In-School Performances

TURTLE ISLAND QUARTET

Visit Website
“A STERLING EXAMPLE OF FIRST-RATE JAZZ MUSIC-MAKING”
Los Angeles Times
“EXCELLENT PRECISION AND MUSICALITY”
Excellent precision and musicality
“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
News and Events

03.11.10
Evening with Groucho A Remarkable, Zany Revue
'Evening with Groucho' a remarkable, zany revue

03.03.10
Turtle Island Quartet Celebrates Coltrane, Hendrix in Denver
Turtle Island Quartet wowed the audience with "A Love Supreme: The Music of John Coltrane."

Performance Highlights

03.15.10
Turtle Island Quartet
A Love Supreme
Collegedale, TN

03.17.10
Danu
Overture Center - Madison, WI

03.19.10
Luna Negra Dance Theater
with Turtle Island Quartet and Paquito D'Rivera
Strathmore- N. Bethesda, MD

Listen

from the album- A Love Supreme: The Legacy of John Coltrane
La Danse du Bonheur (McLaughlin/Shankar)
Countdown (Coltrane)
So What (Davis)
excerpts from A Solstice Celebration
Jot Se Jot Jagake Chalo (Pyarela)
Winter in Cairo (Vivaldi)
Beautiful Savior (Trad.)
Christmas Day I'Da Mornin'/Apples in Winter (Trad.)
excerpts from Turtle Island Quartet with Cyrus Chestnut
Milestones (Davis)
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (Willis)

Tours & Projects

Silver Anniversary - 10-11

With Special Guests
Cyrus Chestnut and Mike Marshall

One evening in November 1985 four young and adventurous string players sat down together at a friend’s home for a nice meal and some string quartet music. One would normally expect the standard fare of Mozart, Beethoven, and maybe some Mendelssohn, but these early intrepid explorers of the alternative string music world had entirely something else in mind. Starting off with Oliver Nelson’s classic jazz ballad “Stolen Moments,” proceeding into Dizzy Gillespie’s “A Night In Tunisia,” and culminating in violinist/composer David Balakrishnan’s seminal four movement cross-genre opus, “Balapadam,” they began a journey that would shake the very foundation of the two hundred fifty year old string quartet tradition, and play a central role in the redefining of the stylistic boundaries of American classical chamber music.

Twenty five years later, having accumulated a mountain of well deserved accolades including GRAMMY® awards for their last two recordings, the Turtle Island Quartet has chosen, as collaborators, two acclaimed artists for their distinctive roles in American music today; jazz piano master Cyrus Chestnut* and virtuoso mandolinist Mike Marshall** will celebrate the silver anniversary in grand style. Messrs. Chestnut and Marshall, having both previously collaborated with Turtle Island individually, bring a dazzling array of possibilities to the quartet’s quarter century of repertoire. Classic jazz, Americana, and new works will highlight this extraordinary project.


*Cyrus Chestnut appears by special arrangement with Ed Keane Associates.
**Mike Marshall appears by special arrangement with Maria Camillo Booking.