Dear friend of Quartet San Francisco:

We’ve entered our third decade! As independent artists we can officially confirm that 20+ years in the music business is no small feat. One thing we’ve learned along the way is that great music requires great sponsorship, so I’m writing to you today about our current endeavor. 

We need your help for our most ambitious project to date: a Quartet San Francisco recording with two incomparable ensembles: Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band and the incredible vocal group, Take 6. 

The recording features the music of Raymond Scott, whose compositions were the soundtracks of our childhoods, beginning with the Warner Brothers’ Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons of the 1940s featuring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Elmer Fudd. 

Quartet San Francisco has played the music of Raymond Scott for many years (several Scott tracks are on our Grammy-nominated Whirled Chamber Music CD). The music is joyful and thrilling to perform, and there is something iconically American about his sound. Scott was a master of precision, crisp rhythms, playful themes, and descriptive melodies evocative of childhood memories and carefree afternoons. 

And who are Gordon Goodwin, his Big Phat Band, and Take 6, and why are we partnering with them? There is no more celebrated arranger for music of this genre than Goodwin, a pianist, saxophonist, composer, arranger, and conductor, with four Grammy Awards, three Emmy Awards, and over twenty Grammy nominations. His 18-piece big band consists of the best players Los Angeles has to offer. Take 6 is the unrivaled vocal sextet that does it all: gospel, R&B, and jazz since 1980 (16 albums, 10 Grammy Awards). The sound in my head of QSF with the Big Phat Band and the amazing voices of Take 6 is thrilling stuff.

We are asking for your help to complete this project. Our label, Violinjazz Recordings, is a small Bay Area company producing Grammy-nominated CDs made by a quartet of dedicated string players who celebrate, even insist upon, the crossover capabilities of our instruments. 

Your tax-free donation to our group through our umbrella nonprofit organization, IntermusicSF.org, gets us closer to reaching our goal of raising $50,000. The biggest number in our budget is paying the musicians, all working professionals who are among the hardest hit by the shutdown over the last 18+ months. This project provides employment to over 25 musicians.

Please contribute through this link, DONATE TO QSF, or simply visit IntermusicSF.org and navigate to the Quartet San Francisco page. We deeply appreciate your sponsorship.

Yours in music,
Jeremy Cohen, Joseph Christianson, Chad Kaltinger, and Andrés Vera
Quartet San Francisco

November 2021