"...a genius beyond most young people I’ve heard"
-- Dave Brubeck

Few artists could record two CDs over the course of only one week in different musical genres, with disparate personnel, and at separate studios. Yet New York City-based pianist Eldar Djangirov proves musically ambidextrous on two new self-produced recordings for Motéma Music.

Breakthrough, recorded at Avatar Studios in New York City, releases April 9. Like the 26-year-old's 2009 disc Virtue, it features bassist Armando Gola and drummer Ludwig Afonso, and alternately reinforces how powerful and poignant a jazz trio can be.

Captured live in the studio, Breakthrough exudes compositional brilliance, improvisation and interplay. The trio pushes the envelope on Eldar's "Point of View Redux," and features guest vibraphonist Joe Locke on the pianist's dizzying "Blink" and saxophonist Chris Potter on his layered title track. Eldar's arrangements of Irving Berlin's ballad "What'll I Do" and the whimsical Redd Evans/David Mann composition "No Moon at All" feature electric bassist Gola switching to an acoustic upright instrument, playing evocative lines as Afonso eschews drumsticks to provide stirring brushwork. There's even a telekinetic cover of British pop band Radiohead's "Morning Bell."

"There's a connection within this trio," Eldar says. "It feels like we're all playing one single instrument."