Customer Reviews

Abigail Washburn & The Sparrow Quartet

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Every once in a while, a bluegrass album comes out that transcends the genre. Lots of people try, but it is hard to create truly fresh "newgrass". Coincidentally, Bela Fleck seems to be on most of these elusive albums! Maybe it's a sign. This CD follows in the footsteps of the Telluride Sessions, Appalachian Waltz and Appalachian Journey, and also Uncommon Ritual. But instead of a bluegrass and classical blend, this album takes a more traditional americana bluegrass feel and mixes it with a hint of MMW-like jazz song structures and even Chinese folk songs. This is fitting since this group played a lot in China, and Abigail has spent a long time studying Chinese folk tunes. The sound quality is awesome, with each instrument sparkling. Ben Sollee on cello and Casy Driessen on fiddle are also incredible; check out their solo albums. The true test of this formula is: Well all this sounds good but is this new mix of styles listenable and truly good music? The answer is a resounding YES.

Centuries ago in many a Silk Road caravansary, traveling musicians from various lands learned songs and instrument design from each other, and they also jammed. This album is the contemporary equivalent of those exchanges, for traditional bluegrass banjo and fiddle and European classical cello instruments, and Western avant-garde art music and old-time lyrics, are cast with Chinese language and East Asian tunes. Indeed, in one track, the tremolo of Abigail Washburn's double-stringed banjo mimics a Chinese pipa. The album varies on almost every song, taking us on a strange sonic journey from Kazakhstan to Appalachia, from a Central European salon to a New York experimental music club, yet not being anywhere because this is a peculiar fusion. It is entirely within the character of the wide-ranging Bela Fleck to produce, perform in, and help engineer this highly inventive exploration. The team was involved in the earlier, more coherent, and thereby better, album of Washburn, Song of the Traveling Daughter. In fact, that album was the seed for this elaboration. Yes, it is a pioneering blend of bluegrass sensitivity and timbre with occasional Asian melody, but it is also an echo of the past on the Silk Road. I like this album and hope that there will be even further developments.

I heard this group for the first time at the Vancouver Island Musicfest and was blown away. I've been listening to this CD over and over again since. Imagine an otherworldly blend of bluegrass, Chinese traditional, and 20th-century classical symphonic and imagine it done artfully, tastefully, beautifully. This kind of music experience lifts you out of the ordinary into another realm. Absolutely superb, surprising, refreshing, original. With this kind of talent out there doing this sort of thing, why would anyone buy the mass-produced pablum that seems to have gained dominance in the commercial music world? I am in love!

When this much talent comes together, it's a time to give thanks, sit back to listen, and be blessed! Words can't begin to describe the dazzling assortment of sounds, melodies, harmonies, vocals, EVERYTHING that comes forth in this premier, so I'm not even going to try. Let me simply say that Bela Fleck may keep his genius crown; Abby Washburn can do anything she wants; Ben Sollee takes his cello to places one would never think a cello COULD go, adding color and depth the way he does to Abby's solo album; and Casey Driessen's fiddle brings it all to life. There are many surprises here--BUY AND ENJOY!! I can't wait for their next release.

The Sparrow Quartet is four of the world's greatest and innovative banjo, fiddle, and cello players laying out their talents and styles and stirring it all in a pot of the most hella-awesome gumbo you've ever tasted.

Abigail's voice will make you fall in love with her half-way through the first song, but that's OK because you'll realize that she's too perfect for you and any other normal person, and so it's just not meant to be. After that you start enjoying her singing and claw-hammer banjo the way you enjoy seeing an endangered bird fly over your head during a hike through a remote canyon. You've just witnessed something wonderful, and you won't be the same again. And, dude, don't rehearse your "I love your singing" bit too much in case you meet her after a show. She's heard it. And buy a CD. There's no such thing as a bad Abigail Washburn CD.

Meanwhile, Bela is tying his banjo into knots like some circus clown making balloon animals. Except that if he were actually a clown, and making actual balloon animals, he would be taking a foot-long balloon and crafting it into the detailed skeleton of a T-Rex that would come alive and eat everybody. The precision, clarity, and emotion Bela can squeeze out of a musical instrument is exactly the kind of phenomenon that causes people to buy a banjo and then give it up after a few lessons, realizing that the person who inspired them to take it up in the first place is like some space alien from Banjo Planet, the talent of whom they cannot even hope to approach without a spaceship.

Casey is not actually human. He is a robot, built during the Cold War by a secret arm of the United States Department of Defense. The U.S. government lured the greatest violin musicians of classical and bluegrass, and Prince's twin brother, melted their brains, and poured the concoction into Casey's titanium central processor module. It was all part of a plan to drop him in the middle of the Soviet Union armed only with a fiddle and a trendy wardrobe, with fiddle skills so powerful that his music would cause communism to evaporate from the face of the earth. But Casey went rogue. He was too good. He made sounds and that fiddle players aren't supposed to make. He could not be controlled. And now he has returned to the United States. The government fears him for the same reason everyone else loves him. Mad fiddle. Mad.

Don't try to talk to Ben after a show. It's really awkward. The words coming out of his mouth don't quite seem to synchronize with his lips. This is because his cello is a horrible ventriloquist. You see, Ben isn't human either. He is a puppet, a dummy, a marionette, controlled by a cello. But how? See, back in the 80s, some cello in an orchestra got so annoyed at playing the same old crap over and over again that it became self-aware. A fairy godmother visited the cello and granted it life and the means to go and do whatever it wanted. And it wanted to tour around and play music that cellos had never played before. In order not to shock people, the cello made a Ben Sollee puppet and carries it around letting people believe that an actual person could do these things. The sounds it makes and the songs it sings will make a cello-lover out of anyone.

So, yea, that's my review of the Sparrow Quartet.

My son and I saw the Sparrow Quartet live in Charlottesville, VA. This was one of the best live performances I've hear seen/heard. The four musicians complement one another beautifully, yet each is strong on her/his own. See them in a small venue if you can.

My daughter spent some time working on a boat on the Yangzte River just before SARS broke out. She loved the people and the area and I thought this would be another way to relive the experience for her. She was very pleased with her totally unexpected birthday gift. I read a positive review of this new music in Newsweek which prompted me to listen to the songs on YouTube first.

Fabulous creation! Abigail Washburn and Bela Fleck are two of my favorite artists, so when I heard they had recorded together, naturally I hurried to Amazon to listen to some tracks. Each track is unique--her voice is splendid--musical accompaniment virtuoso, of course--some pieces are haunting, some jolly, and the Chinese influence gives an exotic yet clean flavor to the tracks demonstrating it. This CD fits no category--just a glorious experience.

Abigail Washburn, Bela Fleck, Casey Driessen, and Ben Sollee present some amazing music. I was impressed with the style and sound of every song. Even the Chinese stuff was enjoyable. Not my everyday stuff, but a welcome departure from cookie cutter music that generally is put out today. I am happy with the album purchase and recommend it highly.

The music is just amazing. Such a great combination of bango, violin and cello. The album is definitely in a league of its owns. This is a must buy album.