Bela Fleck has been undoubtedly the most remarkable banjo player of the past half-century, often taking his instrument to places it had never been before. While the banjo is most associated with early jazz (before it was replaced by the guitar), Dixieland, folk music, and bluegrass, the virtuosic Fleck has performed modern jazz (including duets with pianist Chick Corea), fusion (with his group the Flecktones), rock, World Music, classical and with his own forward-looking bluegrass groups.
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody In Blue” in 2024, Bela Fleck recorded his own album titled Rhapsody In Blue which consists of three very different versions of the piece plus two other selections by Gershwin.
Most successful and enjoyable is “Rhapsody In Blue (grass).” Performing in a sextet that, in addition to his banjo, includes fiddle, mandolin, dobro, guitar, and bass, Fleck created a version of “Rhapsody In Blue” that includes all of its major and minor themes and also leaves bit of room for improvising. His banjo is generally in the lead although all of the instrumentalists add a great deal to the ensembles, and somehow the sextet covers everything that one would expect from a huge orchestra. It is a fascinating and, in its own way, classic performance. In fact, next to the original acoustically recorded Paul Whiteman version of 1924, this is my second favorite recording of the piece.
The other two explorations of Gershwin’s work on the CD are both offbeat and a bit more conventional. “Rhapsody In Blue” has Fleck performing a lengthy rendition with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra with his banjo essentially replacing the piano. In contrast, “Rhapsody In Blue(s)” with a quartet also including mandolin, dobro, and bass, is a bit reminiscent of a jazz version of the piece from the swing era. Bands from that era, fitting what they could on a three-minute 78, generally explored just one theme from the work. Fleck’s concise version mostly sticks to the main melody of Rhapsody with a bluesy quartet.
Also included on this consistently intriguing CD are two Gershwin short works: the debut of his recently discovered “Unidentified Piece For Banjo” and “Rialto Ripples.” Taken by Fleck as unaccompanied solos, one can hear the connection between the banjoist and guitarist Eddie Lang’s solo and duet recordings of the 1920s.
Bela Fleck’s Rhapsody In Blue project would have certainly intrigued and delighted George Gershwin.
Bela Fleck • Rhapsody In Blue
Thirty Tigers 83939
Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings.
Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.
