Two rare opportunities to see BEATrio where Béla Fleck has joined forces with harpist Edmar Castañeda and drummer Antonio Sánchez to produce a new sound in his banjo repertoire – and apologies to all the drum and harp fanatics out there, and accepting that his partners in this musical path are very well regarded in the jazz world particularly – it was, indeed, Béla Fleck that was the initial enticement to turn out twice. A few mind-blowing pieces from Antonio Sánchez described how BEATrio had happened, initially describing themselves as the world’s most unlikely band. However, he and Béla Fleck had worked on a duets album, and Sánchez had also worked with harpist Edmar Castañeda. It perhaps isn’t such a leap to say that if two separate duos work, then a trio might just have something interesting to say.
Fleck recently told Petroc Trelawney, on BBC Radio 3’s ‘In Tune‘, that with the harp he didn’t know “quite whether it would work with the banjo” but the pair met up in New York “and we sat in the park and people walked by and ignored us and we investigated the possibilities of the harp and the banjo, it was very promising.” That, it transpired through the gigs, was an understatement. And in describing how this combination of the Americas – Mexican Antonio Sánchez, the United States’ Béla Fleck, and Columbian Edmar Castañeda – had come together as a band Sánchez remarked that everyone had brought what they had to initial jams and it then quickly became a democracy, quipping that they liked democracy and “authoritarian bands suck.”
The two evenings featured the same pieces, covering the whole of the new album, but in a different running order, with much of the first night’s second set appearing in the first set on the second night. The second night was also Fleck’s birthday, the celebration of which seemed to amount to swapping his plaid shirt for a T-shirt emblazoned with the message “Icecream“. It would have been possible at the plush Cadogan Hall, but no one actually rushed the stage with one.
There was more difference than that, though, as these are masters of improvisation – take Antonio Sánchez’s ‘Kaleidoscopes‘ which, on the first night, featured some dramatic hammer of the gods drumming, but was more restrained on the second night. Edmar Castañeda’s ‘Whispers of Resilience‘ is a song with a dramatic backstory – composed whilst recovering from breaking his right hand in multiple places, so initially using only his left hand, it is about coming to terms with potentially losing the ability to play the harp in the future. Its dramatic opening flows into a quieter reflection, with Béla Fleck mirroring the melody and Antonio Sánchez providing gentle brushed percussion. The response on the second night took the players by surprise, such was the length of the applause, but it was a worthy response.
It’s hard to identify exactly what about Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “hollow world” novels inspired the piece entitled ‘Pellucidar‘, but the stealthy, creeping melody line offers much room for the players to veer off from. An interesting reflection is that whilst there is ensemble playing, there is also within each piece an opportunity for each musician to effectively be soloing, however so carefully framed are these points that it might be a few seconds before the brain catches up and realises “hey Edmar / Antonio / Béla is soloing now.” And when Edmar Castañeda is soloing, one really knows it – his attack of the harp could be gentle, but as often he percussively beat at the strings in an apparent-but-oh-so-controlled frenzy.
Béla Fleck added his transcription of ‘Rhapsody in Blue‘ to the start of the band’s ‘Walnut & Western‘, and it demonstrated his complete banjo mastery as his fingers dart around the fretboard creating the most amazing combination of piano and orchestral effects.
Antonio Sánchez is an astonishing percussionist – it’s hardly a secret that experimental jazz drumming requires a more complex approach than rock songs usually require, but it is one thing to know this and quite another to observe it in the wild. He is fluid and inventive in his own solos, and, particularly when effectively duetting with Béla Fleck, his attention to what Fleck is playing is intense, and his responses are perfection throughout.
The encore closer on both evenings was ‘Touch and Go‘, which Fleck introduced as bringing his world of bluegrass to the band to see if they could keep up as he had had to do all evening with Edmar and Antonio’s worlds. It’s funny, but it certainly wasn’t the first time we’d heard bluegrass patterns during the gig. It is fast, and flash, and joyful – what more could anyone want from music?
A joke Béla Fleck made on the first night made a lot of sense on the second: “If you enjoyed us tonight, tell your friends, and if you didn’t, tell them we were Led Zeppelin.” There had been some spare seats the first night, the second night was around two-thirds sold. Perhaps they should have picked a less modest band name – BEATrio doesn’t really convey to the casual upcoming program reader what it is that they risk missing out on, but what a crying shame. Having seen Fleck in electric jazz funk fusion mode with the Flecktones, in a duo with Chick Corea, with a big band on his “My Bluegrass Heart” tour, and naturally with Abigail Washburn, this was very possibly the finest vehicle for his music to date. Big claim, and, sure, it neglects all that live playing in his original bluegrass roots, but even with that caveat, this was a trio making astounding sounds and amazing music.
