|  Available
Now!
Turtle Island String Quartet makes their Telarc
debut with a collaboration with the Ying Quartet with the
release of
4 + Four, now
available in multichannel SACD as well as the CD recording!
Click
here for more information, to listen to
tracks, and to purchase this cd.
REVIEW
by Don Williamson
JazzReview.com
Featured
Artist: Turtle Island String Quartet with the Ying Quartet
One of the most innovative string groups, and certainly a
groundbreaker, the Turtle Island String Quartet opened the
way for improvisation as they performed arrangements of numerous
jazz standards—not to mention classical, country, rock,
New Age, swing, Latin and Middle Eastern music as well. TISQ
is still doing it. But now, after several personnel changes,
the group has signed with Telarc under the leadership of co-founder
David Balakrishnan, continuing its high level of musicianship
and unpredictable repertoire on a new label. And TISQ has
doubled the number of the strings by doubling up with the
Ying Quartet, their collaboration a first-time event and the
result of a what-if proposition at a board meeting for Chamber
Music America.  Now
the what-if has become reality, with a compounded richness
and varied list of compositions that don’t showcase
the possibilities of their joint project as much as allow
them to satisfy their insatiable curiosity for testing new
boundaries.
As would
be expected, TISQ presents the unexpected, starting first
with Oliver Nelson’s “Yearnin’” and
easing the listeners into the light swing before the two quartets
create musical exchanges before the walking cello backs the
solos. But if a listener thinks that the string quartets will
remain on the path of jazz standards, that would be wrong.
For the next piece, “Julie-O,” revisits TISQ cellist
Mark Summer’s previous recording, but this time as a
colloquy with cellist David Ying, providing an intertwining
of lines that still remain within the country roots of the
song. Speaking of roots, Evan Price’s “Variations
On An Unoriginal Theme” converts the classical theme,
referring to the string quartet’s origins, into versions
that refer to the cultures of a disparate selection of countries,
including Ireland, R&B, bluegrass and samba.
But
then there is Darius Milhaud’s “La Création
du Monde,” rearranged for the occasion, which reinforces
TISQ’s interests in combining the rhythms of jazz with
the harmonies of the European classical tradition—lessons
that Milhaud went on to teach Dave Brubeck when he was at
Mills College. Perhaps the most memorable part of the CD is
Balakrishnan’s three-part suite, “Mara’s
Garden Of False Delights,” which addresses the lessons
of Hindu philosophy for fulfillment…and thus concerns
much more than the notes themselves. And then, unexpectedly
as always, TISQ and the Ying Quartet end the CD with an allusion
to John Lennon, “Because,” which reportedly he
composed by considering the chords of Beethoven’s “Moonlight
Sonata” in reverse. Once again, the string quartets
combine classical and modern references in one song, which
they highlight with their own arrangements that borrow from
each influence.
With
an auspicious debut on Telarc, the Turtle Island String Quartet
continues on its innovative path as if combines the virtuosity
of the classical music in which they were immersed and the
innumerable cultural influences that keep the music fresh
and the TISQ surprising.
Tracks:
Yearnin’; Julie-O; Mara’s Garden Of False Delights:
Sri-Jo, Doughboy, Snakes And Ladders; La Création du
Monde; Variations On An Unoriginal Theme; Because
Octet
photo by Jack Renner
cover art photo by Peter Serling
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