Friday, May 27, 2011

Bela Fleck & The Flecktones: Rocket Science (2011)


Bela Fleck is the only musician to be nominated for Grammys® in jazz, bluegrass, pop, country, spoken word, christian, composition and world music categories. His totalcount is 11 Grammys® won, and 27 total nominations. Groundbreaking banjoist/composer/bandleader Bela Fleck has reconvened the original Bela Fleck & The Flecktones, the extraordinary initial line-up of his incredible combo. Rocket Science marks the first recording by the first fab four Flecktones in almost two decades, with pianist/harmonica player Howard Levy back in the fold alongside Fleck, bassist Victor Wooten, and percussionist/ drumitarist Roy Futureman Wooten. Far from being a wistful trip back in time, the album sees the Grammy® Award-winning quartet creating some of the most forward thinking music of their long, storied career. While all manner of genres come into play from classical and jazz to bluegrass and African music to electric blues and Eastern European folk dances the result is an impossible to pigeonhole sound all their own, a meeting of musical minds that remains, as ever, utterly indescribable. Simply put, it is The Flecktones, the music made only when these four individuals come together. I didn t want to just get together to play the old music, Fleck says. That s not what the Flecktones are about. Everybody s full of life and ideas and creativity. I was intrigued by what we could do that we had never done before.
Visionary and vibrant as anything in their already rich canon, Rocket Science feels more like a new beginning than simply the culmination of an early chapter. The band now embarks on an extensive tour, and there s no telling how this new music will further develop in performance. We re going to have to have this experience together and see how everybody likes it, Fleck says. I know that we haven t even come close to exhausting the possibilities with this record, but we sure went deeper than we ever had before.
Tracklist:
01. Gravity Lane (6:00)
02. Prickly Pear (3:52)
03. Joyful Spring (2:42)
04. Life In Eleven (5:27)
05. Falling Forward (5:12)
06. Storm Warning (8:00)
07. Like Water (4:44)
08. Earthling Parade (8:00)
09. The Secret Drawer (2:14)
10. Sweet Pomegranates (5:58)
11. Falani (6:53)
12. Bottle Rocket (5:57)