Saturday, November 12, 2005

Banjo and Bass playing Bach?

If Bach never wrote works for the banjo and bass it may very well be because the banjo hadn't been been created. In today's world anything is possible and I just came back from a concert that left me in awe. Bach was played on the banjo and double bass along with other classical compositions from Tchaikovsky and Chopin. My ears danced to a new sound created by these two virtuoso musicians, Bela Fleck on the banjo and Edgar Meyer playing the bass. If you can imagine this sound then you can't even savor the other genres played from bluegrass to jazz, not to mention the banter back and forth between the two musicians.
I know what some of you may think, isn't the banjo all twangy soundin' and the bass just boring low harmony? Well yeah in many cases yes, but not by these two, who are masters of their instruments. I'd have to say that Edgar Meyer is the world's greatest bassist and Bela Fleck, the world's best banjo player. If you knew what a harpsichord sounds like then you have heard how this guy handled the banjo and the bass was strung and plucked with the ease of a violin. Simply put, their concert was a feast for the soul.

Listen to a sampling of their latest CD, Music for Two. My favorite, and I heard it live, is Woolly Mammoth.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like an awesome time to me! Of course, I appreciate stuff like this, being a musician myself. Kinda weird? Yeah... But definitely classy. I'll have to remember these guys for future reference...