Quirky quartet to string LV along

Scott Dickensheets

Sunday, July 11, 1999 | 3:44 a.m.

It's an old story: The flute player leaves and suddenly the band's sound comes together. It happened to the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Butt Trumpet -- and it happened to Freeway Philharmonic.

"We were playing with a flutist at the time," recalls violist Novi Novog of the pop-classical ensemble's earliest days. It was the mid-'80s and the still-jelling group was playing in a downtown LA club. The flutist had to fly early -- something about a children's concert in Hamelin.

"The minute he stopped playing," Novog says, "our sound came together. That's a terrible thing to say, isn't it?" She giggles exactly the way you'd expect of someone who's named her viola Stinky.

"We were destined to become a string ensemble," adds guitarist Robert Stanton, without a giggle.

And a string ensemble they became, with three CDs released so far, a Christmas album destined for stores this fall, and a reputation for combining the buoyant accessibility of pop music with the rigorous musicianship of classical. The result is far less alien to a pop listener's ears than the word "Philharmonic" might suggest.

"We use 'Philharmonic' somewhat sarcastically," band member Larry Tuttle says.

The band will bring its "four-person orchestra" sound to Las Vegas at 8 p.m. Saturday in the Sammy Davis Jr. Plaza in Lorenzi Park. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 students, seniors and the disabled.

Freeway Phil displays its wide-angle approach on "Sonic Detour," its latest CD. Along with sparkling original tunes, the ensemble covers such selections as the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" and the Beatles' "Martha My Dear." Definitely not from the standard classical music playlist.

Much of what's different about the group's sound comes from Tuttle and his Chapman Stick. No, it's not a lip balm, it's an instrument described by Tuttle in precise musicological terminology as "a string section posing as a 2-by-4." It's a strange hybrid instrument that has five guitar strings and five bass strings, which the musician taps rather than strums. It produces a denser, fuller string sound.

"I went for the Stick because it's so different, so unique," Tuttle says. "It took me a few years to become proficient." He chuckles, although not in the manner of someone who's given his instrument a goofy name. "I'm still learning it."

Stanton and Tuttle began playing as a duo around 1986. They eventually added Novog on viola and -- voila! -- Freeway Philharmonic was born. They recorded their first CD in 1988, before adding drummer ... er, "drumcussionist" Scott Jackson to the lineup.

Although all the band members have strong backgrounds in classical music, each also has an affinity for popular music, having grown up listening to rock 'n' roll and sometimes playing it. Novog, for instance, played on Prince's "Purple Rain" and handled the memorable solo on the Doobie Brothers' "Black Water."

A string quartet turns out to be the perfect setting for such musically multilingual performers.

"It allows for each voice to speak," Stanton says.

Particularly Stinky's. And what's up with that? It may be easy to imagine someone naming, say, a bass fiddle Stinky, but a viola? Nope. Not even a red one like Novog's.

"It was a little Dennis the Menace character," she explains. "Every time I'd take it into the studio, it would be a little raspy, a little uncooperative." Thus the unflattering designation. But she's had the little guy worked over by people who work on violas, and as his sound improved, Stinky became a term of endearment. "Now he'll be Stinky forever."

It's obvious that, quirks and all, she loves the little guy and the music he makes -- no strings attached.