Chick Corea and Béla Fleck join talents Feb. 16 at Eisenhower Auditorium
January 28, 2008
Pianist Chick Corea and banjo player Béla Fleck, known individually for their genre-bending tendencies, come together in concert at 8 p.m. Saturday, February 16, in Penn State's Eisenhower Auditorium.
Tickets for the Center for the Performing Arts presentation are $39 for an adult, $21 for a University Park student and $32 for a person 18 and younger. Buy tickets online at www.cpa.psu.edu or by phone at 814-863-0255. Outside the local calling area, dial 1-800-ARTS-TIX. Tickets are also available at four State College locations: Eisenhower Auditorium (8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays), Penn State Tickets Downtown (10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday), Bryce Jordan Center (10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays) and HUB-Robeson Center (11 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays).
While the duo first teamed in 1994 when Corea performed on several tracks of Fleck's Tales from the Acoustic Planet, the 2007 release The Enchantment is the duo's first full-length recorded effort. The album features four songs by Corea, six by Fleck and a cover of the standard "Brazil." The collaboration is built on a bed of jazz, but elements of classical, bluegrass and more are blended into the stew.
"The key to the project's success lies not so much in the contrast of disparate techniques and styles," writes a critic for the BBC, "but in the crossroads where such things overlap: more specifically, where the players not only meet but gleefully transcend our expectations, which they often do here."
Corea, one of the most prolific composers of the last four decades, has written and performed a little bit of everything. He has worked in almost every corner of jazz from bebop to fusion to avant-garde. He's also delved into classical and other genres.
He has performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Woody Shaw, Sarah Vaughan and other giants. In 1968 Corea succeeded Herbie Hancock as the pianist in Miles Davis‚ band, where he recorded landmark discs such as Bitches Brew and Live at the Fillmore East. His restless spirit and commitment to excellence have led Corea to create material for many projects, including his Electric Band and flamenco-flavored Touchstone group.
Fleck is often credited with reinventing the image and sound of the banjo through his solo work and collaborations with musicians of many stripes. The banjo picker spent most of the 1980s with the progressive bluegrass band New Grass Revival. During that time he also recorded a series of solo albums for Rounder Records. His band The Flecktones, which mixes bluegrass and jazz, has recorded and toured extensively for almost two decades.
Fleck has performed in some of the most memorable concerts in recent years at Eisenhower. Each time he's played with a different partner or ensemble–with The Flecktones, with bassist Edgar Meyer and most recently as part of the Center for the Performing Arts-produced Banjo Summit.
Fred and Denise Wood sponsor the presentation. Radio station 93.7 The Bus is the media sponsor. Artistic Viewpoints, an informal moderated discussion featuring Fleck, is offered in Eisenhower Auditorium one hour before the performance and is free for ticket holders. Artistic Viewpoints regularly fills to capacity. Seating is available on a first-arrival basis. A grant from the Penn State Student Activities Fee Funds makes University Park student prices possible.
Contact: Laura Sullivan, 814-863-6379