I’ve mentioned a time or two in my AOTD entries that a friend and I are compiling a list of our top 25 artists, top 100 albums and songs, top 50 cover songs, top 20 Beatles songs and top 10 concerts we have seen. I mention this because today’s group fits my last category. I’ve seen many amazing concerts by a plethora of talented artists. But when I think of the highest standard of musicianship, the first concert memories that come to mind are from Béla Fleck & The Flecktones. I’ve had the chance to see these guys about a handful of times. Two shows that still stick with me were both held at the acoustically perfect Lyric Opera House in Baltimore, MD. Four years apart, the 02/10/1999 and 03/24/2003 Béla shows exemplify artists who are masters of their instruments and craft. You really can’t find many as good as what they do as these guys. Who are they, you ask? Oh right, let’s introduce the main players. The core trio that makes up today’s band are Victor Wooten on bass, Future Man (Roy Wooten) on Synth-Axe Drumitar and Béla Fleck himself on a variety of banjos. Let me mention again that these guys are the bee’s knees when it comes to their mastery of their instruments. Bzzzz. I’ll start with the drummer. Wait, he’s not playing the drums. Future Man not only plays a electronic drum machine that he wears like an electric guitar, he invented it. His ability to produce different percussive sounds and a myriad of fast and sometimes complex rhythms are best achieved with his Drumitar. I haven’t ever really seen anything like it before. Next up is brother Victor. Okay, let’s sidebar for a minute. Who are the top bass players of all time? Okay, that’s already a hard question because do you include Jazz musicians or not? No matter, Victor Wooten must be on any list you compile. On my list, he is quite high. He is nothing short of a virtuoso on the electric bass. First and foremost, he plays the bass as if it were a guitar. Oh right, it is a guitar. He takes full advantage of this. I’ve seen him do solos where he is playing three parts at once, a bass line, a rhythm guitar part and then a lead or melody. He will use a loop machine to layer sounds, but he is capable of all three at once without the loop. When my friend and I saw him at the 2003 show, we were blown away by his near 19 minute solo. You can hear that entire show here. The most extraordinary part was as he was playing he began de-tuning the instrument. This meant he kept changing keys, but adjusted his playing to stay in the original key he started in. Now, one might ask, are these guys just showing off? Hmmmmm. Let’s take the long time woodwind player with the group, Jeff Coffin. He was the reed man when I saw the band back in the day. Having taken the place of founding DMB member, the late LeRoi Moore, he is now playing with the Dave Matthews Band. One of the things Coffin liked to do was play two saxophones at the same time. Once upon a time I played the saxophone; Alto, Tenor and Baritone. I am familiar with how hard it is to play two simultaneously. Still, I always found it to be like a circus side show; to shtick like for me. Yet when Victor displays his bass prowess, I don’t find he is showing off. I mean, If I could do what he can do on a bass, I would show the world too. And then there was one, Béla. A 13 time Grammy winner, Fleck’s wizardry on the acoustic, electric and electric synth banjo is unmatched. He has demonstrated that an instrument often associated with just bluegrass or Dixieland music can shine in many other arenas like jazz, world, classical and rock. Also like Wooten, he can play melody and counter melody at the same time. Again, these artists are as good as it gets; a hole in one, first place, top prize and a blue ribbon all in one. Now that you have met our lead actors, let’s dive into the play.
“Live Art” is a sampling of live Béla Fleck & The Flecktones performances from 1992-1996. Along with the aforementioned core members, Fleck, Wooten and Future Man, their are many guests and other players on this disc: original Flecktones member Howard Levy on keys and harmonica (he left the group in 1993) and the, at the time, often reed and horn contributor to the band, Paul McCandless, plus these greats, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Chick Corea, Edgar Meyer, Bruce Hornsby and Branford Marsalis. Okay, let’s chat about the actual record.
This double album’s 22 tracks are a wonderful mosaic of the band’s multi-genre musical style. Because I am becoming a bit pressed for time, I shall just speak to a few of my personal highlights of the LP. First, the opener, New South Africa’s climatic ending is pure bliss each and every time I hear it. This build up starts with Béla playing the melody and then everyone else gradually coming in adding a harmonic layer to it until it ends in a frenzied release back to the song. Love it! I enjoy the bass clarinet in Lochs of Dread, the keyboard/banjo interplay between Levy and Fleck during UFO Tofu, Sam and Béla’s beautiful Shubbee’s Doobie; also featuring Paul’s terrific oboe, Future Man’s work in Blu-Bop, Wooten’s chilled, funky, jazzy More Luv with Hornsby, Béla’s solo piece Early Reflection / Bach / The Ballad Of Jed Clampett and the full cast on on Sinister Minister (Wooten shines throughout but his crazy bass chops may be best heard here). It is almost futile to talk about just a few songs or mention the musicians here and there. Everything they do is good on these recordings. Again, they are just that accomplished in their professions.
When I look at the clock, I realize I am letting the day get away from me; I am to be at a friends for football and a farewell of sorts. Still, I couldn’t have picked a better album for a Fall Sunday late-morning, early-afternoon experience. “Live Art” and my memories of Béla Fleck & The Flecktones past shows were worth all the time I spent with them today, late or not.
p.s. I’m already late, so why not write one more thing. I also caught Béla Fleck & The Flecktones at The Grassroots Festival at Oregon Ridge Park, Timonium, MD in 2002. I by chance had a press pass and was able to go to a green room for air conditioning and refreshments. There I got to casually watch Béla rehearsing a few local musicians he had asked to play with him about an hour before the show. Very cool. He may have even caught me and David Grisman catching a buzz outside the green room. Ha. Ironically, I was just at this same location about a month ago for a friend’s wedding rehearsal dinner. It brought back those memories of Béla.
365, Album of the Day 2014 