David Balakrishnan

David Balakrishnan (born 1954, Los Angeles, California) is the founder of the Turtle Island Quartet.

After graduating from UCLA in 1976 with a B.A. in music composition and violin, he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he quickly established his reputation as a talented young improvising violinist, appearing on many recordings and making guest appearances with the David Grisman Quartet and jazz violin legend Stephane Grappelli. In 1981 he undertook a master's degree program in music composition at Antioch University West, where his groundbreaking work integrating stylistic elements of jazz, European classical, American folk and Indian classical music led to the creation of the Turtle Island Quartet in the fall of 1985.

His tenure with TIQ has included several recordings on labels such as Windham Hill, Chandos, Koch and Telarc, which released their most recent CD, 2008 Grammy winning “A Love Supreme: The Legacy Of John Coltrane.” Their previous Telarc release, “4+Four,” in collaboration with the Ying Quartet, also won a Grammy in the same category, Classical Crossover, in 2006. Balakrishnan has also himself received two GRAMMY nominations in the category of best instrumental arrangement, the first for his arrangement of Dizzy Gillespie's "A Night In Tunisia" from TIQ's first recording, and the second for his arrangement of “You’ve Changed,” from their 2002 release Danzón, featuring clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera. Other TIQ credits include soundtracks for major motion pictures, TV and radio credits such as the Today Show and All Things Considered, feature articles in People and Newsweek magazines, and collaborations with famed artists such as The Manhattan Transfer, pianists Billy Taylor and Kenny Barron, the Ying Quartet and the Parsons Dance Company.

...
Wikipedia