Chick Corea and Béla Fleck have a lot in common. Both love creating music and have the critical acclaim to back up their work; between the two of them, they've garnered 17 Grammy awards and more than 55 nominations.

At 8 p.m. Saturday, they'll convene at Eisenhower Auditorium to show their audience what exactly all this fuss is about.

The two musicians have recently collaborated to put out an album, The Enchantment. Fleck's banjo virtuosity and Corea's jazz piano skills make for an interesting and fascinating combination, said Laura Sullivan, Penn State's Center for the Performing Arts spokeswoman.

"It's a real kind of eclectic mix of piano, jazz and edgy banjo combined," Sullivan said. "It's really an unusual mix, but the two of them together can definitely jam ... you hear some bluegrass, you hear some jazz and then you hear a combination of the two."

Sullivan expects the collaboration to draw a large crowd.

"We'll have people who are strictly Chick Corea fans and people who are strictly Béla Fleck fans," she said. "When two artists come out and do a project together like that, you tend to be able to pull people from both of their followings, so I think you'll see a good mix in the audience."

Fleck said he's been listening to Corea's music for more than 30 years and, though this is their first collaboration, they have been corresponding since the 1980s.

"I have been listening to Chick since the 1970s. Our first meeting was probably when he played in Nashville in the early '80s," Fleck wrote in an e-mail. "I did send him some music in 1980 -- my first solo album which contained one of his pieces, 'Spain.' Amazingly enough, he wrote back a note encouraging my creativity."

The two recorded The Enchantment in a week; Fleck said he wasn't accustomed to such a speedy process.

"Béla typically likes to take more time to put his pieces together," Sullivan said. "Chick just does it and plays the piece perfect the first time, and he's ready to go."

Though The Enchantment was recorded hastily, Fleck wrote that it doesn't show in the music.

"This was the first time in a long while that I've had to work this fast and hard, but I love the way it turned out," Fleck wrote. "Chick is such a spontaneous player that the music peaks early."

At 7 p.m. in Eisenhower's conference room, there will be an artist viewpoint session that Fleck will spearhead. Because of the room's capacity, though, only around 75 to 100 people will be able to attend.

"It's a time where audience members will come and hear what it is they're going to be seeing on stage," Sullivan said. "For this one, Béla Fleck will be speaking, so he's actually going to do the artistic viewpoint talk, which I think will make it very popular."

The actual set will contain many pieces from the duo's album, but will also include new songs, classical pieces and a theme of spontaneity.

"The songs from the recording have grown so much since then from all the live playing," Fleck wrote. "It is a very spontaneous event and very exciting for me."