Turtle Island Quartet Honors Hendrix for "Dusk Variations" Series

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Aug 1, 2011 8:20PM

The city's Dusk Variations chamber music series kicks off tonight at Millennium Park. In its third year, the chamber music series sometimes takes a back seat to the Grant Park Music Festival and the Downtown Sound music series - it's hard to get people excited for classical music twists on pop and rock music - but tonight's kickoff witht eh turtle Island Quartet and their program of Jimi Hendrix covers may be just the proper tonic for some.

Turtle Island Quartet has been imbuing modern musical styles such as jazz, pop, and rock with their chamber music leanings for over a quarter century, epitomized by their tribute to John Coltrane, A Love Supreme. Tonight they'll be playing liberally from their Hendrix tribute Have You Ever Been... along with Tree of Life, an original composition inspired by Hendrix's work by Turtle Island Quartet founder David Balakrishnan.

The Dusk Variations chamber music series runs Mondays in August at Millennium Park's Pritzker Pavilion. Concerts start at 6:30 each night.