Béla Fleck to perform banjo rendition of ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ with ASO

The opening notes of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” are quintessentially cinematic. The lilt of a seductive clarinet begins a recognizable birdsong. A brassy, deep trombone responds. The two banter in musical conversation as the sound builds with French horns, then violins and more brass. The orchestra falls quiet for a moment, leaving an opening for Gershwin to enter solo on the grand piano.

The composition by Gershwin, arranged by Ferde Grofé, is so cinematic it has been used in the opening scenes of Woody Allen’s film “Manhattan” and Disney’s “Fantasia 2000.” It was also used in the 1945 film “Rhapsody in Blue,” a biopic about Gershwin’s life, which left a lasting impression on a young Béla Fleck. He was enchanted by the music. For decades, he dreamed of adapting the piano solo for banjo.

“I never got very far — until the pandemic, when I was home with a couple years on my hands,” he said.

Last year, he accomplished the dream. The banjo virtuoso and 18-time Grammy Award-winning musician will play his banjo-centric rendition of “Rhapsody in Blue” with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra on June 11 as part of the Neranenah series, which honors Jewish musicians like Gershwin. Grammy Award-winning jazz conductor Jeff Tyzik will conduct.

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Summiting a musical Everest

Fleck describes adapting “Rhapsody in Blue” as a musical Everest.

“On a piano, you have 10 fingers and 81 keys. On a banjo, I can only strike three notes at a time,” Fleck said. “What I had come up with (on paper) was almost impossible to play. It was speculative. I wasn’t thinking about performing it anytime soon.”

But then last year came a fateful call from the Nashville Symphony, where Fleck had premiered earlier concertos. They asked him to autograph something for a gala. Casually, he mentioned his “Rhapsody” experiment.

Credit: Courtesy of Bela Fleck

Credit: Courtesy of Bela Fleck

“I said, ‘You’re going to laugh, but I’m messing around with a version of ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ — the piano part — on the banjo,’” he remembers. “He said, ‘Great, we’ll put it on the gala.’ Suddenly I had a gig — a big Nashville gig. I had to learn to actually play it.”

With the deadline looming, Fleck had to get practical.

“I had to figure out all kinds of strategies to imply the parts I couldn’t play and really play the ones I could,” he said. “I had to make it a battle I could win.”

The result is a version that’s technically astonishing but also deeply personal — one that captures the essence of Gershwin’s original while recasting it in Fleck’s own style.

“I’m really proud of it,” he said.

The timing felt serendipitous, too. The 2024 Nashville show marked the centennial of the world premiere of “Rhapsody in Blue.” It was also the 100th birthday of another one of Fleck’s musical heroes: bluegrass banjo trailblazer Earl Scruggs — Fleck’s original inspiration to pick up a banjo.

Fleck was just 5 years old when he first heard Scruggs’ banjo on “The Beverly Hillbillies.”

“I had very little interest in Southern culture or anything folk music,” said Fleck, who grew up in New York. “But on came this sound. It was Earl Scruggs playing the banjo … I was shook up by it. I didn’t know what it was. You don’t see it. You just hear the music.

“I said to my older brother, ‘Did you hear that? Did you hear that?’ He didn’t. It had no impact on him at all. But for me, it was like my life had changed.”

Fleck discovered that’s how it is for many banjo players — something is awakened in the soul.

“There are banjo people that get activated, often by hearing Earl Scruggs play,” he said.

To honor Scruggs’ 100th birthday, Fleck created a more improvisational, down-home version of Gershwin’s composition playfully called “Rhapsody in Bluegrass,” which he recorded for an album.

When he plays with ASO, though, Fleck will stick with the traditional orchestration.

Credit: Courtesy of Bela Fleck

“It’s a joy when the orchestra has it down cold,” Fleck said. “If I get my part right, it rocks.”

Fleck is thrilled to collaborate with ASO.

“Atlanta Symphony is an excellent Southern symphony — one of the really good ones that I’ve been excited to play with for a long time,” he said.

While he has performed in Atlanta Symphony Hall before — notably with Stanley Clarke and Jean-Luc Ponty — this will be Fleck’s first time playing with ASO.

In addition to “Rhapsody in Blue,” the concert will feature Fleck’s second concerto, “Juno,” named after his firstborn son. It’s his favorite of the three he has written — a piece he often composed with his son asleep nearby in a crib.

Juno is also coincidentally the name of a rover that took Fleck’s music to space, he said.

“Years ago, the folks who did the Juno rover mission were Flecktones fans, and they brought Flecktones music up onto the satellite that circled Saturn,” he said.

Fleck’s longtime band the Flecktones were a genre-blurring quartet formed by Fleck in the late 1980s that fused jazz, funk, bluegrass and classical styles. Fleck has performed with the Flecktones for 37 years. If Georgians miss Fleck’s performance with ASO, he will be back in Atlanta with the Flecktones in December for a Christmas show.

At this era in his career, Fleck said he only pursues musical projects that ignite his passion.

“I feel like I’ve accomplished a lot, and now I’m kind of only doing things that I can’t not do like ‘Rhapsody.’” he said. “I’m knocking things off the bucket list.”