On February 11th this year, Tallinners had a chance to watch a very atypical musical combination come together as BEATrio hit the stage at Alexela Concert House. The performance, organized in part by the Jazzkaar Friends Society, brought together the musical stories and instincts of three highly respected jazz instrumentalists: Mexican drummer Antonio Sánchez, American banjo player Béla Fleck, and Colombian harpist Edmar Castañeda.
Sánchez has been quoted as saying “Banjo, harp, drums…what the hell is that?” But looking beyond that self-deprication, the trio’s self-titled, Grammy-nominated debut album shows that those fusions are what drive music into the future. (A bonus recommendation while we’re here: take a listen to the gritty fretless two-string bass, saxophones, drums, and baritone vocals of Boston’s “low rock” outfit, Morphine.)
