Turtle Island Carves Identity Through Rhythm

The Turtle Island String Quartet sets a tough task for itself: Make the band’s two violinists, violist and cellist sound as if a bass-and-drums rhythm section were part of the ensemble.

And to large degree, the quartet, which opens for the wondrous Ray Charles tonight at the Universal Amphitheatre, is up to the challenge. Pieces such as Victor Feldman’s “Seven Steps to Heaven,” Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads” or “Who Do You Think You Are?,” done by Tower of Power, have a powerful rhythmic drive that sends them surging forward.

Cellist Mark Summer explained a couple of the band’s tricks. “We use a technique called ‘The Chop,’ where the violins and viola imitate the sound of the snare drum,” he said. “To get a bass sound, I pluck lines on the cello, and I add percussion by slapping or tapping the fingerboard.”

This rhythmic aspect is just one way the band establishes an identity. The members--Summer, Darol Anger and Tracy Silverman on violins, and Danny Seidenberg on viola--move freely around the stage as they play, with long electric cords hooking them to their amplifiers. And all the players solo.

Improvising gives Summer great pleasure. “I feel I’m saying something on my instrument that hasn’t been said,” he said. “I’m speaking with my voice, giving people a sense of who I am, and trying to communicate at a deep level how I feel about music.”

Though the band offers pop, rock and classical, its new album, “By the Fireside,” gives a new twist to portions of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” and folk music, jazz is perhaps its strong suit. Renditions of classics like Monk’s “Ruby, My Dear” and “A Night in Tunisia” are often included in its shows.

Information: (213) 480-3232.

Braun and Bop: Trumpeter Rick Braun, whose new jazz-pop release, “Beat Street,” is getting lots of airplay and generating solid sales, plays easy-listening sounds that occasionally exhibit a refreshing muscularity. That spine could be due to his admitted fondness for be-bop. “I love making a living with my music, but I also love to play be-bop, which I do at home,” said Braun, who sports a tone that recalls one of his influences, the Miles Davis of the ‘50s and ‘60s.

Braun’s on the program for the ninth annual Catalina Island Jazz Trax Festival, being held tonight through Sunday and Oct. 13-15 at the Casino Ballroom in Avalon. Other contemporary artists include saxmen Richard Elliott and Jeff Kashiwa, guitarists Peter White and Jeff Golub, singers Tuck & Patti and trumpeter Chris Botti.

Information: (800) 866-8729.

Fall Festival: The 13th annual San Francisco Jazz Festival, which runs Oct. 13-29 at various venues in the Bay Area, offers a lineup loaded with talent. Among the stars are Wayne Shorter; Keith Jarrett, who appears with his trio on Oct. 14, the night before he plays L.A.’s Wiltern Theater; and Cecil Taylor, who offers the West Coast premiere of a new orchestral work.

Others on tap: the Modern Jazz Quartet, organist Jimmy Smith, Randy Weston and his Volcano Blues Big Band with Teddy Edwards and Melba Liston, and Slide Hampton’s JazzMasters with Phil Woods, Jimmy Heath and Charles McPherson.

Information: (415) 788-7353.

Brown’s Back: After a 20-year hiatus, singer-songwriter Oscar Brown Jr. has released a new album. Appropriately titled “Then & Now,” the engaging CD includes not only numerous new tunes, such as “Cyberspace Is the Place,” but also several of Brown’s early career evergreens, among them “Signifyin’ Monkey” and “Rags and Old Iron.”

The latter, a poignant tale set in Chicago about a youth and on old rag buyer, remains a staple of Brown’s repertoire. “I have never been able to top it in terms of its impact on an audience,” says Brown, a spry 68-year-old who appears with pianist Sidney Lehman tonight at the Jazz Bakery, (310) 271-9039, and Saturday at Wheeler Hot Springs in Ojai, (805) 646-8131.

Surfing the Jazzwaves: Wynton Marsalis, who leads the vital Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra on Sunday at the Wiltern Theatre, will discuss “Jazz and the American Popular Song” on “Marsalis on Music,” airing Tuesday, 10 p.m., on KPCC-FM (89.3).

The station also hosts Marian McPartland’s “Piano Jazz,” heard Thursdays at 10 p.m. This week’s guest: Shirley Horn.

“American Composer: Thelonious Monk” airs tonight at 7 (and repeats Sunday at 8:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.) on the Bravo channel.

Free Music: Bob Sheppard and Chuck Manning, two of Los Angeles’ top contemporary jazz saxophonists, perform with pianist James Carney tonight at 5:30 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, (213) 857-6000.

Pianist Jon Mayer’s trio, plus singer Lee Brown, appear Saturday, 1:30-4 p.m., at Pedrini Music in Alhambra, (213) 283-1932.