banjo Archive
FLECK: Juno Concerto; Quintet – Béla Fleck, banjo/Brooklyn Rider/Colorado Symph./Jose Luis Gomez– Rounder Records
Béla FLECK: Juno Concerto; Griff; Quintet for Banjo and Strings: Movement II – Béla Fleck, banjo/Brooklyn Rider/Colorado Symphony/Jose Luis Gomez– Rounder Records 1166100200 50:51 (3/17/17) ****: A banjo concerto – a very entertaining one at that! I am not at all sure how many works for banjo and orchestra; especially an actual multi-movement concerto there are, but the Juno Concerto is likely the best! I did query to find a concerto by banjoist Chris Lake whose work I do not know but Fleck’s Concerto is very engaging. As promotional materials attest, “Béla Fleck is the world’s premier banjo player, a 16-time Grammy Award winner nominated in more categories than any other musician, a genre-busting collaborator, a film producer and a composer. Foremost, though, he is a dad. The impact of fatherhood on Béla is reflected in Juno Concerto, named for his firstborn son with fellow folk musician Abigail Washburn.” The music morphs through a number of styles including some very Copland-esque moments and some bluegrass type exchanges with orchestral support that reminded me a little bit of Bartok. Ultimately, this is a very creative and – most importantly – entertaining work that showcases Fleck, as the soloist as well as […]
************ Chick Corea (piano) & Bela Fleck (banjo) *********** Two – Concord Jazz
A terrific live 2-CD album covering many genres which you’ll probably play over and over. * Chick Corea (piano) & Bela Fleck (banjo) – Two [TrackList follows] – Concord Jazz CIA-37992-2 (2 CDs) [9/11/15] *****: This is a live version follow-up to an earlier studio album the pair entitled The Enchantment. Ten of the 11 tracks are repeats, but the improvisations go on about twice as long in each case. These are among the best duets ever recorded, and the rather strange combination of banjo and piano go together just perfectly, in a completely enthralling fashion. We didn’t get The Enchantment, but this one is a total winner from start to finish. The communication between these two is amazing – They like having more time and space during their concerts, and clearly love performing and improvising together. Each one gives the other one plenty of room to listen to exactly what they are doing at the moment, and they do this intently and intuitively. Never mind their sometimes corny stage patter when they are talking to the audience, pay attention to the music. The audience goes absolutely wild when Bela says they will be doing a bluegrass number since he played some […]
Classical Banjo: The Perfect Southern Art – John Bullard, banjo
The virtuoso of classical works on the banjo. Classical Banjo: The Perfect Southern Art [TrackList follows] – John Bullard, banjo – self TrackList: SCHUMANN: Three Romances for Oboe MARCELLO: Concerto in d TELEMANN: Partita No. 5 in e HANDEL: Trio Sonata in g, Op. 2 No. 8 BACH: Fugue, Sonata No. 1 BACH: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring; Movement Ten from Cantata BWV 147 GRIEG: Lyric pieces As you can see by the track listing, this banjo player has even eclipsed Bela Fleck in handling a variety of classical music on the lowly banjo. Bullard was originally kicked out of Virginia’s Commonwealth Music Program because of his instrument. On this CD (and some earlier ones) he reimagines the banjo altogether, as some other performers have amazingly done lately with the lowly ukelele. Bullard went to the Old-Time Fiddlers’ Convention in Virginia and eventually met and recorded Fred Boyce, who played Bach on the banjo. He studied with Boyce, recorded two albums of classical banjo and eventually graduated from VCU’s Dept. of Music. He has also published two books on the classical banjo and his music is featured in two motion pictures. Bullard himself did the transcriptions of some of the […]
![BELA FLECK: The Imposter Concerto; Night Flight Over Water – Bella Fleck, banjo/ Nashville Sym./ Giancarlo Guerrero/ Brooklyn Rider (Night Flight) – Mercury/DGGSouvenirs [TrackList follows] – Matthew Coley, marimba. Mary Drews, p./ Cory Hills, vibes/ Iowa State Percussion Ens./John Kizilarmut, vobes & glockenspiel/others – self](https://www.audaud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Banjo-Marimba2.jpg)
BELA FLECK: The Imposter Concerto; Night Flight Over Water – Bella Fleck, banjo/ Nashville Sym./ Giancarlo Guerrero/ Brooklyn Rider (Night Flight) – Mercury/DGGSouvenirs [TrackList follows] – Matthew Coley, marimba. Mary Drews, p./ Cory Hills, vibes/ Iowa State Percussion Ens./John Kizilarmut, vobes & glockenspiel/others – self
Two instruments not usually heard in classical music.
BELA FLECK: The Imposter Concerto; Night Flight Over Water – Bella Fleck, banjo/ Nashville Sym./ Giancarlo Guerrero/ Brooklyn Rider (Night Flight) – Mercury/DGGSouvenirs [TrackList follows] – Matthew Coley, marimba. Mary Drews, p./ Cory Hills, vibes/ Iowa State Percussion Ens./John Kizilarmut, vobes & glockenspiel/others – self
Two instruments not usually heard in classical music.
Jake Schepps, banjo – An Evening in the Village – The Music of BELA BARTOK – Fine Mighty RecordsMichel Tirabosco, panflute & Denis Fedorov, accordion – Printemps (Works of BACH & VIVALDI) – Gallo
Reimaginings of familiar works of three classical composers on unexpected instruments.
Alison Brown – Stolen Moments (Compass Records)
blend of bluegrass, folk and folk from top banjoist
Old School Freight Train – Run (Acoustic Disc)
Mellow folk rock from Charlottesville, VA
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
