Bela Fleck and the Flecktones - Live

[JMT]

I had the opportunity to see Bela Fleck and the Flecktones in concert Saturday night on the campus of U.C. Davis (usc goose, Rizumu, where were you guys?).

The concert was amazing. They played a lot of selections from their new CD entitled "Little Worlds." Victor Wooten is, without a doubt, one of the finest bassists that I have had the pleasure of hearing. What surprised me is that he actually grew up here in the Capital City and took lessons at the same music store where my son is currently taking bass lessons.

If you are not a fan of the sound of a banjo, you owe it to yourself to listen to one when played by Bela Fleck. It was a musical "epiphany" for me as I have never liked the tonality of that instrument, nor the musical genre that one usually finds it. At one point at the end of the second set, Mr. Fleck played about a 25 minute solo, no other musicians on stage. It was all completely improvised and ranged from some Ellington/Basie type jazz, to some classical, to some Beatles, to some.....well, you had to be there.

The best thing about the concert was spending some quality time with my 17 year old son. He was absolutely mezmerized by Mr. Wooten.

 

[kaervin]

I had the opportunity to see him with Little Feat as they celebrated the 20th anniversary of recording Waiting for Columbus at the Lisner Auditorium in DC. Very enjoyable and I would highly recommend anyone go see Bela any time they can. A very wide range of musical styles.

 

[TommyTheCat]

I can't wait, I got my tickets to see them in April on the Michigan Tech campus. Hopefully they'll make it up here unlike the MSU "professors of jazz" (can't blame them, their other shows died and it's prob. not worth it to come up just for us

)

 

[realmz]

I'm going to have to second this. Bela Fleck is spectacular and the Flecktones are amazing too. I've been lucky to see Bela a few times over the years at bluegrass fests and shows of his own. I also saw Wooten solo about a year ago?

If you aren't a fan of bluegrass, banjos, or that "twangy stuff".....don't worry. That's not what Bela plays. Its much more jazz/funk oriented with a bit of everything thrown in for good measure.

I'm seeing them live Sunday night at the Fitz in St. Paul. Should be a great show.

oh, if you wanna hear some live Bela, check out www.archive.org. They have quite a few shows for download in lossless format, most likeley flac or shn.

 

[Andrew Pielet]

Have you heard Bela's CD Drive? it is one of my favs. Kind of hard to find though. (unless you shop online rather than record stores)

 

[mojoman]

Victor Wooten is a bass guitar god!

I recommend checking out a side project he plays in with Scott Henderson and Steve Smith called the Vital Tech Tones. They have 2 cds, VTT and VTT2 on the Tonecenter label and both are awesome. Also if you have access to the BET-Jazz channel look for a show called Studio Jams. There is one with Victor and Roy Wooten (drums), Derek Trucks (slide guitar), Tuck Andress (lead and rhythm guitar), Kofi Burbage (flute, plays in Derek's band), Joey Coffin (saxes, also of the Flextones) and Joey DeFrancesco (Hammond B3) that's very good.

I've seen the Flextones a few times and they have never been anything less then spectacular. Future Man always amazes me.

 

[AdamP88]

Glad you enjoyed the show, JMT (I wish I could've gone). I saw them last year at the Warfield, and it was probably the most fun concert I've been to, as well as the most awe inspiring in terms of technical prowess. It's great to see such virtuosic musicians having such a good time on stage.

Did Vic play his looping/detuning solo, or has he busted out a new one?

 

[JMT]

Quote:

Originally posted by AdamP88: Did Vic play his looping/detuning solo, or has he busted out a new one?

When they opened the second set, Victor came out by himself and began "tapping." He then stopped, but the music continued playing. He did something with his footbox, and began playing something else, stopped playing, but the music continued. This went on for a few minutes until he was playing a 5 voice background complete with percussion.....all by himself. Then he launched into a solo while accompanying himself via the loop he just made.

Incredible.

Quote:

Originally posted by mojoman: Future Man always amazes me.

I spent much of the evening watching him and trying to figure out exactly how he makes that "drumguitar" do what it does.

I failed.

 

[Wmcmanus]

Jon, thanks for posting your comments on the concert. I remember that you had mentioned that you had tickets on a thread about Bela a couple of months ago.

I've got a bunch of their albulms and will have to pull one out now in the wee hours of the night. I've jsut set up my Martin Logans (after about a year in the closet) and would like to hear them sing some banjo again.

My favorite Flectones work is their concert DVD entitled "Live At The Quick." Highly recommended because it gives the viewer a sense of how this amazing music is created. Nothing like the live experience, I'm sure, but to watch them perform their experimental works definitely adds an element to the experience.

 

[Canman]

Quote:

Originally posted by JMT The concert was amazing. They played a lot of selections from their new CD entitled "Little Worlds." Victor Wooten is, without a doubt, one of the finest bassists that I have had the pleasure of hearing. What surprised me is that he actually grew up here in the Capital City and took lessons at the same music store where my son is currently taking bass lessons.

Wooten is amazing. I had the pleasure of seeing his solo band in a small club. Amazing show. He tours with a bunch of his brothers who are also amazing musicians. I think Future Man is his brother too, but he doesn't tour with Victor's band.

 

[Todd R]

Thanks for this thread.
Why?
After reading it I decided to see where Bela was touring and I found out he is coming to the State Theater in Kalamazoo next Thursday.
I'm taking the whole family to the show for a Christmas present (With dinner at the local Brew Pub. Ain't I nice?).
I'm so excited to be going to a concert after so many years of missing them because of the prices.
This will also be my boy's first "real" concert with a band that's well known to them.
Should be an exciting time.

 

[esquilax]

one time i saw BFF (back in '96 i believe) Victor Wooten was midway through his 15 minute mammoth, mind-blowing bass solo, when some guy came forward and stood right under him in front of the stage. Victor was just looking down at him, playing, and kind of had an air of "check me out" which he of all people has a basic right to. well, the guy reached up, and... unplugged his bass!!! it was horrible.

Victor was pretty upset, but eventually came back and finished up the solo in good spirits.