Have you heard Quartet San Francisco’s CD Whirled Chamber Music? Quartet San Francisco (QSF) has been on Performance Today, our own Classical Music program, and Eclectopia. I love this CD; it’s sounds bright and fresh, and every time I play it, the music just makes me happy.
Here’s a brief intro to what they sound like. Listen to them play a Disney tune, music by Leonard Bernstein, and the funk hit Pick Up the Pieces.
It’s not strictly classical…or just jazz….or really any one thing. It’s labeled crossover (that’s the category in which they got their Grammy nominations), which means that it encompasses more than one musical genre. Some crossover albums or groups can be frustrating in how they are “jacks of all trades, but masters of none.” But the Quartet San Francisco gets it right; I never feel like the music is diluted in any way.
As you can probably tell, I’ve become an instant fan of this group and their music. So when I heard that violinist Jeremy Cohen, a member of the quartet, was available for an interview, I gave him a call right away. Then I wasn’t sure how to edit the interview, and I put off posting it for about a month! Finally, without further adieu, here’s some of our conversation:
Listen to Cohen describe the origins of QSF and Whirled Chamber Music
The CD includes seven pieces by composer Raymond Scott. You’ll probably know his music, even if you don’t know the name, because his tunes were often used in cartoons. See if either of these samples is familiar: Powerhouse and The Toy Trumpet. That’s how they were played by Scott and his band. Here’s QSF’s interpretation of Powerhouse and The Toy Trumpet.
Listen to Jeremy Cohen talk about Raymond Scott and his music
Finally, we talked about this eclectic group’s future musical plans.
Listen to Jeremy Cohen talk about QSF’s upcoming projects
This is one of the longest interviews I’ve posted, and that’s even after I've left parts of it out. How are these interview posts working out for you? Should they be longer or shorter? Do you like how they’re separated into sections or do you prefer them to be available as one sound file? Let me know in the comments, and we still want to hear which musicians you'd like us to interview in the future.
Special thanks to Max Horowitz of Crossover Media for arranging this interview.