The Turtle Island Quartet is a string quartet that plays hybrids of jazz, classical, and rock music. The group was formed in 1985 by

David Balakrishnan David Balakrishnan (born 1954, Los Angeles, California) is the founder of the Turtle Island Quartet. Life After graduating from UCLA in 1976 with a B.A. in music composition and violin, he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he quickly esta ...

Darol Anger Darol Anger is an American violinist and founding member of The David Grisman Quintet. Career Darol Anger entered popular music at the age of 21 as a founding member of The David Grisman Quintet. Anger played fiddle to David Grisman's mando ...

, and

Mark Summer Mark Summer is the original cellist of the Turtle Island Quartet; he is a co-founder of the quartet and performed with Turtle Island (a.k.a. Turtle Island String Quartet) from its founding in 1985 until the fall of 2015. Biography Born on Apri ...

in San Francisco. They released their first album on

Windham Hill Records Windham Hill Records was an independent record label that specialized in instrumental acoustic music. It was founded by guitarist William Ackerman and Anne Robinson (née McGilvray) in 1976 and was popular in the 1980s and 1990s. The label was ...

in 1988 with Irene Sazer.

History

The group plays jazz standards and original compositions that cross several styles, including blues, classical, jazz, and world music. Violinist

got the idea for a jazz

string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...

in 1985. He invited cellist

, who had been working for three years as a member of a Canadian orchestra. One of the first pieces they played was Balakrishnan's arrangement of " Stolen Moments" by Oliver Nelson which was released on their first album in 1987. The group's members have included violinist Evan Price and Danish violist

Mads Tolling Mads Tolling (born July 5, 1980) is a Danish-American violinist, violist, composer and two-time Grammy Award-Winner. As a former member of the Turtle Island Quartet and bassist Stanley Clarke’s band, Tolling is today leading his own projects ...

. Price and Tolling are both alumni of

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

. As a child, Balakrishnan was inspired by

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

. Then he discovered jazz and the music of the

David Grisman David Grisman (born March 23, 1945) is an American mandolinist. His music combines bluegrass, folk, and jazz in a genre he calls "Dawg music". He founded the record label Acoustic Disc, which issues his recordings and those of other acoustic mu ...

Quartet. Balakrishnan's arrangement of "

A Night in Tunisia "A Night in Tunisia" is a musical composition written by Dizzy Gillespie around 1940–42, while Gillespie was playing with the Benny Carter band. It has become a jazz standard. It is also known as "Interlude", and with lyrics by Raymond Leveen w ...

" by Dizzy Gillespie was nominated for an Grammy Award. The group won a Grammy Award for its version of ''

A Love Supreme ''A Love Supreme'' is an album by American jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. He recorded it in one session on December 9, 1964, at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, leading a quartet featuring pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Ga ...

'' by John Coltrane. The quartet has worked with Paquito D'Rivera,

Ying Quartet Ying may refer to: People * Yíng (嬴), a Chinese surname, the ancestral name of Qin Shi Huang, first Emperor of China in the Qin Dynasty, and some contemporary rival royal families such as the Zhaos * Yīng (应), a Chinese surname from the Z ...

Edgar Meyer Edgar Meyer (born November 24, 1960) is an American bassist and composer. His styles include classical, bluegrass, newgrass, and jazz. He has won five Grammy Awards and been nominated seven times. Meyer is a member of the Telluride Bluegrass ...

the Manhattan Transfer The Manhattan Transfer is a Grammy award–winning vocal group founded in 1969 that has explored a cappella, vocalese, swing, standards, Brazilian jazz, rhythm and blues, and pop music. There have been two editions of the Manhattan Transfer, ...

Modern Jazz Quartet The Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) was a jazz combo established in 1952 that played music influenced by classical music, classical, cool jazz, blues and bebop. For most of its history the Quartet consisted of John Lewis (pianist), John Lewis (piano), ...

, and the

Detroit Symphony Orchestra The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is an American orchestra based in Detroit, Michigan. Its primary performance venue is Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit's Midtown neighborhood. Jader Bignamini is the current music d ...

Members

Current *

– violin and

baritone violin A Baritone violin is a member of the violin family and has two specific meanings: * a violin tuned an octave below conventional violin tuning (G2–D3–A3–E4). This is commonly accomplished by stringing a standard violin with heavy gauge strin ...

(original member) (1985-1993, 1997–present) * Benjamin von Gutzeit – viola (2012–present) * Naseem Alatrash – cello (2021–present) * Gabriel Terracciano – violin (2018–present) Past *

– cello (original member) (1985-2015) *

– violin and baritone violin (original member) (1985-1997) * Laurie Moore – viola (original member) (1985-1987) * Irene Sazer – viola (1987-1990) * Katrina Wreede – viola (1990-1992) * Jeremy Cohen – viola (1992) * Danny Seidenberg – viola (1992-2004) *

Tracy Silverman Tracy Silverman (born April 7, 1960) is an American violinist, composer, and producer. Biography Born in Peekskill, New York and raised in Beloit, Wisconsin, he attended Beloit Memorial High School but left after two years when he was sixteen ...

– violin (1993-1997) * Evan Price – violin (1997-2007) *

– viola (2004-2007), violin (2007-2012) *

Jeremy Kittel Jeremy Kittel is a contemporary Grammy-nominated American musician and composer. His primary instruments are the violin / fiddle and viola and his styles include Celtic, Jazz, Classical, Bluegrass, Folk music, and more. He leads his namesa ...

– viola (2008-2012) * Mateusz Smoczynski – violin (2012-2015) * Alex Hargreaves – violin (2016-2018) * Malcolm Parson – cello (2016-2021)

Awards

Grammy Award for Best Classical Crossover Album The Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by ma ...

, ''4 + Four'', 2005 * Grammy Award for Best Classical Crossover Album, ''A Love Supreme: The Legacy of John Coltrane'', 2007

Discography

* ''Turtle Island String Quartet'' (

Windham Hill Windham Hill Records was an independent record label that specialized in instrumental acoustic music. It was founded by guitarist William Ackerman and Anne Robinson (née McGilvray) in 1976 and was popular in the 1980s and 1990s. The label was ...

, 1988) * ''Metropolis'' (Windham Hill, 1989) * ''Skylife'' (Windham Hill, 1990) * ''A Shock to the System'' (Windham Hill, 1990) * ''On the Town'' (Windham Hill, 1991) * ''Spider Dreams'' (Windham Hill, 1992) * ''Who Do We Think We Are?'' (Windham Hill, 1994) * ''A Night in Tunisia, A Week in Detroit'' (Chandos, 1994) * ''By the Fireside'' (Windham Hill, 1995) * ''The Hamburg Concert'' (CCn'C Records, 1997) * ''Art of the Groove'' ( Koch, 2000) * ''Danzon'' (Koch, 2002) * ''4 + Four'' with the

(

Telarc Telarc International Corporation is an American audiophile independent record label founded in 1977 by two classically trained musicians and former teachers, Jack Renner and Robert Woods. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, the label has had a long associ ...

, 2005) * ''A Love Supreme: The Legacy of John Coltrane'' (Telarc, 2007) * ''Have You Ever Been..?: The Music of Jimi Hendrix and David Balakrishnan'' (Telarc, 2010) * ''Mike Marshall and the Turtle Island Quartet'' (Adventure, 2014) * ''Confetti Man'' (Azica, 2014) * ''Bird's Eye View'' (Azica, 2018) * '' Absence'' with

Terence Blanchard Terence Oliver Blanchard (born March 13, 1962) is an American trumpeter and composer. He started his career in 1982 as a member of the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, then The Jazz Messengers. He has composed more than forty film scores and performed ...

(Blue Note, 2021)

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turtle Island Quartet Musical groups established in 1985 American jazz ensembles from California American string quartets Windham Hill Records artists 1985 establishments in California