Béla Fleck, Chick Corea visit campus

The Ferst Center was host to the comedy and ruse of a dynamic duo that the world has only very recently had the pleasure of seeing together.

The jazz community was proud to see multiple Grammy Award-winning American jazz pianist and composer Chick Corea performing with world renowned virtuoso banjo player Béla Fleck.

Friday Jan. 23 the Ferst Center witnessed a sold-out acoustic set by Béla Fleck and Chick Corea that reminded fans why it is that these two have been held in such high esteem since their early successes.

Many were surprised to find out that Fleck was not accompanied by the Flecktones: his main front band accompanied by arguably one of the best bassists of our time, Victor Wooten.

On a similar note, Corea has typically performed in the last three decades either as a soloist or with a full band.

However, the leap from their fully instrumented bands to an awkwardly instrumented duo proved unbelievably successful.

At the opening of the concert, Béla Fleck admitted with a tone of admiration, "How can I describe Chick...intimidating."

In fact, Corea's career precedes Fleck's by approximately two decades.

No summary of Corea's accomplishments can capture how great and influential he has been in the music scene for the last four decades.

He has taken the stage with the greatest musicians both in and outside of the jazz community. Some of these include trumpeter Miles Davis, vibraphonist Lionel Hampton, bassist John Patitucci, and now aggregated to the list, banjoist Béla Fleck.

Only someone with the appreciation and talent that Corea has displayed since he took up drums at age 8 could tastefully and successfully blend such eclectic instrumentation into his avant-garde style of jazz.

Fleck's achievements do not fall short of this standard.

Best known for his work with his band Béla Fleck and Flecktones, Fleck began his career with his first solo album in 1979, Crossing the Tracks. This was a first step towards the progressive-bluegrass style.

He has played and collaborated with several big names such as John Williams, Victor Wooten and Evelyn Glennie and has produced music ranging from classical to jazz to bluegrass.

Fleck's ability to cross over stylistic barriers is not surprising considering Corea is one of his main musical influences along with other great names like Charlie Parker and Earl Scruggs (another prominent banjo player).

But it was the combination of both musical geniuses, Corea and Fleck, that lent itself to an exceptionally pleasing result onstage.

Corea and Fleck gave the audience a taste of a wide array of composition, style, and most certainly delivery.

Their tour's repertoire spans music from Corea's traditional and mellow compositions from the 80s such as "Children's Songs" to the more recent jazz fusion of Brazil in the style of Bossa Nova.

The fusion requires a sound blend of banjo and piano, which ensures an entirely refreshing sound from the dynamic duo.

Despite the aforementioned lack of instrumental accompaniment, the duo managed to create and maintain a rhythmic and percussive foundation using any and every object at their disposal to create new and fresh sounds: the piano's casing and harp, the banjo's shell, the scraping of strings, a block of wood, Corea's keychain, a hand microphone, and most importantly the audience.

The two-minute standing ovation was greatly appreciated by the duo and they returned with a playful encore that required the audience's participation.

Some might argue this last song was a parody of post-modern music, but in effect, the song put a nice conclusion to a great concert, a superb display of musicianship, and left an exceptionally enthusiastic and welcoming audience feeling like their ticket was very-well worth its price, and many times over.