Jazz Articles about Bela Fleck

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 ...

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones: Left of Cool

by Ed Kopp
August 1, 1998

Bela Fleck is one of the most innovative musicians in contemporary jazz: he has completely recast the role of the banjo in jazz. Honorary Flecktone Jeff Coffin joins the fold on Left Of Cool, a lengthy and intermittently absorbing CD. Coffin is a Nashville saxophonist who's far jazzier than Paul McCandless, the saxman who usually plays with the Fleckmen. Coffin is a nice addition to the band, though apparently it's a temporary arrangement. This is no landmark album, but many ...

Bela Fleck & the Flecktones: Live Art

by Dave Hughes
September 1, 1997

This is a totally excellent album. Buy it! Regardless of whether you've never heard of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, or whether you are a long-time devotee, you'll find the music in this 2-CD live set to be unusually creative, diverse, and fresh. If you complain that so much of today's music sounds the same, you'll love this.

These performances were culled from hundreds of tapes made from live gigs from 1992 through 1996. The core unit is Bela Fleck ...