The Electric Squeezebox Orchestra is a 17 piece big band based in the Bay Area that plays music composed and arranged by its members. Led by trumpeter Erik Jekabson, the band has a residency every Sunday night at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley that began in March 2018. Before that, the band had a residency at Doc's Lab in SF from 2014-2018. The E.S.O. currently consists of Erik, Erik Andrews, Edward Evans, and Christopher Clarke on trumpets, Rob Ewing, Danny Lubin-Laden, Patrick Malabuyo and Richard Lee on trombones, Sheldon Brown and Larry Delacruz on alto saxes, Mike Zilber and Marcus Stephens on tenor saxes, Charlie Gurke on baritone sax, and the rhythm section of Steve Blum, piano; Sam Klein-Markman, guitar; Tyler Harlow, bass; and Jeff Marrs on drums.
However, you'll catch many of the Bay Area's top jazz musicians subbing into the band every week, and the band has collaborated with special guests Kalil Wilson, John Santos, Kenny Washington, Spok, Madeline Eastman, Sandy Cressman, Edgardo Cambon, Avotcja, Nicolas Bearde, Mads Tolling and Kellye Gray. They have two CDs out on the OA2 label: "The Falling Dream", released on OA2 records in 2018, and "Cheap Rent", released in 2015. Their newest CD, "Matter Is", on the DoubleOone record label, features their collaborations with guest vocalists Madeline Eastman, Sandy Cressman, Kalil Wilson, and Kenny Washington and poet Avotjca