Bela Fleck - Rhapsody in Blue (Thirty Tigers, 2024); It's a Function of Flex Talent and Gershwin's Durability
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Photo: Stevie Connor, The Sound Cafe
Despite the many achievements of Bela Fleck combining bluegrass and jazz, I've got an admission to make. I do remember when Fleck first appeared playing jazz with his banjo. Although I've heard songs here and there, in all these years I have never taken the opportunity to see him play live or even listen to one of his albums. Perhaps it was that I was never all that enthusiastic about the bluegrass part of the equation. That is... until now.
Fleck has just released his latest long player called Rhapsody in Blue to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of the piece's debut. I've read that Rhapsody in Blue was first performed on February 12th, 1924 in NYC at Aeolian Hall (believe it or not, that building still exists). I always love the piece. I don't know how far back I go with the Rhapsody, but no, I wasn't there for it's debut. It was already familiar to me when I had the privilege of playing it from the prospective of the third clarinet section of my high school concert band. That was before United Airlines adopted the soundtrack for their advertising starting in the 1980s.
Fleck offers two fully formed versions of Rhapsody in Blue on his new album. The first version on track one is called "Rhapsody in Blue(grass)" and it is essentially a picker's paradise. Fleck and his associates play the piece on all manner of string instruments and I must say that they truly play the heck out of it. This piece was completely arranged by Fleck, which is a complex achievement greater than the ability of any single player.
Track three, which is the more traditional "Rhapsody in Blue" preformed by Eric Jacobson & the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. Although that may initially sound more familiar to the listener, it is no less an accomplishment for Fleck as he arranged this version to omit the piano part and replace it with his banjo. He speaks at length on this subject at his website.
The three shorter tracks keep up the Gershwin theme quite nicely. "Unidentified Piece for Banjo" appears on track two, a Gershwin composition discovered in the Library of Congress archives, it has been heretofore unrecorded and unheard.
On "Rhapsody in Blue(s)", which appears as track four, Fleck lifts portions of the Rhapsody and arranges them for a different set of players: Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, and Victor Wooten.
Fleck takes a lessor known Gershwin composition to end on a high note with "Rialto Ripples",track five.
On his website, Fleck offers a thought on Gershwin and his compositions, which reflects my own reaction to this album:
"I do hope that he would have loved it, that he would have gone,
‘Man, this is not what I expected, but I’m happy that the artist brought something different to it.’ Classical musicians do that all day long. The great ones find a way to inhabit a piece, and the composer would thank them for bringing themselves into it.
That is what I would aspire towards, to head in that direction."
Bela Fleck penned an article in which he has a great many fascinating things to say about the historical significance of this composition, here.
Listen to "Rhapsody in Blue(grass)" from the album:
WXPN Most Memorable Musical Moment #5 Begining in 1964, The Main Point in Bryn Mawr provided the Philadelphia area with one of its most enjoyable venues for live music. Although it started as a folk based coffeehouse, all styles of music were presented over the years. Financial problems continually plagued the Main Point, and in spite of frequent benefit shows by artists who loved the place as much as the audience, the club finally closed in 1981. The following brief history is contained in an obituary of Jeanette O. Campbell, one of the founders and owners of the Main Point who died on October 22, 2006, written by Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer Sally A. Downey as reprinted on the Save Ardmore Coalition website. Jeanette Orndoff Campbell, 89, former owner of the Main Point, a music hall in Bryn Mawr where young talents including Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt and James Taylor were introduced to local audiences, died of complications from hip surgery Oct. 22 at Stap
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