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Turtle Island String Quartet/Leo Kottke, A Solstice Celebration
Wednesday, December 5, 2007 at 8:00 PM
Music Center at Strathmore

Turtle Island Quartet
Biography

“…zest, imagination and brilliant technique…” ~ The San Francisco Examiner


Its name derived from creation mythology found in Native American Folklore, the Turtle Island Quartet, since its inception in 1985, has been a singular force in the creation of bold, new trends in chamber music for strings. Winner of the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Classical Crossover Recording of the Year, Turtle Island fuses the classical quartet esthetic with contemporary American musical styles, and by devising a performance practice that honors both, the state of the art has inevitably been redefined. Cellist nonpareil Yo-Yo Ma has proclaimed Turtle Island to be “a unified voice that truly breaks new ground – authentic and passionate – a reflection of some of the most creative music-making today.”

The Quartet’s birth was the result of violinist David Balakrishnan’s brainstorming explorations and compositional vision while writing his master’s thesis at Antioch University West. The journey has taken Turtle Island through forays into folk, bluegrass, swing, be-bop, funk, R&B, new age, rock, hip-hop, as well as music of Latin America and India …a repertoire consisting of hundreds of ingenious arrangements and originals. It has included over a dozen recordings on labels such as Windham Hill, Chandos, Koch and Telarc, soundtracks for major motion pictures, TV and radio credits such as the Today Show, All Things Considered, Prairie Home Companion, and Morning Edition, feature articles in People and Newsweek magazines, and collaborations with famed artists such as clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera, The Manhattan Transfer, pianists Billy Taylor and Kenny Barron, the Ying Quartet and the Parsons Dance Company.

Another unique element of Turtle Island is their revival of venerable improvisational and compositional chamber traditions that have not been explored by string players for nearly 200 years. At the time of Haydn’s apocryphal creation of the string quartet form, musicians were more akin to today’s saxophonists and keyboard masters of the jazz and pop world, i.e., improvisers, composers, and arrangers. Each Turtle Island member is accomplished in these areas of expertise as well as having extensive conservatory training as instrumentalists.

One result of this dedication can be seen in Turtle Island’s phenomenal international appeal, particularly in Europe where chamber music remains a vital facet of life. What was once termed ‘alternative’ chamber music now firmly inhabits the mainstream. Turtle Island members refine their skills through unusual and endemic ‘re-compositions’ of works by the old masters, through the development of repertory by some of today’s cutting edge composers, through performances and recordings with major symphonic ensembles, and through a determined educational commitment. Turtle Island Quartet promises to be a string quartet for the 21st century.

David Balakrishnan (violin, baritone violin) graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in music composition and violin and earned a masters degree in music composition at Antioch University West. While his thirty some odd years as a world-class jazz violinist qualify him as one of the pioneers of the extant genre, it is as a composer that he has had the greatest impact. The TIQ’s founder developed a revolutionary compositional style—based on the principle of stylistic integration applied to bowed string instruments—that has earned him two GRAMMY nominations (in the instrumental arrangement category, for his string quartet adaptations of Dizzy Gillespie’s “A Night In Tunisa,” and the jazz ballad “You’ve Changed,” featuring clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera) as well as numerous composing grants, both from private sources such as conductor Marin Alsop, who commissioned his piece for violin and orchestra, “Little Mouse Jumps,” as well as national service organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts and Meet The Composer foundations. The latter has recently awarded him their prestigious “Music Alive” extended residency with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra, which will result in six orchestral works composed over a three-year period. The NCO also commissioned Balakrishnan’s composition, “Darkness Dreaming: Indian Gypsy Jazz Music for Two Guitars, Violin and Orchestra,” which premiered in April 2004 with guitarists Sharon Isbin and John Jorgenson. His piece, “Spider Dreams” (1992), has been widely performed and recorded throughout the world by a diverse array of musical organizations, including a live recording by TIQ with the Detroit Symphony conducted by Neeme Järvi on Chandos Records. The Modern Mandolin Quartet recorded Balakrishnan’s composition, InterPlay, released in February 1999 on D’note records and featured on NPR’s “All Things Considered.” A 2002 commission awarded by a consortium of presenters headed by the Lied Center of Kansas City resulted in a string octet entitled “Mara’s Garden Of False Delights,” which is featured on TIQ’s new Telarc release, “4 plus Four.”

Mads Tolling (viola), internationally renowned violist, violinist, and composer, is the newest member of the Turtle Island Quartet. As violist with TIQ since 2003, he maintains an active touring and recording schedule as well as composing and giving master classes. As a soloist, he regularly tours as jazz violinist with the acclaimed bassist Stanley Clarke and his touring band. Tolling has received Denmark’s Sankt Annae’s Award for Musical Excellence as well as grants from Queen Margaret, the Sonning Foundation and the Berklee Elvin Jones Award. He has performed with Joe Lovano, Al DiMeola, Lenny White and Gerry Brown. Tolling grew up in Copenhagen, Denmark and moved to the U.S. at the age of 20 to pursue jazz studies. He studied under violinist Matt Glaser, and he graduated summa cum laude from Berklee College of Music in Boston in 2003. While still attending Berklee, the renowned jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty recommended Tolling to join Stanley Clarke’s band. Since then, he has performed more than 100 concerts with Clarke worldwide, including the Newport Jazz Festival and the Hollywood Bowl. Besides his activities as a performer, Tolling is an accomplished composer. Of his three recordings of original material, one features the well-known pianist JoAnne Brackeen. He has recorded with vibraphonist Dave Samuels and appears on RMB singer Teena Marie’s recording “La Dona”. He has additionally contributed numerous arrangements and compositions to Turtle Island String Quartet’s repertoire. Tolling has been a thriving force in the educational aspects of jazz and improvisation. He has been active as a Yamaha clinician and has been involved in workshops, coaching and master classes throughout Canada and the U.S. He was recently invited as a performer and clinician to the 34th International Viola Congress in Montreal, Canada. In his spare time Tolling enjoys golfing, tennis and hiking. In 1999, together with his father, he climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

Mark Summer (cello) is a founding member of TISQ, and is widely regarded, thanks not least to his phenomenal percussion and pizzicato techniques, as one of the outstanding cellists of our time. A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, he was a tenured member of the Winnipeg Symphony for three years, before leaving the orchestra to perform in several Canadian contemporary and Baroque ensembles, as well as his own group, The West-End String Band. Asked to perform at the Winnipeg Folk Festival in 1985, the group went on to record Summer’s original music for CBC Radio. That same year, Summer visited the Bay Area where he was invited by David Balakrishnan to help form the quartet. He continued to touch base with his classical roots, performing with the Chamber Symphony of San Francisco, the Oakland Symphony, Oakland Ballet, and the contemporary music ensemble, Earplay. In the twenty one years since embarking on an improvisational musical odyssey, Summer has continued to develop a unique and multi-timbered style, which incorporates virtuoso jazz soloing, distinctive bass lines, and extensive percussive techniques adapted from the guitar, bass and drums. He has been the subject of feature articles in Strings and Bass Player magazine, and has published two pieces for solo cello, one of which, Julie-O, has been performed by cellists all over the world. In addition to composing and performing with TISQ, Summer performs in a trio with clarinet virtuoso Paquito D’Rivera, and the trio’s recording “The Jazz Chamber Trio” was nominated for a Grammy in 2005. He has been recorded for numerous motion picture soundtracks and performed and recorded with singers Linda Ronstadt, Toni Childs, guitarist Jeff Tamelier of Tower of Power, saxophonist Kirk Whalum, and guitarist Will Ackerman. His more notable cello exploits include performing the Brahms Clarinet Trio in a sandstone grotto by the banks of the Colorado River in Moab, Utah, and a performance on Taos Mountain at 11,000 feet on a cello made of ice.

Leo Kottke (guitar, vocals)
Try and Stop Me. The title of Leo Kottke’s new album encapsulates the spirit of the man himself — profoundly original, a little cantankerous perhaps, a deep talking Midwestern raconteur whose quick wit is matched by his astounding virtuosity on the six and 12 string guitars. For the past three decades, Kottke has been indefatigable in his pursuit of a unique musical vision that has placed him among the foremost acoustic guitar stylists of our time. Or any other, for that matter.

Longtime Kottke devotees have learned to expect the unexpected. Try and Stop Me is no exception. It is the most improvisational record the legendary guitarist has ever recorded. Usually a meticulous pre-planner, Kottke threw all preconceived notions to the wind when he entered Studio M near his home in Minneapolis.

“Over time, the importance of improvisation for me has increased,” he says. “I used to think that it was nothing worth hearing.”

Among the factors that helped thaw Kottke’s longstanding reluctance to “jam out” was the making of Clone, his 2002 duet record with bassist Mike Gordon of Phish.

“Clone raised the level of risk I was willing to accept,” Kottke admits. “I didn’t know where I was when I went in the studio to make Try and Stop Me. I wasn’t as flummoxed by that sensation as I might have been had I not spent that much time with Mike.”

And so we get pieces like the deliciously askew “Unbar,” wherein folk blues motifs dance to a decidedly different rhythm. “I deliberately lost count,” Kottke laughs. “So you don’t know where the one is until it’s already gone past you. It’s gonna infuriate people because of that. We really have the 12-bar blues format deeply ingrained in us, whether we even know what it is or not.”

Not that the entire record is improvised. Kottke’s unmistakable compositional flair emerges on the tripartite “Monopoly” and the pronunciation challenge “Gewerbegebiet,” in which Kottke’s sonorous low-tuned 12 string guitar imparts somber gravity to meditative minor motifs.

Kottke’s unusual taste in cover material also helps, as always, to push the envelope. Among other things, there’s the guitarist’s remarkably lyrical reading of the ‘50s kitsch pop standard, “Mockingbird Hill,” popularized by singer Patti Page. And the album closes with Leo’s interpretation of the ‘40s labor movement rabble rouser, “The Banks of Marble.” While all the other songs on the disc are solo acoustic, this one features Kottke’s floorboard-rumbling baritone vocal style and the backing of Los Lobos — old friends from way back.

“Doing that song was a sentimental journey for me,” says Kottke.

“It was [folk singing legend] Pete Seeger’s recording of ‘The Banks of Marble’ that first got me excited about the 12-string guitar many years ago.”

Kottke’s ability to embrace folk idioms and pop melodies as readily as he assimilates jazz and classical influences makes him unique among guitar virtuosi. For all its technical brilliance, wicked syncopation and harmonic sophistication, Kottke’s music is eminently accessible. At heart he’s a populist. This has been abundantly clear ever since the guitarist’s 1969 debut, 12 String Blues, recorded live at a Minneapolis folk club. Kottke’s 1971 major label debut, Mudlark, and seminal Six and 12-String Guitar (1972) announced the arrival of a major new voice in acoustic guitar instrumental music.

Classic Kottke albums like Chewing Pine (1975), Balance (1979), Time Step (1983), My Father’s Face (1989), Great Big Boy (1991), Peculiaroso (1993) and One Guitar, No Vocals (1999) have consistently won over new fans while continuing to surprise and delight longtime aficionados. Over the years, Kottke has worked in the studio and shared concert stages with everyone from Lyle Lovett, John Fahey, T-Bone Burnett and Rickie Lee Jones, to Paco de Lucia, Pepe Romero, John Williams, John McLaughlin and Joe Pass.

“My music is maybe hard to categorize,” Kottke allows. “It doesn’t fit conveniently into the bins at record stores. That works for me, though... I don’t rise and fall with trends. Most listeners seem to have room for this stuff. It’s been great that way.”

Matt Glaser(violin)
Matt Glaser (violin) has been chairman of the String Department at the Berklee College of Music in Boston for 20 years. Glaser is the first and only recipient of the Stephane Grappelli Memorial Award, "In recognition of his significant contribution to the teaching and playing of improvised string music in America," presented by the American String Teachers Association with the National School Orchestra Association. He has performed widely in a variety of idioms ranging from jazz to bluegrass to early music. He has published four books on contemporary violin styles including Jazz Violin, co-authored with the late Stephane Grappelli. He has written for many music magazines including Strings, Acoustic Musician, and Acoustic Guitar. He has performed with Stephane Grappelli, David Grisman, Lee Konitz, Bob Dylan, the Waverly Consort, Fiddle Fever, and most recently with Wayfaring Strangers — a band that fuses jazz and folk music. The Boston Herald called him "possibly America's most versatile violinist." Glaser served on the board of advisors of the Ken Burns' JAZZ Documentary, and appears in the film as a talking head. He also serves on the board of directors of Chamber Music America. Glaser has performed at the White House and at Carnegie Hall with Yo-Yo Ma and Mark O'Connor as part of Stephane Grappelli's 80th birthday concert. He has taught at the Mark O'Connor Fiddle Camp, University of Miami, American String Teacher Association conferences, International Association of Jazz Educator conferences, and many others.

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