Rhapsody In Blue (Thirty Tigers)
Béla Fleck
Released February 12, 2024
Grammy Nominee for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album 2025
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mJ_YpKp9R8Zs19jt1PCqR-OGWDMTCrvjE
Spotify:
About:
Over the last four decades, Béla Fleck has made a point of boldly going where no banjo player has gone before—a musical journey that has earned him 16 Grammy awards in nine different fields, including Country, Pop, Jazz, Instrumental, Classical and World Music. His newest project is no different, and yet, entirely original as Fleck expands and explores George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue by paying homage to the legendary composer while redefining an American classic just in time for its centennial.
Like his groundbreaking projects before, Rhapsody in Blue grew from seminal idea to fruition through Fleck’s blend of inspiration, fearlessness, discipline and respect for the source material. In this case, the seed was planted during his childhood in New York City, when he first heard George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. His love for the piece only grew through the years, though his work on adapting the music began only recently, during the pandemic. Fortuitously, the album’s release on February 12, 2024 coincides with the 100th anniversary of Rhapsody in Blue’s premiere at Aeolian Hall in New York City.
Fleck’s Rhapsody in Blue album includes three variations: “Rhapsody in Blue(grass),” “Rhapsody in Blue(s),” and the classic orchestration, but with banjo featured instead of piano, performed by the Virginia Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Eric Jacobsen. The set also features Gershwin’s “Rialto Ripples” and “Unidentified Piece for Banjo,” an unrecorded and unreleased gem discovered at the Library of Congress.
Track Listing:
1. Rhapsody in Blue (grass) featuring Michael Cleveland, Sierra Hull, Justin Moses, Mark Schatz, & Bryan Sutton (George Gershwin) 12:09
2. Unidentified Piece for Banjo (George Gershwin) 3:19
3. Rhapsody in Blue featuring Eric Jacobsen & Virginia Symphony Orchestra (George Gershwin) 18:50
4. Rhapsody in Blue(s) featuring Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, & Victor Wooten (George Gershwin) 5:07
5. Rialto Ripples (George Gershwin / Will Donaldson) 4:08
Personnel:
Béla Fleck: banjo
Mark Schatz: bass (1)
Justin Moses: dobro (1)
Michael Cleveland: fiddle (1)
Bryan Sutton: guitar (1)
Sierra Hull: mandolin (1)
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Virginia Symphony Orchestra (3)
Eric Jacobsen: conductor
Violin I: Vahn Armstrong (concertmaster), Yun Zhang (associate concertmaster), Allison Kim (assistant concertmaster), Mayu Cipriano, Kirsty Barnett Green, Jorge Aguirre, Brendon Elliott, Yu-Chia Hisao, Amanda Gates, Allegra Tortolano Havens, Satoko Fukasawa, Annika Jenkins, Violaine Michel, Paul Kim
Violin II: Elizabeth Coulter Vonderheide (principal), Jonathan Richards (assistant principal), Seiko Syvertsen, Michael Romans, Madalyn Navis, Jeanne DeDominick, Sarah Park, Sophia Lim Arriaga, Ava Figliuzzi, Christopher Taylor, Lesa McCoy Bishop.
Viola: Celia Daggy (principal), Matthew Umlauf (assistant principal), Satoko Rickenbacker, Jane Lenz, Alexandra Takasugi, Alexander Antonio, Emi Mizobuchi, Jena Chenkin
Cello: Michael Daniels (principal), Rebecca Gilmore Phillips (assistant principal), Carter Melin, Nancy Keevan, Lui Chang Berz, Isabel Dimoff, Elizabeth Meszaros, Peter Greydanus
Bass: Chris White (principal), Scott Harris (assistant principal), William McPeters, Brandon Smith, Samuel Zagnit, Matthew Brvenik
Flute: Debra Wendells Cross (principal), Joanne Meyer White
Oboe: Sherie Lake-Aguirre (principal), Evan Ocheret
Clarinet: Michael Byerly (principal), Scott Boyer, Margaret Albrecht (bass)
Bassoon: Laura Leisring (principal), David Savige
Saxophone: James Nesbit (principal), Jeff Smith, Nathaniel Kinnison
Horn: Jacob Wilder (principal), Helen Wargelin, Stephen Slater, Lauren Avery Pettigrew
Trumpet: David Vonderheide (principal), Jeremy Garnett, Mark Nixon
Trombone: Tanner Antonetti (principal), David Kidd, Rodney Martell
Tuba: Peter DuBeau
Timpani: Michael Laubach
Percussion: Robert W. Cross (principal), Will McVay, Reid Stockdill
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Victor Wooten: bass (4)
Jerry Douglas: dobro (4)
Sam Bush: mandolin (4)
Recorded at Thundering Sky Studio in South Berwick, ME (track 1), Sanctuary in Nashville, TN (tracks 2, 4, 5) and Sandler Center for the Arts in Norfolk, VA (track 3)
Recorded by Richard Battaglia with Chris Magruder (track 1), Jennifer Nulsen and Richard King (track 3)
Produced by Béla Fleck
Mixed by Béla Fleck, Richard Battaglia, Richard King, Lawson White
Mastered by Paul Blakemore
Artwork designed by Christopher Capotosto
Review:
It’s a long way from India to Broadway, but Bela Fleck makes the journey in high style for Rhapsody in Blue. It follows the altogether exotic As We Speak (Thirty Tigers, 2023), the combination of which further a case for the banjoist/composer/bandleader as an eclectic musical explorer comparable to Pat Metheny.
Beginning in the slow-but-sure, occasionally fitful way this album’s concept came together, “Rhapsody in Blue (grass)” features seemingly conventional banjo voicings alternated with George Gershwin’s inimitable progressions. Those interludes with Fleck tourmates My Bluegrass Heart are segments capturing how that ensemble bonds with the banjoist in moments of alternating wit and empathy.
The slightly-modified title of “Rhapsody in Blue(s)” is only the most overt distinction of the piece from its bluegrass oriented predecessor. As with so much of Bela Fleck’s work, while it is rigorously arranged, there is room for spontaneity with which the principal interacts, via effortless fluidity, with mandolinist Sam Bush. dobroist Jerry Douglas and bassist Victor Wooten (from the Flecktones band).
There’s a very palpable earthy quality to distinguish this number from all its surroundings. Mixing of the instruments all across the stereo spectrum accentuates the distinctive flavor of the interplay there, so that, in a very practical way, Fleck makes Gershwin’s piece his own in a variety of forms, large scale and otherwise. In extensive autobiographical liner notes filling most of the four-page insert, the artist himself describes in some detail the conception and execution of this project.
Audio clarity is also paramount on an unheralded artifact of Gershwin’s genius, “Unidentified Piece for Banjo.” Long-time Fleck sound guru Richard Battaglia captures the good-natured reverence the New York City native radiates in his solo turn here: the album was assigned a release a street date coinciding with the hundredth anniversary of the original piece’s premiere. It’s a sign of the respect also accorded its author by the gold foil adorning the front cover (the image of which at the same time pictures a banjo in the hands of Lady Liberty thus capturing Bela Fleck’s irreverence in all its self-effacing glory)
As much as it’s borderline uncanny to hear the mesh of musicians within the smaller combos or the uncanny action of this Nashville-based artist on his own, the extended centerpiece of Rhapsody In Blue, evokes a reaction hardly less startling. In a near-nineteen minute live recording of the title piece with the Nashville Symphony, the drama of the orchestration underscores the nuance of the core ensemble, while simultaneously exhibiting a subtlety all its own.
It’s proof positive chemistry can ignite within units both large and small (and sometimes both at once). As a result, the truncated likes of the closing “Rialto Ripples” is virtually as absorbing as the four tracks that precede it. Piquing the curiosity about how the classic compositon sounded to begin with, it’s also a reminder of how this slightly more than forty- three minutes passes with near-dizzying speed.
The relative simplicity of the aforementioned cut generates incremental momentum for the track sequencing. The end result is a singular opportunity to experience the assembly of the building blocks of an idea that struck the banjoist extraordinaire seemingly out of nowhere.
Kudos to Bela Fleck for summoning the creative wherewithal and resources to bring his epiphany to fruition: ultimately, he incorporates his lifelong affinity for the iconic composer’s work with his usual unassuming flair for maximizing the spirit of the moment with others.
Doug Collette (All About Jazz)
