10

Monday, June 11, 2007
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Picking with prowess

By ANNA ASH who can rightfully be adorned
Associate Arts Editor with the title.
Bela Fleck is the catalyst behind

It seems as if virtuosos aren't
so hard to come by these days.
The word, in its transition into
standard vernacular, lost cer-
tain aspects of its dignity when it
began to get attached to anyone
who has a superb handle on scales
and arpeggios. But when it comes
down to banjo virtuosos, there is
only one contemporary musician

,..., .. _ .. ... .. J .,. ., .........

Thsn'oayo uny
This ain't your mama's mountain music.

I !I

the banjo's
resurrection.
In the last Chick Corea
twenty years and Bela
- especially FleckPreview
within the Fekrviw
indie-rock,
pop and jazz June12
scenes - the $21-$50
banjo has doorsopenat
taken on a 7:30 p.m.
completely At the Michigan Theater
new role.
"Deliver-
ance" and finger picks have emerged
from the stigmas associated with
old-time mountain music and your
grandfather, and have ascended
into a realm of coolness that gets
way more babes than any six-string
piece of nonsense ever could.
In the early '80s, bluegrass pio-
neer Sam Bush and his New Grass
Revival saw the potential in Fleck's

innovative stylings - which at
that time were occupied with
jazz explorations and projects
with musicians like Mark Schatz
and David Grisman. With Fleck's
addition to the group, New Grass
Revival prolonged its success and
spent another nine years record-
ing and performing what many
people consider the most "signifi-
cant acoustic country music" of
the late 20" century.
During this time Fleck contin-
ued to work on his solo projects,
but it wasn't until after the New
Grass breakup that he and bassist
Victor Wooten, harmonica player
Howard Levy and Wooten's brother
Roy - better known as Futureman
- joined forces. The birth of Bela
Fleck and the Flecktones was monu-
mental; their fusionofjazz andblue-
grass has garnered seven Grammy
nominations, and since 1990 they
have released twelve albums.
In addition to his prolific career
with the New Grass Revival and

the Flecktones, Fleck has been
nominated in the country, blue-
grass, jazz, spoken word, world
music and pop Grammy catego-
ries. His diversified approach to
the banjo has led him to various
projects ranging from a classical
album with bassist Edgar Meyer
to his contributions on three Dave
Mathews Band albums to his most
recent collaboration with jazz pia-
nist/composer Chick Corea.
Known for his role in the jazz-
fusion movement of '70s, Corea
replaced Herbie Hancock in Miles
Davis's band in the late '60s. At age
65 he has released 77 albums and has
been nominated for 45 Grammys.
This year these two influential
musicians have joined creative
forces and released The Enchant-
ment - a banjo/piano album
that intermingles Corea's Latin-
inspired jazz and Fleck's classical
and bluegrass artistry.
The result is impressive - a vir-
tuosic collaboration.

4

810 S State Street 222-4822 - 1906 Packard 995-9940 - btbburrito.com


I

I -

snisiw
To play: Complete the grid so that every row, column
and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9.
There is no guessing or math involved,
just use logic to solve. Good Luck and enjoy!
Difficulty: Very Hard
5 7
97 81
2 6 9 3
7 9
1 __ 6

I
I

5

3 8
7
7

a

I,

1