banjo goes for baroque with brooklyn!

Well... this was certainly different.
Someone needs to alert Tim Burton right now that herein lies the inspiration for his next film.
Seriously.
Seriously!
I was talking with one of the audience members after the concert and said the above about Tim Burton. She turned right to her friend and said, "See! I told you the same thing!"
Actually, although Burton would be the one to write the script, Danny Elfman would be in charge of animating it with music. So, perhaps, both should be made aware of this music that reminds folks of them.
This music consists solely of sounds emanating from stringed instruments. The banjo was central, both literally and figuratively, and wielded by Béla Fleck. Every time he appears at the Savannah Music Festival, he is with different people and making different music. This was either his seventh or eighth time performing here in Savannah, as part of the SMF.
This evening's show continued in that vein. As I said, he and his banjo were in the center of the stage. To either side were the members of Brooklyn Rider, a chamber music quartet.
Yes, you heard right: a chamber music quartet. Tomorrow morning, that's what they'll be doing in the same venue that hosted the two pianists. I imagine the four young men will be attired a bit nattier for that performance.
(smile)
But for tonight's amalgam of strings, the dress was casual. Two of them were clad in red pants. I'm pretty sure they were the two violinists, Johnny Gandelsman and Colin Jacobsen. Eric Jacobsen, the cellist, was to the left of Fleck on a raised platform, with Colin on the far left, on the stage floor. Nicholas Cords, viola man, was on the far right, on the stage floor, with Johnny on the floor between him and Fleck.
It was some pretty unearthly music, much of the time. Maybe they should have invited Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers to join them for this musical rendezvous! That would have been a hoot and a half!
Then again, I don't know that the audience would have stood for it. As it was, several opted to leave about midway through the show. If the show would have had an intermission, I bet more would have taken advantage of that lull to leave.
Me? I was actually grooving to some of it, especially once I caught the Tim Burton vibe. It might be some interesting music for a modern dance workout...
I'll let you judge that for yourself. Check out Colin's composition, "Brooklesca", for example. Here, they included Fleck in the piece, but the video features only the string quartet.
To hear the piece Fleck wrote for the five of them, check out "Concerto for Banjo and String Quartet". Again, this video is not of the quintet on tonight's stage, but you can still get the feel of the piece as they would have performed it.
I kept trying to find "Night Flight Over Water", the song they performed near the end of the concert tonight, but instead found two tracks off the album of the same name. Check out "Hunter's Moon" and "The Escape". Both feature Fleck and Brooklyn Rider, to get the full measure of these five guys interacting. These sound just like the songs I heard tonight.
I'm glad to have had the experience, but I'll wait for the Burton/Elfman flick featuring this music.
Maybe I'll even buy that soundtrack...
Maybe.
(smile)