Across the Imaginary Divide, Rounder ***

It started, as new music often does, in the heat of a late night jam session. Banjo trail-blazer Béla Fleck sat in with pianist Marcus Roberts' trio and, judging by the mutual love-in that is the liner notes, sparks flew. The next step was to take those sparks into the cold of a studio and fan them into a flame. In that, Fleck, Roberts, bassist Rodney Jordan and drummer Jason Marsalis are only occasionally successful. There are times when banjo and trio blend seamlessly, but more times when it sounds like the music is being dragged alternately back and forth across the imaginary divide of the title. God knows we need to hear more musicians climbing out of their genre bunkers and mixing it up, but one senses that this particular blend still needs a few months on the road to really develop its flavour. imaginarydivide.com