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Bela Fleck & The Flecktones
Bela Fleck
Bela Fleck & The Flecktones
Genres: Country, Jazz, Pop, Rock
 
  •  Track Listings (11) - Disc #1

When bluegrass banjo whiz Bela Fleck formed the Flecktones in 1990 with jazz pianist Howard Levy, funk bassist Victor Wooten, and electronic-drummer Roy Wooten, it seemed like just one more of those new-acoustic music band...  more »

     
   
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CD Details

All Artists: Bela Fleck
Title: Bela Fleck & The Flecktones
Members Wishing: 1
Total Copies: 1
Label: Warner Bros / Wea
Original Release Date: 3/6/1990
Re-Release Date: 2/22/1990
Genres: Country, Jazz, Pop, Rock
Styles: Bluegrass, Jazz Fusion, Jam Bands, Bluegrass Jam Bands
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPCs: 075992612425, 075992612449

Synopsis

Amazon.com essential recording
When bluegrass banjo whiz Bela Fleck formed the Flecktones in 1990 with jazz pianist Howard Levy, funk bassist Victor Wooten, and electronic-drummer Roy Wooten, it seemed like just one more of those new-acoustic music bands that appear and disappear in Nashville with depressing regularity. There was something special about this quartet, though, for it used its peculiar instrumentation not as an end in itself but as a means to three albums of startling melodicism, improvisation, and feeling. At the end of 1992, Levy amicably departed to spend more time with his family and his own music. Rather than hire a new fourth member, Fleck and the Wootens have tried to compensate for his absence by an increased reliance on synthesizer sounds that they can trigger from their instruments and floor pedals. This has led to less emphasis on melody, harmony, and feeling and an increased emphasis on rhythm and showy virtuosity. --Geoffrey Himes

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Member CD Reviews

Nancy G. (Zelda777) from LOUISVILLE, KY
Reviewed on 2/7/2010...
The person who recommended this to me said only jazz banjo. And I was intrigued enough to buy it. This music cannot be easily categorized into one genre. It is exciting, fast, unpredictable, and stimulating, a wonderful mixture.

CD Reviews

The Flecktones Show What They've Got
peter krampert | eharmonica.net | 02/15/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was playing banjo and harmonica in a Bluegrass/Folk band back in the early 1990's when one day our fiddler gave me a copy of this CD. I'm not sure whether he meant for me to play like Bela Fleck and Howard Levy at the same time, but this recording certainly had a tremendous impact on me.The Flecktones starts bass player Victor Wooten and from there on it gets weird. There "drummer", Roy "Future Man" Wooten plays a guitar/synthesiser, tapping out rhythms than would be the envy of any conventional drummer. Harmonica master Howard Levy plays notes on his harmonica that aren't even there. No kidding. I've had the chance to study with Howard and I'm only beginning to get the concept of doing the previously impossible. Banjo player Bela Fleck achors this group. Fleck plays Fusion Jazz/Bluegrass banjo in a way that is both appealing to conventional tastes and delighting to those who love "Out There" Jazz.This melding of odd talents makes for one of the most revolutionary groups to explode onto the music scene in a long time. You absolutely must include this album in your collection. Give it a listen. Give it several listenings. It will change your perspective."
Bela Fleck -- The Classic Jazz of the Future
06/23/1998
(5 out of 5 stars)

"It always amazes me when I spy albums by the Flecktones tucked away in the new age or "miscellaneous" sections of record stores. Fleck has surely bent the boundaries of genre with his mind-altering banjo virtuosity, but the core of this music is JAZZ, even for a purist like myself. This album, one of only three with harmonica/keyboards stud Howard Levy, is a particular treat in the ensemble -- Future Man will make a believer of those who pooh-pooh digital percussion as "canned" or "fake." Most important here are the tunes -- "Sinister Minister" may well be the "Perdido" or "Caravan" of the next century. A marvelous record to be in every futuristic jazzophile's collection!"