It’s in the can!  My fellow Turtle Island Quartet members and I, along with some stellar help from vibraphonist Stefon Harris and mandolinist Mike Marshall, have completed work on our “Hendrix” record, entitled “Have You Ever Been.”  Recorded at the cavernous film scoring studios at legendary Skywalker Ranch, “Have You Ever Been” is set to [...]

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Recently, I’ve had a wonderful time working with my friend, songwriter/singer/banjo player Abigail Washburn. Last fall I performed her music alongside other supporting musicians Nathaniel Smith (cello) and Bela Fleck (banjo) at Disney Hall in LA; we were opening for legendary comedian/banjo player Steve Martin. That was a challenge; her music has such beauty, honesty, [...]

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“Fusion” has been a buzzword in Irish music for a while now. Technically defined as “The merging of different elements into a union”, in trad, it usually manifests by a jazz or rock groove being added to whatever traditional piece is being played by a traditional group.

Even in the realm of fusion though, fiddler Jeremy Kittel is unique. A rewarded and accomplished musician in the genres of Celtic, jazz, and classical, Kittel’s new CD “Chasing Sparks” is not meant to be a fusion album but a trad album made by an artist who is constantly trying to stretch his own boundaries.

“I wrote most of these tunes with no intention of combining styles – rather, they were just embellishments of melodies and sounds that were floating around in my head,” says Kittel. “The first CD I did (2000’s ‘Celtic Fiddle’) was more traditional – and I love playing trad tunes – but I had a period of a few years where I was writing a lot of fiddle tunes that were a little quirky in some way or a little bit different like in B major or with a different melodic structure than usual. I wanted the record to be focused around these new melodies and I wanted to use them for branching out into new arrangements and to have some improvisations in there. “

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Jeremy wins the 2010 Emerging Artist Award from the University of Michigan School of Music.  This honor is bestowed annually upon a graduate from within the past fifteen years who has made “significant contributions in the field of music, theatre, or dance, and will have had a positive impact on the School of Music community, [...]

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