While
the Kronos Quartet cracked open the field of jazz for the once-exclusively classical string quartet,
the Turtle Island String Quartet is the first whose members can actually improvise, thus giving the foursome much credibility in the jazz world. Their repertoire extends from bebop standards like "A Night in Tunisia" to Third Stream material to rock & roll treatments of
Robert Johnson's Delta blues ("Crossroads"), throwing in bluegrass, South Indian ragas, and any other influences that they can latch onto -- all without the crutch of a rhythm section.
Violinist/cofounder
Darol Anger spent nine years (1975-1984) as a founding member of
the David Grisman Quintet, which helped to open up the possibilities of jazz improvisation for stringed instruments. Just before leaving
Grisman,
Anger played with violinist
David Balakrishnan in a four-violin group called Saheeb. Soon thereafter, the two recorded an album with jazz violinist
Matt Glaser -- and together with cellist
Mark Summer of
the Winnipeg Symphony,
Anger and
Balakrishnan founded
the TISQ in 1985. The viola chair has been a revolving door throughout much of the group's history, filled respectively by
Irene Sazer,
Katrina Wreede, and
Danny Seidenberg.
Balakrishnan in turn was replaced in 1993 by
Tracy Silverman. Their first self-titled album for Windham Hill Jazz -- released in 1988 -- led to several more on that label, including the soundtrack for the film Spider Dreams. In 1993,
the TISQ and
the Billy Taylor Trio performed
Taylor's
Homage, one of the more gracefully balanced classical/jazz fusions around, in concert.
–
Richard S. Ginell, Rovi