We missed some of what he said, coverage was spotty up in the hills north of LA and once Phil starts talking, he's hard to stop. He just won't let a disconnected call hold up a conversation. He is a great violinist, but he's a born teacher as well, and he is not stingy with explanations about the music. We had such a great time listening to him and there's so much interesting stuff in what he told us that we put it all below the jump, almost unedited. The answer to the first question is essential reading in music history 101, ok?

Picture of the Emerson String Quartet (from left to right, Phil Setzer, Eugene Drucker, Lawrence Dutton, David Finckel) by Mitch Jenkins