Jazz Articles about Bela Fleck

Bela Fleck: Throw Down Your Heart

by John Kelman
December 10, 2009

Béla FleckThrow Down Your Heart Docurama Films2009

With Throw Down Your Heart Rounder, 2009), banjo revolutionary Béla Fleck took his instrument full circle, back to Africa where the instrument originated. The third in his ongoing Tales from the Acoustic Planet series, it was the end result of a 2005, five-week trip to four African countries where Fleck met with local musicians, playing and exchanging ideas and values--musical and otherwise. While ...

Bela Fleck: Throw Down Your Heart

by Chris May
November 18, 2009

An exemplary adventure in cross-cultural music making, banjoist Béla Fleck's Throw Down Your Heart deserves every bit of hyperbole that is going to be thrown at it. The third volume in Fleck's Tales From The Acoustic Planet series, it's subtitled “Africa Sessions" and finds him in East and West Africa, mostly on field recordings or in improvised studios, playing with musicians from Mali, Madagascar, Tanzania, Uganda, Senegal, South Africa, Cameroon and Gambia. It's simply sublime.

Though the cast ...

Bela Fleck & The Flecktones: The Hidden Land

by Doug Collette
February 13, 2006

The Hidden Land, the first album of new material recorded in the wake of a year off the road, is the logical extension of the Flecktones' recent activities. It makes sense to go back to the basics and start afresh. Also, after the eclectic complexity and artful ambitions that produced the last Bela Fleck/Flecktones album (the three-CD set Little Worlds), there may have been little further afield to go, given the way the group married production and musicianship lavishly and ...

Bela Fleck And The Flecktones: Lexington, Kentucky / April 6, 2004

by Mark Sabbatini
August 2, 2004

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones Lexington, Kentucky / April 6, 2004 Live Music Archive 2004

Author's note: This is the first of what hopefully will be an ongoing series of reviews of legal free music downloads from various internet sources. This is one of several Bela Fleck concerts available at the Live Music Archive, which posts audience recordings of concerts by artists who allow such tapings.

Bela Fleck's music has ...

Bela Fleck and The Flecktones: Little Worlds/Ten From Little Worlds

by Doug Collette
November 1, 2003

Little Worlds is a gorgeous package of three compact discs on which Bela Fleck and the Flecktones seamlessly interweave inspiration, creative spontaneity and judicious production.

The crystalline sound quality is just one of the constants deriving from collaboration between Bela himself and recordists Robert and Richard Battaglia: it’s a pleasure to listen to this music for the way it sounds alone. But that leads inevitably to the serendipity of the musicians’ improvisation on the respective tunes, a process ...

Bela Fleck & The Flecktones: Little Worlds

by Jim Santella
October 17, 2003

This three-disc project puts Béla Fleck's music in a new light. His formidable blend of Americana and jazz is integrated with new sounds brought in by guest artists and their eclectic backgrounds. The banjo virtuoso, his multi-faceted woodwind partner, his profound bassist, and his rhythmic sidekick weave modern jazz around the flagpole with delicate airs and a variety of colors. No particular theme weighs the sessions down: cultures from all over the world are tied to Fleck's creative dreams.

B: Live At The Quick

by Jim Santella
April 12, 2002

Unique among contemporary music ensembles, Béla Fleck's dynamic trio works wonders in live performance. Their large audience at the Quick Center For The Arts in Fairfield, Connecticut knew they were witnessing a one-of-a-kind affair. Clapping on 2 and 4 while Victor Lemonte Wooten improvised over “Amazing Grace," they felt all the power coming from that stage. Fleck and his partners managed to overcome multiple travel and itinerary conflicts to get this cast of characters together. To a simple bluegrass ballad ...