Jazz, No Rock, No Classical

ETHEL played at San Francisco State University's McKenna Theatre last week. ETHEL is a mishmash of classical, jazz, rock, blues and more.....all coming from two violins, a viola and a cello. Introduced to them the first time at the TED conference, I've remained in contact with the band members, who reside in New York: Cornelius Dufallo and Mary Rowell on violin, Ralph Farris on viola and Dorothy Lawson on cello.

They performed a number of pieces that they wrote, as well as works from other composers, such as Pamela Z, who I met after the performance, Marcelo Zarvos (Arrival from Nepomuk's Dances) and Don Byron's String Quartet No. 2.

Of my favorites included the band's own compositions such as Dorothy Lawson's upbeat and eclectic compilation Chai.

Mary Rowell decided to do a 'classical' mashup of the talking parrot from the TED stage last year and a variety of snippets (Sprach Einstein) -- incredibly energizing and amusing.

Then there was more of a blues/classical mashup called Requiem, which held its drama throughout the entire piece and Cornelius wrote a piece about life in the Big Apple and its daily encounters by foot in a piece called Lighthouse. Also check out an earlier video post I did on their second piece of four on Marvin Gaye's life. If you ever have an opportunity to see them live, you should not pass it up.