Results for "Bela Fleck"

Bela Fleck

Just in case you aren't familiar with Béla Fleck, there are some who say he's the premiere banjo player in the world. Others claim that Béla has virtually reinvented the image and the sound of the banjo through a remarkable performing and recording career that has taken him all over the musical map and on a range of solo projects and collaborations. If you are familiar with Béla, you know that he just loves to play the banjo, and put it into unique settings. Born and raised in New York City, Béla began his musical career playing the guitar. In the early 1960's, while watching the Beverly Hillbillies, the bluegrass sounds of Flatt & Scruggs flowed out of the TV set and into his young brain. Earl Scruggs's banjo style hooked Béla's interest immediately

The Ripple Effect

Label: Craft Recordings
Released: 2020
Track listing: Bamako; Nashville; Snug Harbor; Elyne Road; Matitu/Buribalal; Manchester; Throw Down Your Heart; Kauonding Sissoko; Katmandu; Dueling Banjos.

The Pat Metheny Songbook - A New Jazz Canon, Part 2

By LUDOVICO GRANVASSU

This is the second part of our celebration of Pat Metheny's 66th birthday through an exploration of the best renditions of his work by other musicians. Metheny's signature compositional style inspired countless colleagues, even before he had released his first album. It's no surprise that more than four decades later, the renditions of his work can ...

Bela Fleck and Toumani Diabate: The Ripple Effect

By DOUG COLLETTE

The Ripple Effect is the coup de grace of Bela Fleck's ten year-plus excursion into the African roots of his chosen instrument of the banjo, originally titled Throw Down Your Heart (Rounder, 2009). Part of a larger set comprised of both video and audio on DVD/CD, The Complete Africa Sessions (Craft Recordings, 2020), these ten concert ...

Chick Corea: Mr. Eclectic

By DOUG COLLETTE

It's altogether plausible to posit Chick Corea's career as one of, if not the most, colorful in all of contemporary jazz. And that very declaration arrives apart from recognition of the varied shapes and sizes of the groups he dubbed 'Return To Forever.' In recent years, apart from notable collaborations on stage and in the studio ...

Laura Jurd: Stepping Back, Jumping In

By ROGER FARBEY

Laura Jurd's Stepping Back, Jumping In was commissioned by the major London music venue, King's Place, as part of its “Venus Unwrapped" series. Jurd debuted her project at the venue on March 1, 2019 followed by St George's Bristol and The Sage, Gateshead on March 4 and 5, 2019 where this album was recorded.

Dexter Payne: All Things, All Beings

By CHRIS M. SLAWECKI

Clarinet, harmonica and saxophonist, composer and bandleader and musical globetrotter Dexter Payne is the type of musician who is most often categorized as “difficult to categorize." Profoundly influenced by physical and spiritual journeys through the cultures of America, the Middle East, Africa and Brazil, Payne's recorded output checks off every box from Mississippi delta blues to ...

Etienne Mbappe: Silky Master of the 4th Dimension

By ALAN BRYSON

Etienne Mbappe plays bass so smoothly that you could imagine he wears silk gloves—and you would be correct. In fact he is the only musician in the world who has an endorsement deal with a silk glove manufacturer. He is a musician's musician, a world class bassist based in Paris. Originally from Cameroon in Western Africa, ...

Michael Rossetto: Intermodal Blues

By FRIEDRICH KUNZMANN

In search of the roots and the limits of where a banjo comes from and how far the instrument can go, Minneapolis-based Michael Rossetto makes a journey from cinematic soundscapes to traditional western folklore with a jazzy spin to it. On Intermodal Blues Michael Rossetto is joined by upright bassist Chris Bates and drummer ...