B�la Fleck
17th Annual Green Mountain Film Festival
Montpelier High School
Montpelier, Vermont
March 23, 2014

AT 853 > Zoom H6 [24/96] 1st Row in front of speaker
Mastered in WaveLab 6.0 with iZotope Ozone 5.0

1.B�la's Friend Paul Boffa introduces B�la Fleck
2.A piece from �The Inposter�
3.Big Country
4.Ballad of Jed Clampett

SYNOPSIS
B�la Fleck: How To Write A Banjo Concerto' follows banjo trailblazer B�la Fleck
through one of his most challenging musical journeys so far, into the world of the
Symphony Orchestra. B�la is commissioned to compose a major banjo concerto,
possibly the first of its kind, for banjo and 80 piece symphony orchestra. It
begins before he has written a note, and concludes a year later, with the sold
out premiere concert with the Nashville Symphony. A very intimate look at the
process of composition and collaboration, "How to Write a Banjo Concerto" features
Earl Scruggs, Chick Corea, Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile, Zakir Hussain, Abigail Washburn
and other close musical friends of B�la's. The film also digs into 'father issues',
with B�la being named after classical composers by an absentee father.
Composing this piece forces B�la to confront these issues.

During 2011 while B�la Fleck was writing his banjo concerto, The Imposter, he was
closely tailed by filmmaker�Sascha Paladino to capture the process. Entering the
realm of the symphony orchestra was something completely new for Fleck, who doesn�t
read music, much less have training in orchestration or composition.
But he agreed to the challenge when he was approached by the Nashville Symphony
about commissioning such a long form work.

B�la was willing to take the risk of having this ordeal filmed, as he trusted�Paladino
from their work together on a previous film, Throw Down Your Heart, which
chronicled Fleck�s 2007 journey of musical discovery in West Africa. Oh� and the
two are half brothers.
The resulting 96 minute film,�B�la Fleck: How To Write A Banjo Concerto, is
completed and set for screenings at film festivals this Spring. It is described
as an intensely personal portrait, including discussions and interviews of an
introspective nature, following B�la from the time he accepted the commission
up to the premiere performance in September 2011.
Others included in the presentation are Edgar Meyer, Chick Corea, Marcus Roberts,
Future Man, Julian Lage, Chris Thile, Earl Scruggs, Noam Pikelny, Abigail Washburn,
and Greg Liszt.