Banjo master
Bela Fleck and upright bassist/composer
Edgar Meyer have been collaborators since 1982. They have toured together and have often appeared on one another's recordings. In 2006 the pair were commissioned by
the Nashville Symphony to compose a triple concerto (they composed a double concerto for the organization in 2004). They enlisted
Shakti co-founder and tabla master
Zakir Hussain. They met him at a workshop that year and he expressed sincere interest in orchestral composition. The trio recorded their work as 2009's Grammy-nominated
The Melody of Rhythm with
Leonard Slatkin and the
Detroit Symphony Orchestra. While touring India in support, they encountered bansuri flutist
Rakesh Chaurasia. He joined the trio on-stage, and their collective chemistry resulted in a plan for future collaboration. It took almost a decade-and-a-half, but
As We Speak is the long-anticipated result.
The 12-track set ranges musically. Single "Owl's Misfortune" offers each musician's core style, though the approach is multivalent, moving through classical counterpoint, raga, roots, bluegrass, or jazz improv. The album follows a more holistic path, approaching the music like an ensemble with soloists rather than the opposite. "The B Tune," at over nine minutes, offers a wide-angle view as to how this quartet approaches interplay. Composed as a suite, it winds across solitary, darkened minor-key explorations before gelling as a rondo with
Chaurasia and
Fleck riding together up top. The solo interludes and circular turnarounds (think a Celtic hornpipe on the latter) open pathways for
Meyer's plucked and arco bass, adding not only rhythmic support but harmonic invention as
Hussain triple times the band, foreshadowing each shift in the music. "Rickety" is a knotty trio exercise for tabla, bass, and banjo.
Fleck's illustration of the harmonic melody reveals his flawless, soulful playing technique, wherein he approaches melodic fragments as small universes of harmony as
Hussain peppers the accents then guides the rhythmic adventure. "1980" shifts gears. It commences as a ballad with
Fleck strumming and plucking his banjo as
Meyer,
Chaurasia, and
Hussain create a poignant backdrop. "Pashto" is titled for the language of the Pashtuns, the official language of Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. Using drones, modal invention, and delicate interplay, the tune cuts across raga, tamang selo, and country-blues. "Beast in the Garden" uses progressive bluegrass as a frame before unfolding into jazz with wonderful soloing from
Chaurasia. The eight-and-a-half minute "Conundrum" cuts across raga, blues, jazz, and psychedelia;
Fleck lays down some rockist chordal vamps before going head-to-head with
Meyer in a duel of arpeggios. The title track closer finds the quartet dovetailing an Indian classical motif with a Western one, colored in bluegrass and post-bop, before
Hussain delivers a dazzling tabla solo.
As We Speak may be credited to
Fleck, but he offers these proceedings as a thoroughly engaging conversation among four world-class musicians. ~ Thom Jurek
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