And did the fingers and notes fly, on a rainy Monday evening in Lebanon, New Hampshire, at the gloriously live antique that is the Lebanon Opera House. The crowd was a mix of class, from erudite Hanoverites carrying walking sticks with lavish metal handles, to the chill twenties-and-thirties crowd, who may have bopped around dorm rooms in the 1990s to the spacey parts of the Flecktones 1996 release "Live Art" (Moses Hall shout-out). It was funny seeing ushers try to keep retirement-age folks from snapping digital photographs of the band, many of whom appeared unable to work their phone at all, let alone turn off the flash. For all of the polo shirts and thinning white hair, there was lots of applause, including to follow each performers' solos in each tune.
And there was much to applaud. Like the first listening of any Bela Fleck recording, the capacity for literally thousands of notes to fit the chord becomes apparent, daunting, and chilling-- except the lines fly on the banjo, one of the happiest/brilliant instruments in the world. The show [setlist below] was built of instrumentals, themselves structured much like improvisational jazz compositions: a theme, solos, a return to the main theme. Only one tune-- "Sunset Road"-- received vocals, from Futureman, and those were merely placeholder words to support the instrumental theme. It's worth knowing that many of the 'solos' were made of two players (usually between Wooten, Fleck and Levy) trading off 8, 16, or 32 bars worth of truly showing off: good-natured instrumental competition. If the collision of ego onstage is somehow part of how the original-lineup Flecktones achieve their sound-- and it might be-- then the magic was at work on this Monday night in the Upper Valley. Beyond the outdoing-each-other within Futureman's robust and expressive electronic beats, each player took a full solo-- and Howard Levy took many, on harmonica and Steinway, upon which he hammered often, jazzing up the complexities of Fleck and Wooten's harmonics. Fleck won all battles, accomplishing what had to have been 32nd-note riffs within a fun trade-off with Wooten.
Futureman and Victor both took full solo moments; Futureman, in the first set, employed a cajon, shaker, double-bass pedal, and a kit built of four tom-toms, a snare, a ride, and his custom-electronics-triggering-machine. In the second set-- towards the end-- Bela Fleck left the stage for Victor Wooten's center stage moment, and none were disappointed. Again, fogies fumbled for digital cameras as Wooten swung his bass around his back and over his head, only to grab it again and continue his furious and showy solo. He is absolutely gifted; however, this solo was infinitely superior to anything I heard from his solo band a few years back, at the Paramount Theater in Rutland. Given a whole show to himself, Wooten's licks become watered down, as he relishes his own lyrics, songwriting, and story; with Bela Fleck, his chemistry-- and their chemistry combined-- releases an improvisational and repetitious freedom that humbles both men. Wooten's around-the-back bass playing isn't something Mike Gordon of Phish will ever need to do, to stay in competition with Wooten for Most Amazing Bassist-- and, for me, Wooten's ego sometimes loses the prize-- but not this night. While playing up and down the neck of his five string electric machines, Wooten crossed his hands as his hands danced around the frets, punching the strings as he built slappin', banjo-inclined arpeggios of bass.
Futureman was wearing a pirate's hat; Victor a teal blue t-shirt. Fleck and Levy wore baggy black pants and button-down shirts, and Levy-- appearing and performing in perhaps the most intriguing way of the four at this show-- never bothered to brush his graying mop of Beatlesque hair from his eyes, as he played piano or harmonica. The band was joined by a fiddle player-- Casey Greason-- who appears with the band on the iTunes-only cut, released alongside their new album, "Rocket Science." The tune was "Wolf Laurel," and Fleck called for the audience to make the sound of the wolf to start the song-- Levy jumped in, apparently turning the moment into a full wailing harp solo, using his own diachromatic breathing technique. This and a few other songs from the group's new album sounded like what you'd look for in the new bluegrass traditions-- not wildly inventive (Wooten held his most tedious quarter notes of the night though parts of these), but safely sellable instrumental wizardry. Fiddle Casey Greason returned in set two for a remarkable duo with Fleck-- who, in the end, kept the wisest cool through the whole show, and thus played best, often leaning back on his stool in obviously-comfortable positions, his hands ready to riff alongside anything that may come along-- a flexibility that may come only from studying one's Bach, or scales. From this practice and diligence, Fleck was at ease taking electric wah-wah solos in some of the second set's choice moments-- alongside Victor Wooten and his brother, as well as Howard Levy, it was a concert made of masters of their crafts. The group tours on this summer, to unite briefly with the Dave Matthews Caravan in Chicago, where paths will cross between the Flecktones and their 1993 Howard Levy replacement, sax player Jeff Collins, who's been with the Dave Matthews outfit for a while. And travel on they should: Bela Fleck was wise to reunite the original Flecktones for a tight and fun summer tour, from the Burlington Jazz Fest to the sweaty mess that will be the Dave Matthews Caravan stop in Chicago-- and down-home New England-town-hall-style benefit concerts (Cover Home Repair) for a few hundred on a rainy Monday night.
My knowledge of the Flecktones' catalog isn't extensive, but was lucky to have been passed a setlist, for those needing the full scoop. Original line breaks and caps retained...
Gravity Lane - Nemo's
Dream
Prickley Pear
Like Water
v Sex in a pan - Life in
Eleven
h Wolf Laurel
Big Country
f - Sweet Pomagranites
Bottle Rocket
Sunset Road
Blu-bop
b - Falani
Sinister
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