Time For Three

Time for Three’s (Tf3) instrumentation suggests an unusual classical string trio with two violins and double bass. All three members are classically trained, having first met and jammed together at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music. But Tf3 are part of a new wave of artists as comfortable doing an instrumental take on a Coldplay number (an ethos-soaked version of “U.F.O.”) as a concerto. Violinists Zachary DePue and Nicolas Kendall and double bassist Ranaan Meyer either wrote or cowrote the pieces and are joined by equally openminded musicians. Ukulele phenom Jake Shimabukuro guests on “Happy Day,” the uplifting DePue-penned opening cut. Branford Marsalis’ dark saxophone tones grace the rollicky original “Queen of Voodoo,” while cellist Alisa Weilerstein joins Tf3 for a quartet version of Rachmaninoff’s “Vocalise.” Singer/songwriter Joshua Radin sings four of his early songs, and works by both Bach by way of Bon Iver (“Chaconne in Winter”) and The Beatles (“Norwegian Wood") are also visited.