2013-10-28
Previously nominated for Grammys for its last three albums and winner of the 2004 International Tango competition, Quartet San Francisco excels in multiple musical styles. This string quartet has become adept at crossing classical music with all sorts of other styles, from tango to funk to blues to bluegrass. Now the quartet mixes it up with jazz on latest release,Pacific Premieres. Pacific Premieres features jazz written for string quartet. The songs range from quiet and pretty ("Carmel"and"Contemplation") to swing ("Venice"..I call it string-swing!), to upbeat orchestral grooves ("Oakland" "Maurice White"). This ensemble really has it together when it comes to combining jazz and classical techniques. The last track, "Guamba" blew me away with the string players' percussive use of their instruments. All in all, this is nice stuff. Rebecca Ruth
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