Joshua Breakstone

This is guitarist Joshua Breakstone’s 20th album in a career that began in his late 20s. On several of those recordings, he sometimes worked with horn men (i.e., baritone saxist Pepper Adams, trombonist Jimmy Knepper) but primarily pianists (e.g., Kenny Barron, Tommy Flanagan). For the past five years, Breakstone—now 58—has hooked up with bassist Lisle Atkinson and drummer Eliot Zigmund, who, in the late 1970s, worked with pianist Bill Evans. For this CD, subtitled “Guitar Trio/Cello Quartet,” Breakstone has utilized the not inconsiderable talents of cellist Mike Richmond on four of the disc’s nine tunes. Breakstone says that, thanks to Richmond’s pizzicato presence, he began hearing the quartet’s music in a different way: “as essentially a string section—i.e., cello, bass and guitar, 14 strings!—plus percussion.” While the cello in jazz has a long history beginning with Oscar Pettiford’s use on recordings in 1950, its use of late has been rather spotty, so it’s a treat to hear the string section’s work on Pettiford’s “Laverne Walk.” Breakstone—a bebopper at heart—really rips it up on the nine-minute “Short Story,” and his haunting intro and interpretation of “The Very Thought of You” is magnificent. Stunning playing and a great selection of tunes make this a memorable experience.