Main Blues

Turtle Island Quartet mastermind David Balakrishnan has gotten his genre-expanding colleagues to adventure with him through a long piece of his own — “Tree of Life” — in the middle of a tribute to Jimi Hendrix. the rock-guitar god of the 1960s. It’s called “Have You Ever Been…? (Telarc) and you’ll find it available starting Aug. 24.

I wonder if fans of Time for Three, the Indianapolis-connected string trio, might like this disc. I found it interesting not only because of Balakrishnan’s four-part suite — with its compatible mix of influences — but for putting into the string-quartet format some long-ago popular music I was unfamiliar with — and frankly do not care to know better. I’m certain that not knowing the originals generally aided my appreciation. Partly that’s because the one song I did know — Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” (but only in Dylan’s version) —- is the dullest, most wasteful attempt at adaptation on the disc. And it’s not helped by the addition of Mike Marshall’s frantic mandolin playing.



String-quartet instruments are certainly a natural for the woozy crash and burn, the bent and sliding notes, that the electric guitar is capable of in full cry, but with fewer of that instrument’s annoying characteristics — not the least of which is excessive volume. I have been pretty averse to Hendrix in particular ever since I first heard his mutilation of the National Anthem. I confess I once studied another Hendrix song, “Purple Haze,” because I used the Kronos Quartet version of it as the basis of a parody song I performed at a colleague’s going-away party (or maybe it was a bachelor party: It WAS pretty raunchy, to the best of my recollection).

If you love the string-quartet sound and its capabilities, you will likely find something to enjoy in “Have You Ever Been…?” And the Turtle Island Quartet is an excellent group, well-honed under Balakrishnan’s leadership since 1985. I thoroughly enjoyed the wizardly guest appearance of vibraphonist Stefon Harris in “Gypsy Eyes,” the most jazz-inflected tune in the set. Otherwise, those not in a hero-worshipping mode where Hendrix is concerned might enjoy the title-piece that opens the disc, a suite from “Electric Ladyland,” an effectively murky reading of “Hey Joe,” an intricate, fast-paced John McLaughlin piece (“To Bop Or Not to Be”) and a solo cello version of “Little Wing.”