Ever since I got serious about writing music, I've loved to stroll through museums and imagine what the artwork would sound like. Usually, when staring at a piece that really interests me, the music that comes into my head contains fresh new textures, colors, melodies, harmonies and dynamics; music I never would have come up with without the artwork's inspiration. The compositions on this CD are these sounds. They’re inspired by pieces in the permanent collection of the DeYoung Museum of San Francisco, and by aspects of the museum itself, such as its architecture, its surroundings, and its history of supporting artists. The music was composed for my String-tet, an ensemble of trumpet, tenor sax, violin, viola, bass and percussion. This instrumentation gives the String-tet great flexibility to go in many different musical directions, flexibility that I needed to interpret the great variety of artwork at the DeYoung Museum (not to mention interludes of strolling around looking for the next inspiration) Not only did I write the music for these instruments, but I wrote it with these specific players in mind, and it was great hearing the music "come to life" in their skilled hands. My hope is that this music conjures up new ideas, images, and colors in the head of YOU, the listener, and that you may be similarly inspired as I was, to try to create something new and different.

This recording captured the first time this band played together. I sent the musicians charts and recordings of a few of the tunes before hand, and we rehearsed at the Hillside Club the afternoon of the gig. After a dinner break, we performed the concert. Having master percussionist and bandleader John Santos share the stage with us added a whole new dimension to the music, and the combination of a new band, new music, and the positive vibe inside the stately old Berkeley landmark packed with an enthusiastic audience really brought the music to life that night. We had no plan of releasing the recording as a CD, but after listening to it many times, I felt that it captured the live spirit and spontaneity of an inspired performance. I'm proud to be able to share it with a wider audience. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed playing it! - Erik Jekabson, El Cerrito, CA February 2014

The first five tracks were recorded in New Orleans at Tim Stambaugh's Word of Mouth Studios in 1996. This was my first recording effort as a bandleader, and it featured my original music with a great band of young jazz musicians who were part of the music scene there in the late 90s. Saxophonist John Ellis was studying at University of New Orleans, pianist Andrew Adair had just moved to town to play music, bassist Jason Stewart, a New Orleans native, was playing all over town, and drummer Joshua Dixon had arrived from Vancouver, B.C. to hang and play on the scene. Josh sounds great on this recording, it's tragic that he passed away way too young in 2012.

The last two tracks were recorded in 1998, with good friends guitarist Todd Duke, saxophonist Scott Bourgeious and bassist Mark Andersen.