Banjo sorcerers Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn perform at Conn College
Béla Fleck probably wishes he had four hands.
Yes, we know: the virtuoso banjo player can already spin off riffs and chord structures with comet-like speed and firefall displays of improvisational wonder.
It's more a matter of musical appetite. Though best known for work with his Flecktones — a superb instrumental group exploring the dimensions of bluegrass and free jazz and now on indefinite hiatus — Fleck is nonetheless fascinated and enamored of virtually any type of music. His compulsion to explore thereof, then, might be easier if he'd grow a few more appendages.
As it is, he jokes about the cause of his broad musical curiosity.
He says, "A short attention span, turned into an asset? Honestly, I love so many types of music, and when I learn them on my banjo, I better understand what is going on with it. And, growing up in the '60s, when there was so much incredible music happening in every idiom, it made me excited about music in general."
In addition to the Flecktones, with whom he released 14 albums and toured relentlessly over two decades, a partial and representative list of Fleck's other accomplishments and projects are astonishing. For one thing, he's been nominated for Grammy awards in more categories than any other artist (country, pop, jazz, bluegrass, classical, folk, spoken word, composition, and arranging).
In that spirit, he's worked with such diverse artists as Marcus Roberts, Edgar Meyer, Tony Rice, Phish, Chick Corea, Doc Watson, the New Grass Revival, Dave Matthews Band, Malian musician Toumani Diabaté, the Tuvan throat-singing group Alash Ensemble, the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, and the Sparrow Quartet.
It was in the latter foursome that Fleck met the superb vocalist/banjoist Abigail Washburn, the Nashville-based artist whose solo work and as a member of Uncle Earl and Wu Force established a premiere reputation as a visionary artist.
Fleck and Washburn are now married, have a son and, last year, released a debut album together. Titled "Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn," the disc is a gorgeously played and — not surprisingly — a stylistically ambitious recording. The couple effortlessly explores folk, blues, Celtic, classical and pop. In addition to Washburn's achingly lovely voice — listen to her on "And Am I Born to Die" and "Pretty Polly" — the instrumental interplay between the two often hatches the impulse to hit rewind. It's a blast to check the respective fretboard nuances suggested by Fleck's jazzier inclinations and Washburn's rootsier vocabulary.
"I knew Abby's musicianship very well, and it's why I wanted to record with her," Fleck says. "She also has a great work ethic. Making the album wasn't without its challenges, but overall I think we work very well as collaborators. We tend to agree on music we like, and the main difference I see is the speed at which we work. I tend to be in a hurry, and Abby's always taking her time (though she may well see it differently)!"
Now touring behind "Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn," the couple appears Saturday in Palmer Auditorium on the New London campus of Connecticut College. The concert is open to the public. Fleck says that, in addition to the chemistry they developed in the studio, the performance stage has also been a joyful learning experience.
"Abby's great with an audience," Fleck says. "She really wants to connect with them. So do I, but she does it more with words, songs and talking, while I've always worked with music alone — rarely speaking to the audience. It's not because I don't want to connect, but because I wanted to do so through the pure channel of the music. I've learned a lot from her."
In concert, the pair work from a fairly static set list of album material, songs from their respective careers, new pieces, and interpretations from the traditional repertoire. But Fleck says there's plenty of room for improvisation, relating anecdotes, and even joking around with the crowd. In that spirit, the duo particularly enjoys doing shows at colleges.
"Students can be very open-minded, if I can generalize a bit," Fleck says. "I've always tried to prioritize playing for colleges — if it meant taking less money. I think it's part of our duty as artists to present students with alternatives to the mainstream."
Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn, 8 p.m. Saturday, Palmer Auditorium, Connecticut College, 270 Mohegan Ave., New London; $28, $25 seniors, faculty and staff, $14 students; (860) 439-2787.
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