Turtle Island String Quartet

[Jazzooo]

Here's what I've written for Atencio´n, the Spanish/English paper in San Miguel. The concert was last Friday night, and as you'll see, I loved it.

Turtle Island String Quartet Review
Doug Robinson

Uh oh. Scanning the eager faces of classical music fans in the Teatro Angela Peralta as the lights dimmed, I felt some concern that they might not be able to appreciate the swinging whimsy and soulful contemporary arrangements of The Turtle Island String Quartet. After all, how many string quartets made their recording debut on New Age label Windham Hill in the ‘80s? I could only think of one, and they were taking the stage.

That was the last time I worried about anything last Friday night, as I sat surrounded by music lovers who had turned out for the opening concert of the Festival de Mu´sica de Ca´mara.

If there had ever been a line drawn in the sand between jazz and classical music, The Turtle Island String Quartet must not have noticed. Their unique spin on chamber music would be hard to categorize using existing genres. Though they are each talented individual improvisers (ranging from very good to excellent), it was the spontaneous interplay and the creativity of their arrangements that reflected their obvious affection for jazz. Here is a string quartet who wouldn’t be content to offer yet another recording, even if it were brilliant, of Haydn or Mozart. Instead they mine the Great American Songbook and jazz greats like John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Chick Corea for compositions to inspire them.

I sat transfixed as they performed Paquito D’ Rivera’s polyrhythmic puzzle called Wapango. Arranged and performed by a lesser group, I imagined that this lovely piece would sound romantic but routine—a nice melody over a series of what could pass for “jazzy Tango” chord progressions. But Turtle Island’s technique of parsing out parts of the Latin-infused beat to first one instrument, then the next, then the next in a single measure, turned the bouncing 6/8 rhythm into a juggling act that had me visually tracking the beat from one side of the stage to the other as it morphed from player to player. In a sense, the entire ensemble functioned as a drummer would, while simultaneously nailing the tricky twists and turns of the seven-minute arrangement.

If everyone else hadn’t done so well when it was his turn in the spotlight, cellist Mark Summer would have been the evening’s scene-stealer. Looking back, I actually think he was for me. Summer used a bow for about half the evening, opting instead to play walking bass lines like Eddie Gomez combined with percussive taps and slaps like a stickless Buddy Rich. To call his playing surefooted might be an understatement, but a tiny mistake on his part could have undone the groove at any second.

As the group moved to a stunningly beautiful arrangement of saxophonist John Coltrane’s ballad Naima, I brushed off my concern for the few San Miguelenses who were furtively making mental notes not to attend future Chamber Music Festival performances unless the musical programs were announced ahead of time, and unless they happened to see the name ‘Beethoven’ somewhere in the advertisement. As the group slid gracefully towards the end of Naima, I was completely charmed by their penchant for softly playing chords with close harmonies and subtle dynamic shifts. (I’ve spoken to several people since who recalled, more than anything, the beauty of the group’s endings, which tended to feature surprising harmonies and whisper-quiet dynamics.)

For two sets, I had the experience of hearing the familiar made special, as they whipped through complex arrangements of Dave Brubeck’s Blue Rhondo A La Turk (made even more interesting because I had performed the composer’s groundbreaking original arrangement many times as a kid), Miles Davis’ So What, Cole Porter’s Love For Sale and a clearly fun-to-play version of Clare Fischer’s You’ve Changed.

There were also original compositions performed that night. Cellist Summer contributed Gettysburg, which was a slice of Americana whose heartland harmonies simultaneously brought to mind both the Civil War and James Taylor. Violinist David Balakrishnan’s first piece, Waterfall With Blenders, combined the sensibilities of avant garde (for want of a better genre) and atmospheric ECM-style jazz, while his second was a blend of bluegrass and Indian classical music.

I think the most ambitious piece they performed that night was the Indian/jazz powerhouse called Danse du Bonheur, written by guitarist John McGlaughlin, whose acoustic fusion group Shakti had opened a lot of ears to that country’s music in the ‘70s. What separated Miles Davis alumnus McGlaughlin from traditional Indian classical musicians like Ravi Shankar were his jazz and pop influences. After listening to Evan Price’s reverent introduction to the song, I don’t think the Turtle Island String Quartet would mind one bit if I stole a sentence from this review to steer you towards a recording by Shakti called A Handful of Beauty, where I first heard this this piece. Every track is an exotic example of what can go right when you combine two seemingly disparate musics, featuring virtuoso performances by tabla player Zakir Hussain, violin wizard L. Shankar, and McGlaughlin himself. It is one of my absolute favorite CDs.

I heard a couple of people say that even considering Mads Tolling’s cool viola solo, the soft and gently swinging rendition of Oliver Nelson’s Stolen Moments made a slightly anticlimactic encore. I think that after all the sonic fireworks, however, it was the perfect way to let the smoke clear and say goodnight.

Bravo to the Festival for swinging the spotlight over to classical music’s left field and bringing us The Turtle Island String Quartet. ¡Bien Hecho!