Cleveland Heights Resident Josh Rzepka Releases His Third CD

More than 325 copies of Cleveland Heights resident Josh Rzepka’s newest CD, Into the Night, are on their way to jazz radio stations across the country. 

The 27-year-old trumpeter has high hopes for Into the Night, which comes two years after the release of his debut jazz album, Midwest Coast. The first album reached No. 33 on the JazzWeek Chart, No. 2 on the Roots Music Report Top 50 Jazz chart and No. 15 on the CMJ Jazz Chart.

“My playing and writing had evolved so much since my first jazz album that I really was ready to create something new that was more representative of what I was currently playing,” Rzepka said of Into the Night’s Oct. 28 release.

Rzepka recently received the Rising Young Artist award from the Akron Area Arts Alliance. The Arts Alive! Awards are given to “individuals and groups that enrich our lives by their participation in arts and cultural activities,” the organization's website says.

“It’s a big honor that someone thought to nominate me for this award,” Rzepka said. “When you look at the history of people who have received the Arts Alive! awards, it’s a nice crowd to be recognized with.”

Into the Night was made possible via the website Kickstarter, a funding platform for creative projects.

Rzepka created a Kickstarter page to pitch his project, with a goal of raising $7,500 by April 22 to hit the recording studio in early June. He met the deadline and surpassed the goal, thanks to 79 people who contributed $10,199.

“I had become aware of (Kickstarter) and contributed to a couple projects on there. It’s a great way to engage people and connect so they become a part of the process,” Rzepka said. “Of my 79 contributors, I knew a lot of them. But there was a handful of people I didn’t know. I had never heard of my $500 donor.”

All Kickstarter donors of $15 and up received a copy of Into the Night, which has resulted in a lot of positive feedback for Rzepka. “Everyone I’ve given it to has loved it – which is always great,” he said.

Next up for Rzepka is a classical CD – also his second. His first, Josh Rzepka: Baroque Music For Trumpet, features Rzepka backed by a 13-piece string orchestra playing concertos from Baroque masters. It was released in 2010, sandwiched between the two jazz albums.

The new album, he said, “will be all brand-new music commissioned from classical musicians across the country.”

Asked which style of music he prefers – jazz or classical – and Rzepka only has to think for a second. “To favor one more than another? I enjoy playing them both a lot. As long as I get to collaborate with good musicians and play good music, I don’t really care what kind it is,” he explained.

Music has played a big role in Rzepka’s life since he was required to join the band as a fourth-grader at The Lippman School, where his mother, Fairlawn resident Sarah Greenblatt, has taught for more than 30 years. There were years of private weekly lessons and “thousands and thousands of hours of practicing,” he said.

Rzepka said he chose the trumpet as a child because “I was able to make a noise on it and I was too small for trombone. Boys play trumpet, that’s how it works.”

Rzepka joined every band offered at Firestone High School, from which he graduated in 2002. Same thing at Oberlin College, where he earned a double-major degree in classical trumpet and jazz trumpet. He finished his master’s in trumpet performance at Boston University in 2010.

When he’s not composing, practicing or performing both classical and jazz music, the Fairlawn native is teaching private music lessons to about 40 high-school students in the , Wadsworth and Medina school districts.

He’s also working on the spring launch of an independent musician consulting company catering to classical and jazz musicians. The company aims to relieve the burden of managing websites, email lists, social media outlets and myriad other tasks that prevent musicians from focusing on their music.

Rzepka’s CDs can be purchased from his webstore or iTunes, where samples of his music can be heard. The musician has also uploaded full-length versions of several songs from each of his albums to his YouTube channel.