabson Quintet blended fusion and post-bop elements, while the Electric Squeezebox Orchestra’s second album The Falling Dream arrived in 2018 during the band’s extended residency at the California Jazz Conservatory; Jekabson served as producer and contributed three of the ten compositions. The Erik Jekabson Sextet followed later that same year. In 2019 he reunited with the Electric Squeezebox Orchestra for Matter Is, which incorporated vocal and big-band arrangements. Early in 2020 the small-group session One Note at a Time explored soulful fusion, Latin, and post-bop directions.
