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The Turtle Island Quartet is a San Francisco Bay Area based jazz string quartet formed in 1985 and still actively touring worldwide and recording as of 2011. They were the first string quartet to achieve artistic and commercial success integrating jazz improvisation, jazz rhythms and comping using extended techniques. Their extensive repertoire consists primarily of compositions and arrangements by quartet members that highlight their versatility by bridging several styles including Bluegrass, European classical music, funk, jazz, Latin American music, and Indian classical music. They became known for their renditions of jazz standards, such as founding violinist David Balakrishnan's Grammy-nominated arrangement of "A Night In Tunisia" by Dizzy Gillespie, "Stolen Moments" by Oliver Nelson, or "Blue Rondo a la Turk" by Dave Brubeck on Art of the Groove, as well as for jazz interpretations of famous classical music pieces, as shown on the humorously titled "Bach's Lunch" on The Hamburg Concert. The quartet has also covered rock and roll pieces, such as Jimi Hendrix's "Gypsy Eyes" on Who Do We Think We Are? and Eric Clapton's - originally Robert Johnson's - "Crossroads" on Skylife.
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