Banjo, harp and drums will not be precisely your typical jazz trio. However Béla Fleck, Edmar Castañeda and Antonio Sánchez make that mixture come alive in a challenge they name the BEATrio. Sánchez jokes that it could be “the world’s very unlikely band.”
Their story traces again to 2019, when Fleck and Castañeda shared a duo set on the Large Ears Competition in Knoxville, captured on video by Jazz Night time in America. When Sánchez later invited Fleck to report for a studio challenge, Castañeda joined the session, and the three shortly found how naturally their sounds match collectively regardless of coming from very completely different musical traditions.
Fleck is a banjo virtuoso who has redrawn the instrument’s boundaries throughout genres. Castañeda has reworked the Colombian harp into an instrument able to each rhythmic drive and harmonic flexibility. Sánchez is a drummer whose narrative method to rhythm has made him one of the distinctive voices on the instrument.
“After we play collectively, we lock. It is like one particular person,” Fleck says.
The BEATrio’s debut recording, which got here out in Might, earned a Grammy nomination; a tour begins subsequent 12 months. This episode options music from the trio’s self-titled album alongside the Fleck-Castañeda duo efficiency at Large Ears.
Set Record:
- “Kaleidoscopes” (Antonio Sánchez), from the album BEATrio
- “Whispers of Resilience” (Edmar Castañeda), from the album BEATrio
- “Three Is Not A Crowd ” (Antonio Sánchez), from the album BEATrio
- “Hooligan Harbor” (Béla Fleck), from the album BEATrio
- “For Jaco” (Edmar Castañeda), recorded dwell on the 2019 Large Ears competition
- “Bamako” (Béla Fleck), recorded dwell on the 2019 Large Ears competition
- “Drumming With The Birds (feat. NATURE)” (Antonio Sánchez), from the only Nature
Credit:
Host: Christian McBride; Writers and Producers: Sarah Geledi with Billy Robinson; Consulting Senior Producer: Simon Rentner; Mastering: Ron Scalzo; Music Engineer: Mike Sosville; Govt Producer: Steven A. Williams; Govt Producer at NPR Music: Suraya Mohamed; Govt Director of NPR Music: Sonali Mehta.
