Mike Marshall & The Turtle Island Quartet

Grammy award-winning crossover group, Turtle Island Quartet, joins forces with mandolinist Mike Marshall for this new recording. This collaboration brings together a long time musical friendship that has been brewing for nearly 35 years. Both of these artists have dedicated their lives to bridging the musical gaps between jazz, classical, Latin styles and bluegrass. With their new disc, Mike Marshall & the Turtle Island Quartet, they create some of the most evocative string music heard today. This self-titled record includes an original work by violinist David Balakrishnan of Turtle Island Quartet called Interplay, which explores Balakrishnan's Indian musical heritage through the cycle of loss and recovery moving gracefully from 5/4 rhythms that verge on Irish jigs, to placid raga-esque meditations. Marshall's arrangements of some of his classic tunes, including Gator Strut and Egypt, provide a perfect vehicle for Turtle Island's improvisational skills. Marshall's love for Brazilian music - demonstrated with Gismonti's Loro and the Brazilian Choro Medley - takes the listener through the streets of Rio on a multi-layered bed of melodies and rhythms.