What happens when a bluegrass banjo player makes a documentary film about a legendary 18th century composer?

The result with Michael Lawrence is Bach and Friends, due for DVD release early in 2010. The film looks at the timeless music of Johann Sebastian Bach through the eyes of 21st century musicians in a variety of genres. Lawrence has made a dozen or more documentaries, many focused on musical topics and personalities.

Mike told us that this Bach film began as a small project, but starting with his connections in the bluegrass world, has grown to include interviews and performances from some of the biggest names in contemporary music. Bach and Friends features several names familiar to bluegrass fans (Chris Thile, Béla Fleck and Edgar Meyer), along with jazz singer Bobby McFerrin and classical notables Joshua Bell, Sharon Isbin, Glenn Gould and The Emerson String Quartet.

“The whole idea of the movie is to bring young people – and people who aren’t familiar with Bach – to learn more about him. The project started with just an idea and my savings, and I had no idea there would be so many luminaries in the movie.

I spent about a year producing from the second floor of my house, and I just started contacting people, and they said yes.”

Lawrence runs a one-man operation (Michael Lawrence Films) and came to classical music from a bluegrass background. He played banjo as a young man, and with no options to study banjo in college such as there are today, he gravitated to guitar. He was a member of the very first graduating class at The Peabody Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Aaron Shearer, and performed as a classical guitarist.

Film scoring and original music for films was Michael’s introduction to the world of the cinema. He provided music for more than a dozen projects, most notably The Other Americans, which won numerous Emmy Awards in 1969. Lawrence soon found his place behind the camera, and as writer, producer or director, has more than 20 films to his credit, aired on PBS, HBO and CNN.

After a career close to classical music, it was his bluegrass roots that got the Bach Project off the ground.

“Béla was the first big name person who came aboard, which led to Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile. I knew of Chris from Nickel Creek, but had no idea he played Bach.”

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What a tough gig…

Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain and Edgar Meyer are touring in Hawaii, and we are all invited to join them today – in the cyber sense of the word. Their live show in Honolulu at the Road Runner Music Hall will be broadcast live by KSSK, starting at 4:00 p.m. (EDT) this afternoon (9/18).

KSSK may be a radio station, but they will be carrying a live video feed of the concert.

The trio is touring in support of their new CD, The Melody Of Rhythm, a collaborative set of compositions for banjo, bass and tabla. They will perform the title piece, a work in three movements, with the Honolulu Symphony this Saturday and Sunday.

Fleck, Hussain and Meyer will be out through the end of October doing live shows. You can find their schedule online.

The Melody Of Rhythm – Triple Concerto & Music For Trio, is the name of a new collaboration CD released today (9/25) on E1 Music (formerly Koch Records). It features B?©la Fleck on banjo, Edgar Meyer on bass and Zakir Hussain on the tabla.

The are seven pieces of new music, but the album is centered around a triple concerto for their three instruments composed by Fleck and Meyer. Entitled The Melody Of Rhythm, it consists of three movements, and was recorded live for this project with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leonard Slatkin.

The goal of the composers was to blend the sound of Indian classical music with American roots and traditional string music. Given the stunning level of virtuosity these three musicians bring to the table, the results are remarkable, though the music truly defies an easy description.

Audio samples can be found on the sites of a number of online resellers, and in iTunes.

This unlikely trio will be on tour throughout September and October, including dates with a number of symphony orchestras.

We just got our advance copy of the new Sam Bush CD, Circles Around Me.

Sam had told us that it was one that his bluegrass and newgrass fans would really appreciate, and he wasn’t kidding. Other than the subtle percussion from Sam’s regular drummer, Chris Brown, this is pretty much a bluegrass record – and Bush has quite a bluegrass group lurking underneath his rock-edged road band.

Through all 14+ tracks, Scott Vestal shows why he has been held in such high regard by banjo players these many years, initially as a hard-driving Scruggs/Baucom/Crowe picker with Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, and later as an envelope-pusher with his own recordings. On Circles his playing is simply brilliant, as is Stephen Mougin’s tasteful acoustic guitar. Byron House has been a bass player’s, bass player for years, and he delivers solid timing with a huge tone – as always.

Sam is in fine voice, and the production is transparent, leaving the sound of the acoustic instruments to ring true with very little compression or effects. He is featured most prominently on mandolin, and Del McCoury even joins in for a couple of duets. Jerry Douglas, Edgar Meyer also appear as guests. Courtney Johnson even makes a posthumous appearance in a banjo/fiddle duet recorded in 1976.

We hope to be able to stream some audio from this terrific CD soon, but in the meantime, here’s Sam with a few words about when you can get your own copy…