Dorothy Lawson: ETHEL's String Theory for Quartets

Spotlight On

Today, the Spotlight shines On Dorothy Lawson, a cellist who's helped redefine what a string quartet can be. Dorothy and the group ETHEL have spent years breaking down walls between classical, jazz, rock and world music.

On March 13th at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Dorothy teams up with bass legend Ron Carter to reimagine his landmark Kronos Quartet recording from 40 years ago, featuring arrangements of music by Thelonious Monk.

Dorothy shares how ETHEL has evolved through four generations of musicians, their unique residency at the Metropolitan Museum, and why making deeply human music matters now more than ever.

(The musical excerpts heard in the interview are from the album Vigil by ETHEL & Layale Chaker)

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Dig Deeper

• Visit ETHEL at ethelcentral.org
• Purchase ETHEL’s music from Bandcamp or Qobuz and listen on your streaming platform of choice
• Follow ETHEL on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube
• ETHEL Uses Chamber Music to Smash the Status Quo
• Ron Carter & ETHEL: Reflections on Monk & Bach - Carnegie Hall
• The Met Museum – Balcony Bar Residency - ETHEL
• ETHEL, Thomas Dolby, and David Byrne - "(Nothing But) Flowers"
• Dig into this episode's complete show notes at spotlightonpodcast.com

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