Date/Time
Date(s) - 11/28/2014
7:30 PM - 10:00 PM
Location
Miner Auditorium, SFJAZZ Center
Category(ies)
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“…lovely collection of new songs, old-time folk, gospel and blues. It’s the kind of off-the-cuff album that sounds like it comes directly from the front porch of its two expert hosts—an invitation that any bluegrass fan would die for.” — Relix Magazine on Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn’s New Album
“One of the world’s most accommodating virtuosos.” — The New York Times
“He has helped to reestablish the banjo as a cool, contemporary and cutting edge instrument.” — JazzTimes
“Ms. Washburn’s enigmatic songs mingle Appalachia and folk-pop, with tinges of Asia and Bruce Springsteen.” — The New York Times
- Béla Fleck — banjo
- Abigail Washburn — banjo, vocals
Banjo maestro Béla Fleck has taken his instrument where it’s never gone before, turning the four-string axe into a magic carpet capable of reaching just about any destination. He’s earned GRAMMY Awards for his forays into classical music and he’s traveled across Africa, bringing the banjo back to its roots while collaborating with some of the continent’s greatest musicians. He’s recorded duo with Chick Corea, and in a trio with Zakir Hussain and Edgar Meyer. And of course he’s attained near rock star status with his bluegrass-meets-futuristic-funk Flecktones. For this duo, Fleck teams up with fellow explorer Abigail Washburn, who also happens to be his wife. They first collaborated widely in Washburn’s mind-bendingly bilingual Sparrow Quartet with cellist Ben Sollee and fiddler Casey Driessen. A clawhammer banjo specialist and winsome vocalist steeped in bluegrass and American old-time music, Washburn is also a passionate Sinophile who has created a beguiling repertoire weaving Mandarin lyrics and traditional Chinese melodies together with songs gleaned from the “old, weird America,” Greil Marcus’s enduring term for the age before electronic mass media’s cultural homogenization. Last time Béla Fleck performed on the Miner stage, he received a phone call mid-show informing him that Abigail was in labor with his son. With that in mind, “expect the unexpected” is the best advice for attending this family gathering.