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Bluegrass Complements Bach in Virtuoso Trio’s Melting Pot

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SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Over the last decade, an infatuation with Americana has injected new life into all types of music, from new music composer John Adams’ 11-part hoedown for string quartet, “John’s Book of Alleged Dances,” to electric guitarist Bill Frisell’s explorations of the music in Buster Keaton’s silent movies.

Few combine these folk and ethnic influences as well as bassist Edgar Meyer’s Uncommon Ritual, a string trio with banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck and mandolinist-guitarist Mike Marshall. Their performance Thursday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa reflected diverse cultural aspects melded by the heat of collaborative virtuosity.

The music, much of it written by one or another of the three men, was flavored with everything from Irish jigs and Hungarian rhapsodies to bluegrass and calypso. While mainly rural in character, due to the tinkling of banjo and a preponderance of two-beat rhythms, it didn’t lack in sophistication. Even the classical pieces performed--notably “Contrapunctus XIII” from Bach’s “The Art of the Fugue”--had the feel of a down-home pickin’ session.

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The most modern of the pieces performed in the center’s Founders Hall was Meyer’s “Contramonkey,” an amalgamation of strange counterpoints and climbing embellishments, all pulled together in a way that seemed to surprise the musicians as much as the audience. Marshall’s more accessible “Gator Strut” swung on swamp rhythms and razor-sharp improvisation.

A reading of 20th century composer Pablo de Sarasate’s “Zigeunerweisen” had all the romance of a gypsy campfire. The Meyer-Fleck collaboration “Chromium Picolonate” was an up-tempo spree that proved the three could play fast and together.

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Virtuosity was the evening’s watchword. Moving between various guitars and mandolins, Marshall played with amazing dexterity while never losing sight of lyricism. Fleck introduced swirling asides to Earl Scruggs’ “Ballad of Jed Clampett” to bridge the worlds of hillbilly and highbrow. When trading lines, Fleck and Marshall chased each other like cats, or provided the perfect shadow.

Meyer, a bassist with amazingly accurate pitch, frequently used bowed sounds to glue the music together and pizzicato passages to propel it. He took the lead on the de Sarasate piece, playing his towering upright with the exuberance of a violinist.

The combined effect reflected a true American experience, anchored in rural roots while containing a diversity to be expected in a culture of immigrants. Best of all, this uncommon coming together of periods, styles and musicianship results in something new, something different. Only in America.

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