Rhapsody In Blue CD

Release date: February 12, 2024, Thirty Tigers 

This project from banjo great Béla Fleck expands and explores George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue by paying homage to the legendary composer while redefining an American classic—just in time for its centennial.  Released February 12, a hundred years to the day Gershwin premiered the work at Aeolian Hall in New York City, Fleck’s Rhapsody in Blue album includes three variations:  “Rhapsody in Blue(grass),” “Rhapsody in Blue(s),” and the classic orchestration, but with banjo featured instead of piano, performed by the Virginia Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Eric Jacobson.  The set also features Gershwin’s “Rialto Ripples” and “Unidentified Piece for Banjo,” an unrecorded and unreleased gem discovered at the Library of Congress.

Track Listing

1. Rhapsody in Blue(grass)
2.  Unidentified Piece for Banjo
3. Rhapsody in Blue
4. Rhapsody in Blue(s)
5. Rialto Ripples