Grammy-Winning Band To Debut New Album At Bucks Co. Playhouse

Grammy-winning The Turtle Island Quartet will celebrate the release of their new album, Bird’s Eye View, with a concert at the Bucks County Playhouse on Feb. 10. The Quartet's CD release concert starts at 8 pm.

The new album honors the impact of legendary saxophonist Charlie Parker.

Iconic Charlie Parker classics such as “KoKo,” “A Night In Tunisia,” and “Dewey Square” are juxtaposed with original responses by Quartet members and intertwined with other pieces from the bebop era and beyond such as Sonny Rollins’ “Airegin,” “Miles Ahead” by Gil Evans/Miles Davis, and “Subconscious-Lee” by Lee Konitz.

"On Bird’s Eye View, Turtle Island Quartet looks to draw analogy from the visionary brilliance of Parker, to the Quartet’s own continuing aspirations to similarly redefine the parameters of the traditional string quartet form, in a sense coming from the other direction," according to an event announcement.

Here's a little bit more about the band, according to their website:

Since its inception in 1985, the Turtle Island Quartet has been a singular force in the creation of bold, new trends in chamber music for strings. Winner of the 2006 and 2008 Grammy Awards for Best Classical Crossover Album, Turtle Island fuses the classical quartet esthetic with contemporary American musical styles, and by devising a performance practice that honors both, the state of the art has inevitably been redefined. Cellist nonpareil Yo-Yo Ma has proclaimed TIQ to be “a unified voice that truly breaks new ground – authentic and passionate – a reflection of some of the most creative music-making today.

Tickets to the CD release party are $35 to $45; purchase at www.bcptheater.org.

Learn more about the band here.

You can watch them perform here on NPR's "All Songs Considered":

Photo, submitted