R&R: I realize your name is quite eclectic, Turtle Island. How did you end up coming up with the name?
D.B.: We were looking for a name that would let people know that we were an American string quartet. Turtle Island is the Native American Indian name for the North American continent. They believed they lived on the back of a turtle, and this guy Gary Snyder had a book of poetry and he used that same analogy of Turtle Island being this melting pot, and this idea that American culture is world culture.
R&R: So, why don't you tell me a little about the history of the Turtle Island String Quartet-your background.
D.B.: We've been, for many years, on a record label called Windham Hill records. Windham Hill was known in the 80s as a new age label. They were the most well known record label for that kind of stuff.
Being on the label was great for us because it got us a lot of distribution and it gave them a lot of critical acclaim; New Age music is thought of as being somewhat compromised in terms of the quality of the music; it's kind of like elevator music for the modern generation.
R&R: How would you go about reaching a younger audience, because it seems like your music is new age and geared toward a middle age audience?
D.B.: You know, we're more of a chamber music group-a modern chamber music group-which is a little different than the new age thing.
Our audience tends to be people who are attracted to classical music, who want to hear something new, and like the fact that the music we make is connected to the classical tradition. But also, it has an American music feel, you know it makes you want to tap your toes, it makes you think; it's more contemporary.
R&R: But your music is nonetheless a fusion of jazz and classical strains, with a pinch of new age here and there.
D.B.: Yeah, exactly. There are a lot of groups doing that because all those labels break down over time. You know, what jazz meant in the 1900s, the way it was being used, means something completely different now.
The music's completely changed 100 years later. Although, there's still all of that original swing feeling that we think of as being jazz. So, all those names are sort of limiting to musicians who keep moving on to the next idea. What Turtle Island is about looking for is combining the music we love into one sound that people will listen to and go, "Wow, I get that! That's great." You know, that's really inspiring.
Using the form of the string quartet is important because the string quartet is no accident. It's a form that's been around for 200 years, and it contains some of the best quality music ever heard by mankind. You know, the four instruments, the violins, the viola and the cello create a sound that's timeless.
But, unfortunately for our culture, what happened was it got caught up in a certain period of European music-namely the 19th century. Beethoven, Mozart, that kind of thing. And if it was thought of as being 20th century, it was thought of as being all this really weird modern music, you know stuff that's hard to listen to.
So, I think what Turtle Island is showing is that you can take this string quartet form and instead of playing classical music or modern music that's not quite as accessible, we were all able to, being jazz musicians first, bring that flavor into the form.
R&R: I understand that your influences range from Dizzy Gillespie to Jimi Hendrix. Who would you consider to be one of your greatest influences? I mean, even though you're trying to create a new type of music, it really isn't necessarily the newest kind; it may be a derivative of someone else's.
D.B.: I'd say people I'm really influenced by would be people like Bobby McFerrin, some of the jazz guys, like John Coltran, Miles Davis and Charlie Parker, of course, but that's more like a style thing. Also, Chic Correa, in terms of what he does with music, in terms of blending styles. A lot of jazz guys, because you see jazz is where a lot of the creative stuff happened.
R&R: Yeah, it was basically refuting the musical norms.
D.B.: Yeah, it's really when America made its mark on the world.
R&R: Exactly.
D.B.: Although, when they think of America they think, of course, of pop music, and that's probably the biggest mark. But pop music came out of jazz. When you turn the radio on and you hear the drummer hitting the backbeat, no matter what style of music you're listening to you always hear that sort of rhythmic motion. So doing that in Turtle Island connects the string quartet to that. And that's why Turtle Island is an American string quartet, and we're pretty much a one of a kind in that way.
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