BELA FLECK - Nashville Musicians Association

Zakir was a very protected situation because
it was on all three of us,” he said. “We were
doing it very equally and Edgar had a great
overview. He’d tell us what he thought we
were looking for and had a real sense of
where we were going. But I normally do
things in a much more spontaneous way —
by feel sometimes — that’s how I play, and
that’s how I write, and that’s how things
often work well for me. It occurred to me
that perhaps my concerto should be that way
too.
“Maybe I shouldn’t write a concerto as if
I know what I’m doing. I didn’t have anyone
orchestrating it although I did have a copyist
(Bruce Daily) to make sure it would be
legible for the musicians. I did have to figure
out how to work [the software] Sibelius — I
read banjo tablature and Sibelius has that in
its program, so I could write things in banjo
notation and then copy and paste them
onto other instrument staves. I did a lot of
that. But a lot of these lines are not banjooriented
lines.
“I just let it naturally move to where the
music felt right. I tried not to be limited
by the banjo itself. I’d listen back to what I
had and realize ‘it’s trying to go here, or it’s
trying to go there.’ There’s the personality
of the instrument — and then there’s my
personality. When I get the instrument out
of my hands at times I force my musical
personality to come out in different ways.”
Technical aspects aside, Fleck had to find
his musical voice within the framework, and
this required inspiration and introspection.
He spent time in Oregon and in Mexico,
scheduled specifically for writing in between
his other commitments. He would take jogs
on the beach or in the desert, listening to
“The metamorphosis
of the Nashville
Symphony is very
inspiring. ... They’re
more highly regarded
than ever in the world
of classical music.”
Bartók, Mozart, and Beethoven, among
others for clarity of vision.
The result was a thirty-five minute piece of
beautifully orchestrated music, infused with
rich tonal qualities, that moved effortlessly
through each of the three divergent
movements. In performance, Fleck’s 1937
mahogany Gibson Mastertone banjo
alternately took its place out front with its
rich and evocative voice, before submerging
itself beneath the orchestra’s current, hiding,
only to resurface again to deliver to the
A music transcription and arranging service in Nashville
TRANSCRIPTIONS ARRANGING
listener its primal singularity.
“I wanted to do something that had some
emotion and resonance musically, along with
technical virtuosity,” Fleck said.
“I’ve dedicated this piece to Earl Scruggs.
I realized that he’s the reason that thousands
of people have come to Nashville. None of
the bluegrass folks would have come here if
it wasn’t for him — or Bill Monroe — and
for the banjo, he is the holy grail. He turned
that instrument around and rescued it from
the garbage bin, really. It had been excised
from the [popular and jazz] music partly
because some hated it and the reminder of
the slave days.
“He [Scruggs] made it popular again , and
basically brought the banjo back from the
dead. I wouldn’t do what I do if it wasn’t for
his innovations.”
And Fleck is thrilled that his latest
personal progression was able to take place in
Nashville, where he believes the instrument
is understood and appreciated.
“The metamorphosis of the Nashville
Symphony is very inspiring,” he said. “It’s
very amazing. They’re more highly regarded
than ever in the world of classical music.
They’re so vital — they’re commissioning
new works, they’ve created this new hall. I
have to say that I’m really glad I’ve ended up
doing this here; the banjo has always had a
home here in Nashville.”n
Next Membership
Meeting
Monday, Nov. 7, 2011
George Cooper Rehearsal Hall
Doors open at 5:30 p.m.
Meeting starts at 6 p.m.
Election nomination
meeting to follow.
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22 October - December 2011
The Nashville Musician
By Dave Pomeroy
Chet Atkins, the late AFM 257 icon,
is the well-deserved subject of a
new exhibit at the Country Music
Hall of Fame, Chet Atkins: Certified Guitar
Player, which will run through June 2012.
This fascinating exhibit captures the essence
of Atkins’s multifaceted career as a performer,
composer, recording artist, producer, engineer,
instrument designer, record executive, and
of course, one of the most influential and
imitated guitarists of all time.
The entrance to the exhibit is a huge
montage of dozens of Atkins album covers,
just a small sampling of his prodigious
recorded output from 1947 to 1997, and
instantly gives you a sense of how long and
varied his career really was.
The well-designed exhibit contains many
of Chet’s most beloved and important
personal artifacts, including a stunning array
of his instruments, rare photographs, awards,
letters, and audio and visual presentations
that illuminate the different sides of Atkins
musical career and his incredible legacy.
George Harrison’s original typewritten
and hand-corrected liner notes, written for
the album Chet Atkins Picks On The Beatles,
is a priceless example of the respect Atkins
routinely inspired in even the most famous
musicians in the world. His collaborations
with many of the world’s greatest pickers are
well documented in pictures and video clips.
One particularly touching section contains
Atkins’ actual home workshop just as he left
Photo by Donn Jones
GUITAR GOD
New Country Music Hall of Fame exhibit,
book honor the late, great Chet Atkins
it, with guitar tools, golf clubs, favorite hats,
and more, and is a beautiful snapshot of a
creative soul in his home environment. This
exhibit is certainly a Holy Grail for any guitar
aficionado, but even a casual music fan will
appreciate this retrospective look at the life
and music of one of the greatest musicians
the world has ever known.
The Country Music Foundation Press
has also published a companion book to the
exhibit, and it contains pictures of many of
the highlights, along with a lot of additional
material. The list of contributing authors is
impressive to say the least, and includes Local
257 members Steve Wariner, Walter Carter,
John Knowles, Tommy Emmanuel, and Dr.
Mark Pritchard, the longtime president of
the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society. Fred
W. Gretsch of Gretsch Guitars, a primary
sponsor of the exhibit, opens the book with a
heartfelt reflection of the special relationship
between Atkins and the company that built
many of his classic guitars.
The book is split into four parts detailing
different aspects of Atkin’s life and career,
and the opening section “American Icon:
The Musical Journey of Chet Atkins”
chronicles his roots in east Tennessee and
unflinchingly describes the challenges
Atkins faced coming from a broken
home. His father and mother divorced
when he was only six years old. Despite
their frequent absences, both his father
and older half brother Jim, a successful
The Nashville Musician October - December 2011
Reviews
guitarist 12 years his senior, were still big
influences on his life and interest in music.
His chronic asthma caused him to move
to Georgia to live with his father at the age
of ten. His health improved and he began
to explore the world of music, influenced by
everything he heard: his dad’s radio, street
singers, and every guitar player within reach
of Atkin’s inquisitive ears and fingers.
Atkin’s career path was not an easy one, and
this book pulls no punches when describing
the setbacks that served to harden his resolve
to make an impact on the world of music. He
paid his dues with many staff guitarist gigs
at radio stations across the country and made
his Opry debut in 1946 playing with Red
Foley.
Foley featured Atkins on his own solo
acoustic guitar spots, which were under
appreciated and ultimately cut from the Opry
show. Atkins resigned from Foley’s band and
left Nashville. Following months without
work, he finally landed a job at KWTO in
Springfield, Mo., where he was given full rein
to develop his guitar style as a featured artist.
In 1947, he began recording for RCA
Records under the direction of Steve Sholes,
and while his initial records as a singing
guitar player in the Merle Travis mold were
not a success, the two men made a musical
and business connection that would come to
change Atkin’s life. Sholes began using him
as a bandleader and arranger in the studio for
his other acts on RCA.
Still, he was not yet out of the woods.
The recording ban of 1948 sent him back to
Knoxville one more time, where he purchased
piano tuning tools in order to ensure his ability
to take care of his wife Leona and daughter
Merle. He described this as the low point of his
23