All photos should be credited to photographer Bill Reitzel

For more information on Turtle Island Quartet

Please contact: Amanda Sweet/Bucklesweet Media

347-564-3371 or amanda@bucklesweetmedia.com

PRESS

Band Features/Reviews

Miami Herald, April 18 2012…view article

Chattanooga Times Free Press, March 31 2012…view article

Berkshire Eagle, February 15 2012…view article

Bscene East Texas, February 12 2012…view article

Santa Barbara Review, January 25 2012…view article

Pittsburgh Post Gazette, December 5 2011…view article

The New York Times, March 4 2011…view article

Strings Magazine, November 2010…view article

Wall Street Journal, September 2010…view article

St. Petersburg Times, June 2010…view article

Albany Times Union, April 2010…view article

Nippertown, April 2010…view article

Montgomery News Ticket, March 2010…view article

The Gazette, March 2010…view article

Deseret News, February 2010…view article

Marin Independent Journal, February 2010…view article

Denver Post, February 2010…view article

JazzTimes.com, February 2010…view article

Strings Magazine, March 2005…view article

Mark Summer Feature

Strings Magazine, September 2009…view article

Album Reviews

Absolute Sound, A Love Supreme, May 2007…view article

Downbeat Magazine, A Love Supreme, May 2007…view article

AllMusic Guide, Danzón, 2002 …read more

RADIO FEATURES

KPAC, Texas Public Radio, Classical Spotlight

September 2, 2010…click here to listen.

NPR, All Things Considered

August 28, 2010…click here to listen.

KPFA Berkeley, CA, Sing Out

August, 25, 2010…click here to listen.

NPR, Performance Today

December 28, 2009…click here to listen.

NPR, JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater

September 17, 2009…click here to listen.

NPR, All Things Considered

April 20, 2007…click here to listen.

NPR, All Things Considered

December 21, 2006…click here to listen.

QUOTES

“Spicing up and stretching out cultural parameters of string quartet tradition…This is a group with a sterling past, future and an evolving present.” —Santa Barbara News Press

“Overall, TIQ proved that classical music can live outside the bounds of traditional string music.” — Bachtrack

“The Turtle Island Quartet won their Grammy Awards in a category called ‘Best Crossover Album,’ but I’m not sure I would define their music as crossing over. It’s more like a dive into an experience of infused inspiration, heavy on the infusion, and a spiritual and musical journey like no other.” — MD Theater Guide

“Jazz performed by a string quartet? At first glance the two would seem mutually exclusive — until Turtle Island Quartet showed the world how it could be done.” —Deseret News

“…the ability to create the best rock, jazz, rock, bluegrass and the rest in sonorities that are rich, transparent, balanced and blessedly lightly amplified.” —The Washington Post

“…the players came close [to Hendrix’s wizardly use of feedback and other forms of distortion] in “All Along the Watchtower,” a Bob Dylan song that Hendrix made his own. Just about all the details are in place, and much of the original energy is too…in a freewheeling solo-cello arrangement of “Little Wing,” Mr. Summer had the spotlight to himself. ” —The New York Times

“…astonishing versatility.” —The Washington Post

“A string quartet taking on Jimi Hendrix is no new idea (see Kronos Quartet or Turtle Island’s “Gypsy Eyes” on their 1994 “Who Do We Think We Are? album) but don’t be fooled. This is far more than a jaw dropper of a background Cd to play at your next wine and cheese tasting for your NPR buddies. Turtle Island has built their career on the deconstruction and reinterpretation of unexpected musical styles. Song selection leans heavily on the Electric Ladyland album and following the format set by 2007′s “A Love Supreme: The Legacy of John Coltrane” they include several of their own compositions.”

—Guitar Omnivore

“The art-hoedown of “House Burning Down,” … was immediately thrilling, and it was startling to realize how music as electric as Hendrix’s translates to an all-acoustic context.”

—Off Beat

“Turtle Island Quartet mastermind David Balakrishnan has gotten his genre-expanding colleagues to adventure with him through a long piece of his own — ‘Tree of Life’ — in the middle of a tribute to Jimi Hendrix… I found it interesting not only because of Balakrishnan’s four-part suite — with its compatible mix of influences — but for putting into the string-quartet format some long-ago popular music I was unfamiliar with…If you love the string-quartet sound and its capabilities, you will likely find something to enjoy in ‘Have You Ever Been…?’ And the Turtle Island Quartet is an excellent group, well-honed under Balakrishnan’s leadership since 1985. I thoroughly enjoyed the wizardly guest appearance of vibraphonist Stefon Harris in “Gypsy Eyes,” the most jazz-inflected tune in the set.”

—Indianapolis Star

“This chamber Hendrix is a nice bookend to Gil Evans’ big band Hendrix. Guess he’s just not so scary to the mainstream anymore.”

—Midwest Record Recap

“These guys play real jazz. They improvise solos. They swing. They employ jazz inflections. And they play the same instruments Haydn used in the 18th century.”

—Aspen Times

“Cellist Mark Summer was particularly arresting, with his highly sophisticated slap-bass techniques, having to do double duty as both bass and drum kit for the ensemble.”

—Washington Post

“By virtue of its instrumentation and the ability of its members to improvise, TISQ has stood apart…They alternately stretch and swing back into the melody, not unlike your basic jazz combo.”

—Jazziz

“’A Love Supreme: The Legacy of John Coltrane,’ was a sterling example of first-rate jazz music-making, whatever the instrumentation… Although the piece [‘A Love Supreme’] has been reinterpreted many ways since it was recorded in the ’60s (including ‘A Guitar Supreme’ by Larry Coryell, Mike Stern and others, and a CD/DVD version by Branford Marsalis), the Turtle Islanders’ take is unique. Balakrishnan’s thoughtful arrangement recalled passages from Coltrane’s original solos while creating lush textures and whirlwind rhythms underscoring both the musical and the spiritual complexities of the original composition.”

—LA Times

“A Love Supreme: The Legacy of John Coltrane is the genuine thing…these conservatory-trained musicians are merging nothing; rather, they take their violins and cello and plunge deep into the stream of jazz and master one of its greatest works.”

—LA Weekly

“His [John Coltrane’s] spirit is evoked, with a loping then swirling version of ‘Naima’ that brings out all the poignancy and inherent beauty of the piece.”

—Downbeat

“The all-strings, Turtle Island Quartet makes ‘Naima’ and ‘My Favorite Things’ swing sublimely on A Love Supreme: The Legacy of John Coltrane”

—Philadelphia Weekly

“It was clear from start to finish just how passionate each member was for the music they were making – from the constant eye contact among the musicians to the way that the members celebrated one another after each piece. This is a tremendous gift to an audience. By inviting us into their process with such ease, they make the experience a degree more personal, and we are challenged to listen harder.”

—The Austin Chronicle

“Impeccable precision in its pitch and coordination…ebullient!”

—New York Times

“A sterling example of first-rate jazz music-making.”

—Los Angeles Times

“….zest, imagination and brilliant technique…”

—San Francisco Examiner

“It must have been like this when Beethoven was taking Vienna by storm – the exhilaration of seeing the future of classical music unfold before your eyes and ears.”

—St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“The strings sing, not like angels, but like they’ve been around. The improvisations…hang tough, solidly built, and take no back talk from anybody.”

—The Seattle Post-Intelligence

“…intellectually engaging, technically dazzling and emotionally rich…”

—The Birmingham News

“It’s group string jazz at its finest, not only brilliantly conceived but brilliantly played as well, by master-musicians having a wonderful time with their own wit and humor and imagination.

—Sacramento Bee

“At some other time, in some other venue, I may have heard a better live performance. But I doubt it… astonishing virtuosos… the quartet’s performance was breathtaking…”

—Nashville Scene

“Innovators to the core, the group was founded on an exploration of forms that had never been attempted in a traditional string quartet format. And they did it with amazing power and finesse. Their brilliant leads rise and subside seamlessly into the ensemble sound, keeping the focus on story line and rhythmic pulse and leading their listeners deeper into a comforting musical spell…”

—The Oregonian

“This unique, jazzy four piece continues to entertain with its distinctive brand of tight, impressive bow-ery in motions.”

—Billboard Magazine

“While the respected Kronos Quartet visits…the frontiers of jazz, bluegrass, world music and even Jimi Hendrix; Turtle Island dwells in them, and stands tradition on its civilized ear.”

—People Magazine

Historical Narrative

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