| Issue 8 | Volume 142 | Tuesday, October 28, 2014 | theavion.com |
Turtle Island Quartet Soothes Audiences with Cool Jazz Richard Weakley/The Avion Newspaper
Himani Parekh Staff Reporter
The Blue Angels cross in a high speed pass with a closing velocity in excess of 800 miles per hour.
They moved in harmony, as if the music wove through them and infused everything it touched with melodic grace. On Friday, Oct. 24, Turtle Island Quartet performed a program called Birth of the Cool in the Willie Miller Auditorium as part of the Honors Series. The group consists of violinists David Balakrishnan and Mateusz Smoczynski, cellist Mark Summer, and violist Benjamin von Gutzeit. Based out of Los Angeles, the four are known for their innovative use of string instruments to play non-classical styles. All four had similar roots: intensely classical training that eventually morphed into a preference for improvisation and experimentation. Balakrishnan found himself drawn to rock music scene as a youth and realized that he could emulate the sounds of an electric guitar on his violin because the violin was already equipped to make notes linger. Smoczynski was interested in jazz. Von Gutzeit, also drawn to rock and roll at a young age, experimented with guitar despite his classical training but eventually returned to the viola when he realized that he was not nearly as good at guitar and that he could do more with the viola. Summer early on discovered he was better at, and much preferred, improvising to following an established piece. Under the shared interest in combining classical training with unusual style choices, Turtle Island Quartet came together in 1985. Since then, the group has pushed its bounds to envelop a variety of styles, including swing, bluegrass, new age, and rock, and received two GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Crossover. Unsurprisingly, their program for the evening, Birth of the Cool, was originally performed by a group of nine jazz musicians. Evidently four string instrumentalists can play the music of nine jazz musicians quite well. From my position at the top of the steps of the packed auditorium, I could see the musicians occasionally lay down their bows to pluck, strum, or, in the case of cellist Summer, rhythmically tap on, their instruments to create the percussive notes of jazz. The result was a soothing but vivid ambience. The sound was elegant, energetic but laid back. The hour and half performance by Turtle Island Quartet was a singular and absolutely marvelous musical experience and an excellent way to spend a Friday night.
BCM Fall Break
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Angels Soar over Jacksonville Shemar Alexander Staff Reporter The NAS JAX Air Show took place on October 25 -26 last weekend. Aviation enthusiasts, war veterans, pilots, and members of our armed forces were in full effect at the air show. There was a great turn out by the crowd and the performers kept the crowd excited and interested. The show was orchestrated by one of the most experienced air bosses in the United States, Mr. Wayne Boggs. There were many aircraft on static display from a UH-60M Black Hawk to a C-45 to a couple of F-22 jets. There were different branches of the military giving tours and answering questions people had about their respective aircraft and vehicles. There was also a challenge amongst the mili-
tary branches to see who could do the most pull-ups. The static displays seemed to spark the crowd’s excitement and immediately add an intense feeling of anticipation to see the show. The performers gave it their all in the airshow. The various performers pushed and pulled all sorts of negative and positive G forces. The amount of Cuban eights, inverted flight maneuvers, and aileron rolls were enough to keep the crowd excited and on the edge of their seats for the whole duration of the show. There was a race and a pyro performance by the Immortals and their jet powered school time school bus. Patty Wagstaff, also showed off her skills and showed off her signature tail wag maneuver. Matt Chapman, Mr. Embry-Riddle himself, kept the crowd in awe and amazement
as his plane ripped across the sky with speed, power, and grace. The F-22 display was marvelous followed by a heritage pass with the F-22 and a P-51 Mustang. The Blue Angels were the main attraction of the show as their C-130 “Fat Albert” opened for their performance and showed just what a C-130 can really do when it’s at maximum performance. The Blue Angels then shot across the Runway and took off for the sky. They performed their slow flight carrier approaches and even some high speed knife passes. The Blue Angels also sent chills down the crowd’s spines as they performed their sneak up maneuvers and flew over the crowd. The NAS JAX Air Show was truly a show that displayed how the Blue Angles soared through the skies of Jacksonville.
Shemar Alexander/The Avion Newspaper
Richard Weakley/The Avion Newspaper
Andy Lichtenstein/The Avion Newspaper
Richard Weakley/The Avion Newspaper
Borderlands Review
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