Chuck Levy: Blog

In the latter part of 2009, Bela Fleck stopped in Gainesville as part of his Africa Project tour.  My good friend and fellow banjoist, Scott Anderson, allowed me to tag along as he interviewed Bela for Banjo Newsletter.  It was a fascinating experience.  I had never met Bela before (nor since).  He was relaxed and comfortable, and gave long and thoughtful answers to Scott’s questions.  In fact, the material was rich enough that part 1 was featured in the June 2009 issue of Banjo Newsletter, and part 2 was featured in the following issue.

Bela was gracious enough to allow me to interview him as well via email.  It was a challenge to find new ground that hadn’t been covered by Scott.  I decided to concentrate on his asking Bela about his experiences in Africa, and what it was like working with African musicians.  I drew from my own exposure to African musicians from 2007 and 2008 when I visited Gambia and Senegal to study with master Jola akonting (ekonting) players Remi and Ekona Diatta, under the helpful guidance of my hosts Daniel Jatta and Paul and Therese Correa.  The Old-Time Herald (http://www.oldtimeherald.org/) has graciously given me permission to post the interview.  You can read the interview by clicking http://www.banjourneys.com/publicfiles/fleck.pdf or download a .pdf of the interview by clicking http://www.banjourneys.com/publicfiles/fleck.pdf

March 19-21st marked the 4th (I think) Suwannee Banjo Camp that I have directed with Ken Perlman.

The work of putting on a camp goes on all year, with lots of thought put into every aspect. We work hard to select a faculty of great players and teachers (not always the same thing), arranging the publicity and the program, communicating with campers, getting tents in place, organizing tasks for our work-study students, putting on the concerts, and trying to make sure the material we teach is fresh and new. We try to learn from our past mistakes knowing ahead of time that no matter what we do, we are bound to make new missteps each year.

Each year the actual camp that takes place is a revelation, I get to meet new and old friends, and get to witness amazing musicians gather together and spark off one another.

There were a number of highlights for me personally. I got to meet Cathy Barton and Dave Para, musicians I have followed for years. It turns out that they are even nicer in person [...]

I was leafing through the January copy of Banjo Newsletter looking at this and that. I started reading Don Nitchie's "Callous Thumb" column on the best recordings of 2009. Don starts with bluegrass, profiling Jessie Baker's debut, Chris Warner's "Going to the Dance", and Danny Barne's "Pizza Box", amongst others. I thought, "all good". Then the focus shifted to clawhammer: There was Kevin Fore's "Frolic in Round Peak" and "Shout Mona" by the Haints. Again, good choices. And, Holy Crap, next is me! Who'd have thought? "Florida Banjo Champion Chuck Levy's Banjourneys is a simply-produced old time banjo and banjonting (modeled after the West African akonting) and fiddle release. I found this CD very affecting in its sparseness". Yahoo! Go sparseness! (and thanks to Bob Carlin for recording, producing and engineeering the project)! Woo Hoo!

Collin Kane invited me to accompany him when he competed at the Long Leaf Fiddle and Stringband Contest at Morningside Nature Park on November 29th. Collin is a 10 year-old Suzuki student in Gainesville. His mother, Diane Shaw is fine clogger who dances with my bands “Fear No Weevil” and “Physical Medicine”. She always livens up our performances. Andy Kane, Collin’s father, is a square and contra dance caller, who communicates a deep appreciation and understanding of old-time music when he calls.

Collin and I had practiced together twice on his two reels and his waltz. Collin seemed to grow in confidence, and I started to settle in on his tunes Redwing, Devil’s Dream, and the waltz (whose name I can’t remember). The day of the contest was finger-numbing cold. There were 8 contestants We sat together, waiting for our turn. I was nervous, but Collin seemed calm. As each contestant finished, I waited for our names to be called, mentally rehearsing our pieces, lightly [...]

On November 14th, I had the honor of presenting a concert at the Ships of The Sea Museum in Savannah, Georgia. I had a great time researching, organizing, and rehearsing a full program of Jola, minstrel, clawhammer, and two-finger up-picking selections on the West African akonting/ekonting* and on five and six-string fretted and fretless banjos. I managed to sneak in a few of my favorite tunes and songs on the fiddle as well. Tony Pizzo, the Museum Director, was a wonderful host, the setting was lovely, the audience was attentive and appreciative.

I got a chance to explore the museum, which was also a delight. It was filled with interesting maritime curios as well as fantastic models of wind powered and steam ships rendered in exquisite detail.

However, what really impressed me was the workshop that occurred prior to the concert. Tony and his assistants guided 20 or so students to each build a 4-string banjo (3 long strings and a short thumb string) as well as an akonting. The key [...]