Time For Three: Beyond Classical

In "Philly Phunk," Time for Three infuses classical music with a love of bluegrass and jazz. Steve J. Sherman hide caption

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Steve J. Sherman

When you're trained at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, you have one of the finest classical musical pedigrees in the business. Violinists Zachary DePue and Nicolas Kendall and bassist Ranaan Meyer, who together perform as Time for Three, all met as students there. They came out with the skills the school taught them, but a way of looking at music that doesn't come from the classroom. With a love of bluegrass and jazz, they started along their improvisational way by re-crafting classical favorites (like Bach's Concerto for Two Violins, which Time for Three recorded in NPR's Studio 4A), and have continued to grow and compose their own music.

Time for Three has been digitally releasing a single each month on its Web site, starting with "Philly Phunk," dedicated to the city that birthed it as a group. The song starts with a relaxed wander, checking out the scenery as it struts down city streets. Pausing for a "Hey, how you doin'," the tune shrugs its shoulders and continues on its loping path. The steps get heavier and the speed increases until listeners are drawn into the movement of the rivers and the mills, the frenetic pace of an urban center in constant motion.

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