Bela Fleck and the Flecktones: Jingle All The Way

Originally released in 2008 on Rounder Records, Bela Fleck' Jingle All The Way is an accurate microcosm of the deceptive whimsy the group displays on stage during the best moments of their live performances. Its uplifting effect is all the more pronounced as this is a collection of holiday-related music.

This last studio album to feature saxophonist Jeff Coffin before his departure in 2009 to join the Dave Matthews Band was remastered in late 2025 for limited issue coincidental with a tour featuring seasonal tunes in addition to choice selections from the ensemble's extensive catalog (Coffin was a special guest on the aforementioned road jaunt).

Such was that pragmatic decision, it serves to highlight how the music is of a piece with Fleck and company's eclectic roots in bluegrass, classical and jazz genres as well as their idiosyncratic approach to playing and recording together. Along those lines, most if not all the band's virtues, technical and otherwise, stand out here, particularly during a dazzling rendition of "The Twelve Days of  Christmas," its dozen segments performed in different keys as well as different time signatures.

Notably, this bandleader's frequent collaborator Edgar Meyer—see Perpetual Motion (Sony Classical, 2001) among others—supplants regular 'Tones' bassist Victor Wooten on that track. A comparable twist involves the selection of Joni Mitchell's "River" as the closer for this 61 minute-plus album: something of a contemporary Christmas standard, this cull from Blue (Reprise, 1971) is indicative of this ensemble's unpredictable thinking, especially insofar as it is played on simultaneously on piano and banjo by Bela Fleck.

And the song's roots in "Jingle Bells" renders it of a piece with the musical chestnuts juxtaposed with it on this record, including two selections from Vince Guaraldi's soundtracks to 'Charlie Brown.' animations: Bela and company evince sincere affection in playing "Christmas Time Is Here" plus "Linus And Lucy." 

Likewise, the unself-conscious participation of the Alash Ensemble , a multi-instrumental unit of throat-singers from Tuva, Russia. Their exotic vocals open the album in a most ear-catching fashion, but it is the panning of their voices at the end of the aforementioned "12 Days" that is emblematic of the meticulous attention to sound that compelled the remastering by Richard Dodd and Paul Blakemore, from its original mix by Fleck with Robert and Richard Battaglia.

While there is really no extensive improvisation over the course of these 16 tracks, there is a tangible element of spontaneity running throughout the LP and most obviously so on "Danse of the Sugar Plum Fairies." Not surprisingly, this is a joint arrangement of the Tchaikovsky composition by the four core bandmembers, a clear illustration of how, without taking themselves or their work too seriously, they consistently produce work equal parts moving and enduring. 

Like most entries in the Bela Fleck discography—with and without the Flecktones—Jingle All The Way conjures an air so joyful it is worth playing any month or season, not just at 'the most wonderful time of the year.'                                  

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