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
