Has anybody else heard of Bela Fleck & the Flecktones??

I just caught a broadcast of concert footage recorded by Bela Fleck & the Flecktones. If you haven't heard this man & his band play, you need to. I am lucky enough to have Directv and received this as a "free view". I do not think it is available anywhere else, but I do believe that his CD's and/or videos are available in stores.
The band is comprised of world class musicians from all instrumental areas. Mr. Fleck plays a banjo in ways I have never heard done before.He invites musicians to sit with his band and just jam. In the 1 1/2 hours that I watched, he used instruments like bassoons, bagpipes, oboes, french horns, computer beat generators, digital drums, sitars, dobros, saxophones, clarinets, etc... He tends to lean towards beats and sounds that are uncommon.
For instance, he invites this Chinese sitar genius to sit in and does a 15 minute number(?) using Oriental tones and sounds. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!
What is really outstanding about this master of musical agility is how spontaneous he has remained. Mr. Fleck stated in the interview, which was interspaced between outtakes of concert footage, that sometimes when a show is coming up, they will go in for a sound check, get into a groove and just play improvisational music while the crowd is filing in.
This is absolutely enjoyable for anyone who simply enjoys good music. It is a bit on the light jazz side (not exactly my first listening choice), but definitely worth a listen.

He has played with the late Marcel DADI, a french guitarist who has taught the fingerpicking technique to french people.

If you like that kind of thing, try to listen to Shawn lane and Jonas Hellborg. 40 minutes numbers, totally improvised, yet they sound like they where played a thousand times.

Yeah, I've heard some Flecktones, and also his bassist Victor Wooten is something of a rising leagend.

i think bela fleck mighta played with the grateful dead ( i think) in '94...

He toured with the Dave Mathews band in the early 90's as an opening act, Dave sang a little on one of their albums after that.
The Flecktones started out as a Fusion band in the mid to late eighties. There always evolving, did a little bluesgrass thing for a while in the 90's. Bela just finished up a classical cd, yes classical banjo, and does a killer version of Paginini's Pepetual Motion.

Forgive my fervor but I just heard of Bela Fleck within the last month or so. I can listen to any type of music (except rap) as long as it shows talent and contains emotion.
I look for music that moves me through it's lyrics (if lyrics apply) as well as musical content. Bela's agility, speed and fretboard precision is amazing and his music is able to move the soul as well as the feet.

I agree with you that Vic Wooten is absolutely a "rising legend" ,as you say. Most of what I saw him do with his bass was untouched by anyone else. Actually, all the musicians were totally world class. I cannot choose a favorite.

Another thing I like about Bela Fleck is how he is able to step back and let another player take a lead and show his stuff. This is almost unheard of today.
Bela doesn't need to command the stage or dominate the melody. He simply fills a space within that melody and is happy doing it. He plays for the sheer joy of playing.

Originally posted by PlayLikeDavid
I can listen to any type of music (except rap) as long as it shows talent and contains emotion.

Could rap be considered as music?? I have decided to put in in the same section as poetry, except there's rhythm and music behind it. (oh yeah, sometimes poetry involves violence, and everthing) Seeing it this way helps me enjying good rap as I enjoy good poetry and reject bad rap as I reject bad poetry...

I was originally turned on to Bela Fleck by TV also. I was flipping through the channels one night and I saw this bass player doing 3 octave arppegios and flipping the bass around his back at the same time! Quite amazing...Go Vic!

Question though....why can't Victor Wooten put a decent solo album out though?

yeah I saw that same broadcast.The pieces are definitly interesting though the whole sound is a little lighter than I listen to normaly.However, I could listen to Victor jam for a long time.That chinese guy is singing three notes at the same time.Does anyone know how thw h--- he can do that?

I guess he masters harmonic singing. I saw my voice teacher do that once. Pretty weird. you just sing a note, while the movement of your tongue makes some harmonics ring in your head, and your cranium amplifies it. Totally cool...

thanks lali I'm gonna have to find some lierature or a video on that stuff It's really cool now that I know what It's called.

http://www.cc.jyu.fi/~sjansson/throat.htm
an explanation of where it come from

http://www.plumebleue.ch/extrait/Diphonia_1.mp3
An mp3 but you can't really hear it, since there's another instrument

http://t.clements.free.fr/snd/TribeOfSound/TribeOfSound02.mp3
Pretty good one with a didgeridoo doing the rhythm section!

http://t.clements.free.fr/snd/TribeOfSound/TribeOfSound05.mp3
Another one by the same group, except this time time the harmonic stays the same while the actual singing changes.

It's also called "Diphonic singing"

Originally posted by lalimacefolle
http://www.cc.jyu.fi/~sjansson/throat.htm
an explanation of where it come from

http://www.plumebleue.ch/extrait/Diphonia_1.mp3
An mp3 but you can't really hear it, since there's another instrument

http://t.clements.free.fr/snd/TribeOfSound/TribeOfSound02.mp3
Pretty good one with a didgeridoo doing the rhythm section!

http://t.clements.free.fr/snd/TribeOfSound/TribeOfSound05.mp3
Another one by the same group, except this time time the harmonic stays the same while the actual singing changes.

It's also called "Diphonic singing"

cool thanks

Originally posted by PlayLikeDavid
[BI agree with you that Vic Wooten is absolutely a "rising legend" ,as you say. Most of what I saw him do with his bass was untouched by anyone else[/B]

Bill "The Buddha of Bass" Di ckens, he taught Wooten for a while and is capable of scaling from the top note of a seven string Conklin to the bottom and back again in steady 64ths. He's actually faster than that, but it's one of his tricks that makes Vic drop his jaw.

Originally posted by lalimacefolle
Could rap be considered as music?? I have decided to put in in the same section as poetry, except there's rhythm and music behind it. (oh yeah, sometimes poetry involves violence, and everthing) Seeing it this way helps me enjying good rap as I enjoy good poetry and reject bad rap as I reject bad poetry...

I call it music. I find a lot of old school rap to be pretty interesting actually.