Staller hosts a night of jazz with the Turtle Island Quartet By Dipti Kumar November 19, 2012 Soft lights, an auditorium full of music aficionados and a stage. The Turtle Island Quartet was back for the third time at the Staller Center for the Arts on Saturday, Nov. 17 and this time, Grammy nominated jazz singer Tierney Sutton performed with the group. As the murmurs died down, it was time to turn up the music as David Balakrishnan, Mark Summer, Mateusz Smoczynski and Benjamin von Gutzeit ... Read More

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Wapango - Turtle Island Quartet http://youtu.be/CwSJQwAnC3U ... Read More

Turtle Island Quartet plays John Coltrane's 'A Love Supreme' at Calvin College on Saturday Published: Wednesday, March 07, 2012 Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk GRAND RAPIDS – John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” is one of the seminal recordings in jazz history. The Grammy Award-winning Turtle Island Quartet is an ensemble unlike any other. Calvin College welcomes Turtle Island Quartet on Saturday to play a program devoted to the music of the contemporary giant of jazz for the Calvin Artist Series. For full ... Read More

EXCERPT FROM CONCERT REVIEW Turtle Island Quartet: A Tribute to John Coltrane NC State University and Raleigh Chamber Music Guild By Karen E. Moorman January 28, 2012 - Raleigh, NC: The first half of the concert was a colorful set that ranged from Latin Jazz master Paquito D'Rivera's "Wapango" to TIQ's versions of Coltrane's arrangement of Rogers' "My Favorite Things" and Jimi Hendrix's version of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower." The works on the second half are recorded on their CD A ... Read More

Turtle Island Quartet at Strathmore Music in the Mansion By Jane Coyne - November 21, 2011 When people ask me what kind of music I like, I borrow an answer from Duke Ellington. “Good.” Last night, Strathmore Music in the Mansion presented the Grammy Award-winning Turtle Island Quartet in two performances of “Have You Ever Been ….?” the music of Jimi Hendrix and David Balakrishnan. It was an experience, and it was a very, very “good” one at that. Turtle Island String Quartet. Photo by Jay ... Read More

Turtle Island’s Voodoo Children Pay A Visit to Electric Ladyland The groundbreaking string quartet plays the music of Jimi Hendrix this Friday at Strathmore. By Sriram Gopal Turtle Island’s Voodoo Children. Photograph by Jay Blakesberg In just two years, Jimi Hendrix recorded three studio albums that turned rock-and-roll on its ear and made an icon out of a man who was just in his mid-twenties. With 1967’s Are You Experienced and Axis: Bold as Love, Hendrix created the archetypal ... Read More

Goings On About Town: Night Life Turtle Island Quartet Nov. 13: The Turtle Island Quartet combines the rigors of classical discipline with the desire to experiment and expand beyond the traditional boundaries of a string quartet. They have collaborated with bluegrass, blues, and jazz musicians, and recorded an album of songs by and inspired by Jimi Hendrix. In 2007, the group released “A Love Supreme,” an album interpreting the music of John Coltrane, which will be the focus of this ... Read More

In performance: Turtle Island Quartet at 25 At twenty-five, the Turtle Island Quartet exists in a constant state of renewal. Founding members violinist David Balakrishnan and cellist Mark Summer welcome young second violinists and violist who are attracted by the sort of technical and improvisational opportunities the standard classical repertoire doesn't offer. They bring new ideas, new repertoire and amazing skills to the group, stay several years and then move on. The quartet's silver ... Read More

At 25, Turtle Island Quartet turns back to Hendrix Jesse Hamlin, Special to The Chronicle Friday, December 3, 2010 In 1981, violinist David Balakrishnan began composing string quartet music that seamlessly merged the styles he loved: jazz, classical, bluegrass and Indian music. But who could play it? "I was writing for a string quartet that just didn't exist," says Balakrishnan, a UCLA-trained composer who grew up listening to Indian music, played with Stephane Grappelli and David Grisman, ... Read More