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the latest manifestation of Bartók's earthly genius.....
This is a tale of two creative minds coming together: a modern day Colorado folk musician going half way around the world to explore the music of Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, one of the greatest composers of the 20th century and a pioneering ethnomusicologist. Though Bartók was classically trained, he was intrigued by the free nature of folk musicians and eventually collected over 8,000 indigenous folk tunes from Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and North Africa. Symbolically, he could be thought of as a predecessor to Alan Lomax, but one who documented extensively due to his own fascination in folk cultures and then incorporated various elements into his compositions.
Full of instrumental variety and interplay......
From The American Record Guide
As everyone knows, Bartok was one of the first –and by far the greatest– modern composer to explore, arrange, and seek inspiration from folk music. But the exchange of influence between folk and art music has always gone both ways; and given the exalted mastery and imagination of Bartok's folk-song treatments and the authenticity of his scrupulously collected field recordings, it is not surprising, an indeed entirely appropriate, that they should have attracted non classical performers. Among the programs of such "non-classical" Bartok I can recommend are the Janosi Ensemble's Hungarian Transylvanian, and Romanian dances on "Rhapsody: Liszt and Bartok Sources", the songs and dances by Muzsikas on "The Bartok Album", and the duos, dances, songs, and choruses by the Crofut Consort with the Boston University Women's Chorus.
Something new and appealing....
From The Absolute Sound:
Whatever you call the music that people like Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile, Bela Fleck, Mark O'Connor, and Yo-Yo Ma have been recording for the past decade, it's taken a hard left into composer Bela Bartok's world. Banjos and Bartok met in 1990 thanks to Bill Crofut, but this time the resulting sound is closer to "Appalachia Waltz" album. Schepps has rearranged Bartok's settings of Hungarian folk music (and one American tune) for banjo, fiddle, mandolin, guitar, cello, and bass, and turned them into something new and appealing.
9 out of 10 stars.....
From Popmatters.com:
Banjoist Jake Schepps returns with a tribute of sorts to one of the greatest composers—living or dead—Béla Bartók. One might legitimately ask what banjo and Bartók have in common and the answer is simple: the Hungarian master was fascinated with folk music. He was, in fact, one of the earliest ethnomusicologists. Thus, it makes perfect sense that Schepps would choose to record these 19 pieces in a setting that some ears might catalog as uniquely American.
New Acoustic Music....
Listen to two generations of "New Acoustic Music" - a term "coined" by banjo player Jake Schepps on his Bartok album to describe what he and Chris Thile, Punch Brothers, and the like, do with their mix of old and new music. Thing is, David Grisman, Darol Anger, Mike Marshall, and others were using that exact same term 30 years ago. We'll hear from all of them on this New Sounds program.
From the Wall Street Journal
From the Wall Street Journal
The Boulder, Colo., resident took up the banjo 20 years ago at age 21. "I had a hankering to learn a musical instrument," he said prior to a show earlier this month at the Club Passim here. "I didn't come up with a strong cultural association with banjo. I just thought: 'There are a lot of guitar players out there, but the banjo is different.'"
Musical Cousins
From Utne Reader:
Hungarian composer Béla Bartók got his best stuff from rural folk, and banjoist Jake Schepps takes Bartók’s music back to the countryside—American style. Leading a grassy roots ensemble of banjo, violin, mandolin, guitar, cello, and bass, Schepps adroitly balances the refined and the rustic while indulging Bartók’s ear for spirited melodies and swelling emotionalism. It’s a marriage so natural that you might hardly notice when “Cousin Sally Brown” strolls through the proceedings.
The excitement of true originality...
From AllMusic.com:
Those browsing for a conventional program of Béla Bartók's music will receive little clue of what they're getting into from the external packaging of this album, which is both highly diverting and entirely original. Essentially it consists of short pieces by Bartók, as well as some excerpts from larger works, arranged for an American progressive bluegrass ensemble: banjo, violin, mandolin, guitar, cello, and bass. Project leader banjoist Jake Schepps concedes that the idea is "unlikely," but give it a listen. At the very least, you'll hear something quite unlike any other recording. On top of that, Schepps is joined by some top-notch players, including veteran San Francisco Bay Area mandolinist Matt Flinner and cellist Ben Sollee, a participant in some of banjoist Abigail Washburn's Chinese-bluegrass fusions. A key unheard presence is producer Jayme Stone, a Canadian-American banjoist who has recorded with West African musicians; this project in its way is even more ambitious, and that's all to the good.
The real deal, just re-orchestrated....
From File Under?
Banjoist Jake Schepps crosses over into classical music on his latest release An Evening in the Village (out this week via Fine Mighty). Joined by a group of crackerjack country music performers, he explores the repertoire of Twentieth Century Hungarian composer Béla Bartók (1881-1945). While at first glance this might seem like a curious cross-pollination, on further inspection bluegrass and Bartók share a number of affinities. Both are use traditional folk music as source material, both value syncopation and other rhythmic surprises, and both employ a pitch language that favors scales that depart from unadorned major and minor to instead explore other patterns.
A fascinating adventure...........
From ConcertoNet.com:
With this East-Meets-West string band CD, banjoist-arranger Jake Schepps makes musical magic. Schepps takes a striking leap, not only moving his art forward, but raising the bar for those around him. Devoted to arrangements of folk-influenced music by Hungarian composer and pioneer of ethnomusic Béla Bartók, this recording broadens the horizons of the string band, proving that the scintillating mix of banjo, fiddle, mandolin, and guitar need not be limited to Americana tradition.
