★★★★★
Rocket Science, the first album of new music from Béla Fleck and the Flecktones in six years, opens with a familiar banjo gambol from Fleck, which soon makes room for something unheard in a Flecktones song since 1992: Howard Levy's harmonica...
- www.popmatters.com
2011-06-13
★★★★★
The musicianship on Béla Fleck and The Flecktones' Rocket Science radiates a sense of play that was missing from the group's last recorded work The Hidden Land (Columbia, 2006). There's also a sense of adventure here that hasn't really been in evidence since Three Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Warner Bros, 1993), the first album recorded after the departure of original Flecktone Howard Levy...
- www.allaboutjazz.com
2011-05-30
★★★★★
String (banjo, guitar, electric synth banjo) wizard Fleck and his posse pose as a big band with the help of a bunch of their friends. The performances here are taken from a tour in the summer of 2000. The virtuosity can seem just a little too easily thrown off, as there's a freewheeling ease to the musicianship that crosses over into slickness. Well, not for nothing have Fleck and his mates built up a loyal following in a couple of decades on the road...
- www.hour.ca
2010-11-09
★★★★★
Banjomeister Bela trims the tree, pours out the eggnog, and lets anyone with the Christmas Spirit amble in to sit down by the fire. So when this intricate Yuletide set takes off with Tuvan throat-singers spinning their home-language take on "Jingle Bells," well, if it sounds a bit weird, just tap your feet until your brain settles into the groove between "ethnic" and "odd...
- www.offbeat.com
2010-11-02
★★★★★
This CD was loaned to me for review by a neighbor of mine who knows that I have an affinity for excellent guitar work. This one definitely fits the bill, although the main sound featured is actually an electric banjo. Bela also is using his banjo to drive synthesizers as well. For me, this was a first in hearing a banjo as the primary instrument in jazz instrumental music. It would definitely be remiss not to mention the outstanding electric bass work on this CD...
- www.jazzreview.com
2010-08-23
★★★★★
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...
- www.allaboutjazz.com
2010-08-20
★★★★★
A live performance by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones is a celebration of the joy derived from making complex music that's fun at heart. Count on Roy Wooten, a.k.a. "Future Man" or "Futch," to come up with intriguing stuff on his synth-axe drumitar (it looks like a guitar but sounds like a percussion instrument). Victor Wooten, on bass, holds the groove while also poking around, keeping things entertaining...
- www.jazztimes.com
2010-02-19
★★★★★
Bela Fleck and his band the Flecktones-bassist Victor Wooten, percussionist Future Man and saxophonist Jeff Coffin-are astoundingly adept musicians who are comfortable playing virtually any type of music, and their intricate sound mixes jazz, bluegrass, pop, rock, classical, funk, world elements and who knows what else into an eclectic yet highly accessible musical collage. The band tours constantly and has earned a very devoted following...
- www.jazztimes.com
2010-02-19
★★★★★
Following on the heels of 2003's masterful triple CD, Little Worlds, and a subsequent tour through 2004, the members of the Flecktones took a year off to pursue personal projects. The Flecktones eventually got back together to record this stripped-down outing entirely in Fleck's home studio in Nashville...
- www.jazztimes.com
2010-02-19
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