Watch Béla Fleck at the Paste Sessions From MerleFest

Paste Studio “On The Road” rambles on, this time to Wilkesboro, N.C., for the 36th annual MerleFest! The festival was founded in 1988 in memory of Doc Watson’s son Merle, and features “traditional plus” music, described by Doc Watson himself as, “the traditional music of the Appalachian region plus whatever other styles we were in the mood to play.” In this session we’re treated to one of the all time greats, banjoist Béla Fleck, sharing songs from each of his two new albums in 2024. He performs music from Remembrance, the final duo album between Fleck and late piano legend Chick Corea, and “Rhapsody In Blue,” featuring variations on the American classic.

Full Session

First up, Fleck decides to “just start playing, and we’ll see what happens.” From an absolute master like Béla Fleck, hell yes please, may I have another. We would gladly listen to an all-day noodling/improv session if the opportunity came up. The resulting exercise gave us a new piece called “Whatever.” Ha!

“Whatever”

The second song is a Chick Corea composition, the title track from the Fleck/Corea duo album Remembrance. The album version of the song is one of the last pieces of music Corea recorded before he passed away in 2021. Of the unexpected pair, Fleck says, “I know it sounds unlikely. But it really happened. Once upon a time, I played banjo in a duo with Chick Corea.”

“Remembrance”

Finally, we hear a devastatingly complex banjo arrangement of one of the main entries in The Great American Songbook, George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody In Blue.”

“Rhapsody In Blue (George Gershwin)”

Big thanks to Béla Fleck, MerleFest, and our friends at Window World for bringing these sessions to life, and please stay tuned for more Paste x MerleFest sessions to come!