Nearly four decades after it disappeared from circulation, Joshua Breakstone’s Wonderful! is getting a new life. First released in 1983, the acclaimed guitarist’s debut album as a leader will be reissued August 21, 2026, by Capri Records, marking the recording’s first appearance on CD.
Breakstone was just 27 when he made Wonderful!, but the album already revealed a guitarist with a remarkably mature voice. Joined by legendary pianist Barry Harris, bassist Earl Sauls and drummer Leroy Williams, Breakstone leads a swinging quartet through seven performances that capture the energy, sophistication and interplay of a young musician already finding his identity.
The album opens with George Gershwin’s “S’Wonderful,” setting an immediate tone with a spirited performance that showcases Breakstone’s fluid guitar work. The quartet then stretches out on Tadd Dameron’s “Soultrane,” before turning to Vincent Youmans’ “Time on My Hands.”
Breakstone also brings two original compositions to the album, “Sevens-Up” and “This Is It!,” offering an early glimpse of his developing skills as a composer. The set also includes Thelonious Tristano’s “Two Not One,” a natural choice given Breakstone’s work with saxophonist Warne Marsh around the time of the recording. Marsh had been deeply influenced by Tristano, and Breakstone’s interpretation reflects that connection.
Django Reinhardt is represented by “Django’s Castle,” giving the guitarist another opportunity to acknowledge one of the musicians who helped shape the jazz guitar tradition. Across the album, Breakstone demonstrates an impressive command of swing, melody and improvisation, while Harris, Sauls and Williams provide an exceptionally strong rhythmic and harmonic foundation.
Breakstone himself looks back on Wonderful! with the perspective of a musician who has spent more than four decades developing his craft. “When I hear the young guitar player that I was,” he says, “I can’t help but think, if I only knew then what I know now.”
For listeners discovering the album today, however, there is little reason for such self-criticism. Wonderful! documents an important moment in the career of a guitarist whose playing would eventually earn descriptions such as “fire in velvet” from the Santa Fe New Mexican and recognition from DownBeat as one of the best young jazz guitarists of his generation.
More than simply a debut, the album captures the beginning of a musical journey that would take Breakstone around the world and result in well over a dozen recordings. He would go on to record projects devoted to Thelonious Monk, Wes Montgomery and Bud Powell, as well as collaborations with musicians including Kenny Barron. Japan would become an especially important part of his career following his first tour there in 1986, with Breakstone eventually returning multiple times each year.
His path to Wonderful! began in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where he was born in 1955. Music was already central to his family life, with his parents introducing him to Broadway and the New York Philharmonic while his older sisters exposed him to jazz, rock and roll and other forms of popular music. He picked up the guitar at 14 and began playing with a high school group called Moon Unit.
Jazz soon became the focus. Hearing Lee Morgan and Charlie Parker sparked Breakstone’s fascination with the music, leading him to study at New College of the University of South Florida and Berklee College of Music. After moving to New York City, he performed, taught and worked with an impressive range of musicians, including Vinnie Burke, Warne Marsh, Emily Remler and Aaron Bell, before making his debut as a leader.
Looking back, Breakstone describes Wonderful! as more than an early album. “This recording documents the germ of musical ideas that were just beginning to flower in my approach to playing jazz,” he says.
That makes the album’s return particularly significant. Heard today, Wonderful! is both a snapshot of a young guitarist at the beginning of his career and an early statement from an artist whose musical ideas would continue to evolve for decades. With Barry Harris, Earl Sauls and Leroy Williams alongside him, Breakstone created a recording that remains vibrant, swinging and full of possibility.
After nearly 40 years out of print, Wonderful! finally gets the chance to be heard by a new generation—and the title still seems entirely appropriate.
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