Our feature in Wall St. Journal!!!!

Sep 3, 2010 Uncategorized

String Quartet Does Hendrix
Turtle Island ’s new album is a tribute to his genius

By JIM FUSILLI
Nicasio, Calif.

As a teenager, David Balakrishnan saw Jimi Hendrix perform live. “I could feel the momentum of his genius shining through,” the violinist, composer and founder of Turtle Island Quartet said earlier this year at Skywalker Ranch here. “I went home and listened to ‘Electric Ladyland’ for three days straight.” Since then, Mr. Balakrishnan has sought to incorporate Hendrix’s works into his repertoire.

He’s found a way. His string quartet’s new album, “Have You Ever Been. . .” (Telarc), is a tribute to Hendrix as the group’s four musicians—Mark Summer on cello, Mads Tolling on violin and Jeremy Kittel on viola, in addition to Mr. Balakrishnan—reimagine eight songs associated with the guitarist, who died 40 years ago this month. The album, out last week, also includes Mr. Balakrishnan’s four-part “Tree of Life” suite, written in tribute to Charles Darwin, and a reading of guitarist John McLaughlin’s “To Bop or Not to Be.” By juxtaposing Hendrix’s works with those compositions, Mr. Balakrishnan is portraying the guitar legend as a kindred spirit to a modern-jazz giant and declaring Hendrix an evolutionary figure in the history of music for electric guitar.
With Hendrix, Mr. Balakrishnan said, “it’s not just about ‘Purple Haze’ and ‘The Star-Spangled Banner.’ He’s a true American genius, not only as a guitar player but as a composer.” During his lifetime, Hendrix released three studio albums in the U.S. that contained 35 original compositions. (The versions of the three albums issued in the U.K. included a few more.) Other compositions have emerged since his death.

There’s no brief way to describe the Turtle Island Quartet, which was formed in 1985 as the Turtle Island String Quartet. Classical music remains a part of their repertoire, though not more so than jazz: They’ve reimagined compositions by Dave Brubeck, Chick Corea, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk, among others, and in 2007 released “A Love Supreme: The Legacy of John Coltrane.” On the new disc, vibraphonist Stefon Harris guests on Hendrix’s “Gypsy Eyes.”

The quartet first tackled Hendrix and “Gypsy Eyes” in 1994 on their “Who Do We Think We Are” album, but Hendrix’s influence has been with them since their first recording. On the group’s eponymous debut album, Mr. Balakrishnan opened his “Balopadem” suite with the same dominant chord that Hendrix used in his compositions to add tension and color to his blues—it’s featured in “Purple Haze,” for example. Musicians today refer to it as the “Hendrix chord.”

Tune In
Listen to clips of songs from “Have You Ever Been. . .”
• House Burning Down
• Little Wing
• Have You Ever Been (to Electric Ladyland)?

“I’ve been accused of overusing the sharp ninth,” Mr. Balakrishnan said. The quartet was on a lunch break from a session in which they were working on “House Burning Down,” the second piece in the new disc’s opening “Electric Ladyland” suite. The discussion quickly turned to how the essence of Hendrix’s music could be captured.

Most rock musicians who want to honor Hendrix try to emulate the speed of his playing, his tonality, and his use of overtones and studio effects. But they stumble when they fail to acknowledge the breadth of his harmonic language or depth of musical knowledge. David Hidalgo of Los Lobos recently asked Hendrix bassist Billy Cox where Hendrix found the tricky figure he played in “Freedom.” “Beethoven,” Mr. Cox replied.
Hendrix presents a different sort of challenge for classically trained musicians. “I like the looseness of his music,” said Mr. Summer. “But are we supposed to rush and drag?”

The quartet gets to the heart of Hendrix’s writing and playing on “Have You Ever Been. . . ” On “Little Wing,” Mr. Summer, in a solo performance that’s part transcription and part interpretation, not only quotes Hendrix, who overdubbed several guitars on the original track, but also references the original bass and percussion parts. The quartet’s version of “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” includes the waka-chucka sound Hendrix used to kick off the performance, and the violins play the arpeggios the guitarist tossed in while he sang the melody. Their “House Burning Down” begins as dramatically as the original—Mr. Balakrishnan gives it a bit of gypsy flair—and then swings more so than the original; Hendrix’s flashy ending to the song, full of feedback and studio trickery, is transformed as well.

“With Hendrix, it’s a feeling and rhythm,” Mr. Balakrishnan said. “He was not a nice player. He was an in-your-face player.” The quartet captures that assertiveness.

As with their earlier Coltrane project, the members of the Turtle Island Quartet faced the possibility of subordinating their individual personalities here in favor of the artist to whom they were paying tribute. “It has to reflect Hendrix,” Mr. Balakrishnan said. “But it has to be about us, too.”

As the sessions progressed, Mr. Summer saw the quartet achieve both ambitions.

“I’m not amazed we’re doing it,” the cellist said. “I’m amazed it’s working.”

—Mr. Fusilli is the Journal’s rock and pop music critic. Email him at jfusilli@wsj.com or follow him on Twitter: @wsjrock.

Balakrishnan’s “Tree of Life”…a beautiful mash-up.

Sep 3, 2010 Uncategorized

September 3, 2010
Turtle Island Quartet (Telarc)
The Turtle Island Quartet — established 25 years ago in San Francisco by violinist-composer David Balakrishnan as a jazz string group with folk, rock and world influences — has retained its boundary-blurring energy despite an evolving membership. Following a 2007 set devoted to John Coltrane, the foursome showcases its takes on the visionary Jimi Hendrix. Some of these arrangements are strikingly soulful. “Hey Joe” has a mournful, deep-blues quality, reflecting the murder ballad’s lyrics. “Gyspy Eyes” features jazz star Stefon Harris adding his vibraphone to colorizing effect. These tracks might turn a rocker onto chamber music and a classical devotee onto Hendrix. The other beauty is Balakrishnan’s own suite “Tree of Life,” which blends raga, bluegrass, jazz and other genres into a beautiful mash-up.

— Bradley Bambarger

the JAZZ POLICE rave about Turtle Island’s new CD!

Sep 3, 2010 Uncategorized

Friday, 03 September 2010
Hendrix, Dylan, and Darwin: The Turtle Island Quartet Releases “Have You Ever Been…?”

Written by Andrea Canter, Contributing Editor
Friday, 03 September 2010

Have You Ever Been…?
My father would like the latest Turtle Island Quartet release, Have You Ever Been…? The Music of Jimi Hendrix and David Balakrishnan (Telarc). A longtime classical and opera buff, I am sure he never has listened to Jimi Hendrix or related music. But on hearing this recording, I believe he would assume he was listening to a 21st century string quartet. Which would be entirely accurate. Not having paid much attention (at the time) to 60s/70s rock music myself, if I had received this CD in a plain brown wrapper, I might have concluded it was one of Bill Frisell’s new string projects… minus Bill. Or more likely, I would have thought the Turtle Island Quartet had written some new music. And in part, that would be accurate, as one of the highlights of this recording is a four-part suite written by TIQ violinist and founder, David Balakrishnan. His cohorts here are founding member/cellist Mark Summer, violinist Mads Tolling, and violist Jeremy Kittel.
The eclectic nature of TIQ, and particularly the global influences of the new recording, are direct manifestations of Balakrishnan’s own multicultural background. “My father is from India, so I grew up hearing that music as a kid.” Already surrounded by the music of India, he also became a fan of Jimi Hendrix, then fusion, bebop and David Grisman, ultimately founding TIQ as “the way that I found to connect the dots.” No dot is omitted from this collection of TIQ arrangements of Hendrix-related covers and Balakrishnan’s own “Tree of Life” suite. And given the TIQ’s penchant for melding modern American music with traditions from other eras and other cultures, Have You Ever Been…? seems a natural evolution in their 25-year history as one of today’s the most innovative string ensembles.

A suite of four compositions from Hendrix’s 1968 Electric Ladyland opens the recording, starting with the title tune, “Have You Ever Been (to Electric Ladyland).” As throughout the recording, TIQ melds rock concepts to bluegrass harmonies, here as if a country dance, or perhaps a country trance. The quartet drifts into “House Burning Down” with a more defined rhythmic drive reminiscent of Don Cherry’s ‘Mopti.” “1983… A Merman I Should Turn to Be” has a more gentle flow. On “Voodoo Child (Slight Return),” the quartet’s elastic harmonies and edgy bottom lines indeed suggest some musical (albeit acoustic) voodoo, each string artist taking the lead in chasing the others over sonic barbed wire, into a cauldron of black magic.

Vibraphone master Stefon Harris lends an engaging layer of lyrical atmosphere to the TIQ’s arrangement of Hendrix’s “Gypsy Eyes” (also from Electric Ladyland). Strings and vibes move back and forth, as if a meeting of Aaron Copeland and Milt Jackson. This is some of the most intriguing work I’ve heard yet from Harris–rhythmic, alternately introspective and expansive. Cellist Mark Summer provides a scraping undertow while the higher strings pick up the gypsy’s twirling dance, a swinging counter to the more ethereal vibes.
Written by Billy Roberts, “Hey Joe” became a Hendrix staple. Opening with an exquisitely mournful line from Balakrishnan’s baritone violin, the quartet offers haunting harmonies; Summer provides what could easily pass for an upright bass pulse. It’s a very songful track suggesting slow-moving streams in a backcountry where tranquility is but a half note removed from despair.

Hendrix’s “Little Wing” is presented as a solo transformation from Mark Summer—transformation of Hendrix’s Fender Stratocaster to Summer’s cello. In the process, Summer conjures a full string section, a full rock band within his instrument, finding percussion, guitar, bass, and human voices within that box.
Placed on the CD between “Have You Ever Been…?” and Balakrishnan’s “Tree of Life” suite, John McLaughlin’s Hendrix-inspired “Bop or Not to Be” offers a transition from classic rock to what might be termed modern world music. The TIQ rendition of “Bop or Not to Be” is neither American bebop nor European classicism, at times suggestive of Middle Eastern folk traditions, at times conjuring a deconstruction of the roots of bluegrass. One minute you are invited to a neighborhood dance, the next moment you find yourself far from home in the company of vaguely familiar relatives.

The 150th anniversary of the publication of Origin of the Species and 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth, as well as his own affinity for Hendrix and world music traditions, inspired David Balacrishnan’s four-part “Tree of Life.” Like evolution itself, the suite covers music from all corners and all eras with surprising cohesion. Tracing the composer’s own evolution,

“Ashwattha” (the Indian “tree of life”) is a mini-suite of its own: The first segment conjures traditional eastern harmonies, flowing into a “New Dehli bluegrass”/21st century classical sound, then pausing as if for an ancient ritual chant broken by solo violin. Pizzacato cello supports a more symphonic segment, followed by a bridge of sorts that suggests tradition but this time more of an American spiritual that leads to a final, spirited barndance of strings. The gentle “Lucy” refers to the remains of the world’s second-oldest human, infusing a bit of swing and an Afro-Cuban vamp along the way as well as a beautifully executed, classically informed solo cello cadenza. (Would I have noticed the kinship with “All of Me” if not prompted by the liner note? Probably not.) “Monkey Business” sways with an angular humor, as if Monk had written for bluegrass band; strains of “Strangers in the Night” waft through the air. The last part, “Coelacanth” (named after the world’s oldest fish), suggests a dark East European melody with the elegance and power of a Bartok quartet.
Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” (covered by Hendrix on Electric Ladyland), closes the recording, with Mike Marshall adding the mandocello. This large, long-necked cousin of the mandolin adds rich texture to the string ensemble, giving the bottom end depth and an acrobatic, earthy folkiness. It’s an upbeat, joyful track melding Americana, Latin and Middle Eastern esthetics, as much suggesting Larry Coryell’s recent “Bombay Jazz” as a backwards glance to Dylan and 60s folk-rock.

I would have had a very different view of late 60s and 70s music if the Turtle Island Quartet had been around then to offer translations such as those on Have You Ever Been…? And for those who were, and are, Hendrix devotees, perhaps you will have a very different view of modern classical and world music when you hear Hendrix (and Balakrishnan) through these vibrant strings.

Simply put folks, Turtle Island Quartet is not only making chamber music for the future but they are making it cool too.

Sep 1, 2010 Uncategorized

Turtle Island Quartet @ The Triple Door | 9/1 | Doors at 5:30PM, show starts at 7:30PM | $18 In Advance

Turtle Island Quartet is not Mozart or Beethoven’s chamber music but it’s likely both would be impressed by the group’s innovative approach to the centuries old genre. Since 1985, TIQ has been redefining chamber music one chamber hall at a time. Renowned for their clever arrangements of well-known modern pieces as well as original compositions and their venerable improvisations, Turtle Island Quartet has tackled yet another legendary artist; tonight TIQ will be performing select works from Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland album, along with other works inspired by Hendrix’s music.

Simply put folks, Turtle Island Quartet is not only making chamber music for the future but they are making it cool too.