Kronos Quartet – “Caravan ” – [Nonesuch Records]

David Richoux   1/19/2005   CD, Jazz

WOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!!!!!!!!!!!
It seems like the Good Ol’ Kronos Quartet have ditched just about everything they have done before and decided to take a trip around the world. No more Microtonal Minimal Modernista Composition for the KQ – they are playing HOT FIDDLE (and HOT CELLO) in so many styles – Jazz, Slavic, Electro/Beat, Arabic, Turkish, Portuguese, Argentine, Gypsy-Romanian, Indian, Mexican, even a bit of Surf! Many guest artists on many percussion, keyboard and other instruments add a whole lot to this very fun recording. You probably won’t dance to it, but you will find great things here… a few notes on the better tracks:
#3 combines the quartet with tabla – very Indian
#5 is Killer, but it takes a bit to get going – best track here (stick with it!)
#6- Gloomy Sunday might sound familiar, but it is SO SAD!
#7 is goofy electronica #8 modern Argentine tango.
#10 Iranian-Turkoman traditional folk/dance Spike Fiddle!
#11 Sufi trance music – slowly building, very dramatic, traditional instruments accompany.
#12 Armenian Surf via Dick Dale!
*review by David Richoux