Mark Summer is the original cellist of the

Turtle Island Quartet 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, Darol Anger, and Mark Summer in San Francisco. They released their first album on Windham H ...

; 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 April 3, 1958 in Encino, CA, Summer grew up in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

playing

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

and, from the age of nine,

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

. From the beginning he was very interested in alternative genres, and as a teenager playing in a rock band called The Purple Testament, later known as The Plague. Summer studied cello with Edwin Geber of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, then with Geber’s wife Gretchen Geber, and graduated from the

Cleveland Institute of Music The Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) is a private music conservatory in Cleveland, Ohio. Founded in 1920 by Ernest Bloch, it enrolls 325 students in the conservatory and approximately 1,500 students in the preparatory and continuing educatio ...

, continuing his studies with the Geber family with Stephen Geber as a cello performance major. After conservatory, Summer worked in the

Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (WSO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Its primary concert venue is the Centennial Concert Hall, and the orchestra also performs throughout the province of Manitoba. The WSO presents an average ...

for three years. Looking for alternative genres, he went on to play in an assortment of alternative ensembles until, in Winnipeg, he met the violinist

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 mandol ...

. Shortly after, he was invited by David Balakrishnan and Anger to join Turtle Island, and moved to the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

in 1985 to perform permanently with the band. Summer left the band in 2015 to pursue a solo career. In 2011, Summer made his solo concerto debut with the Alexandria Symphony, performing Balakrishnan's ''Force of Nature'', written especially for him. He has lived in the town of Novato, outside of San Francisco since 2009.

Music

Besides the Turtle Island Quartet, which has released fifteen albums, Summer has played with many other crossover artists. He was a member of the Jazz Chamber Trio with the pianist

Alon Yavnai Alon Yavnai ( he, אלון יבנאי; born 1969) is an Israel-born jazz pianist. Biography Born in Israel, Yavnai began playing piano at the age of four. He has accompanied singers since the age of thirteen. He graduated from the Thelma Yellin H ...

and the

Grammy 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 many as the most pre ...

-winning

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

ist Paquito D'Rivera which played primarily

Latin jazz Latin jazz is a genre of jazz with Latin American rhythms. The two main categories are Afro-Cuban jazz, rhythmically based on Cuban popular dance music, with a rhythm section employing ostinato patterns or a clave, and Afro-Brazilian jazz, which ...

. He has also composed pieces for solo cello, including ''Kalimba'' and ''Julie-O'', (both the solo and duo versions), the last of which has become very popular among cellists and was included in a 2015 advertising campaign for the

Apple Watch Apple Watch is a line of smartwatches produced by Apple Inc. It incorporates fitness tracking, health-oriented capabilities, and wireless telecommunication, and integrates with iOS and other Apple products and services. The Apple Watch was rel ...

. He has also arranged pieces for solo cello including "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming" and Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing". He currently performs in a trio with 7 time Grammy winning jazz vocalist Tierney Sutton and is featured on 4 tracks of Ms. Sutton's Grammy nominated recording, "AfterBlue". marksummer

References

External links

Mark Summer interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Summer, Mark Living people 1958 births American jazz cellists American jazz composers Cleveland Institute of Music alumni American male jazz composers Turtle Island Quartet members