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String Trio: The Jeremy Kittel Band

The Jeremy Kittel Band (L-R Joshua Pinkham, Jeremy Kittel and Quinn Bachand)

Jeremy Kittel is a seriously well rounded violinist and musician; he’s a master of classical, jazz, Scottish and Irish fiddle, Bluegrass… you name it, he does it!

Jeremy recently came to Interlochen Arts Academy to work with some students before a Valentine’s concert in Suttons Bay, and brought his bandmates Joshua Pinkham (mandolin) and Quinn Bachand (guitar) with him to Studio A.

(Learn more about the band, and our Studio A visit, by clicking "Read More.")

 
“Playing different styles was kind of a dream of mine,” Jeremy told us. “I realized early on – I was playing classical music in schools and with lessons, and…and then I started playing Irish music, Scottish music, got into it… went to school for jazz and realized that I didn’t really have to give the other one up and that maybe these different styles could inform each other – so I had this dream of being multilingual with music...I think of music as more universal than it is different, and comprised of languages.”

You can hear many languages in the two pieces the band played for us, beginning with, “Flight of the Mastodon.” The piece was named by their fans at a concert; the band often brings in untitled pieces and lets the audience decide what to call them. The second piece was as-yet-unnamed, probably had an audience-chosen title by the end of the concert that night.

It was fascinating to watch the Jeremy Kittel Band perform together – they rarely look at their instruments and are generally staring at each other, or going far away into some other mental space. I asked them which “land” they visit mentally, and Quinn said he enters the “fourth dimension,” but only guitarists know how to get there. Thankfully, he, Josh and Jeremy have excellent skill in bringing the rest of us with them.

We had terrific fun in the fourth dimension with the Jeremy Kittel Band in Studio A – perhaps they’ll return, and bring us to another dimension, another day.

Learn more about the Jeremy Kittel band here.

Kate Botello is a host and producer at Classical IPR.