Béla Fleck and the Flecktones

Béla Fleck has been a favourite artist of mine for a number of years; the variety of his releases (from Tales of the Acoustic Planet to Perpetual Motion) is staggering, as is the extent of his collaborations (from Dave Matthews to Chick Corea). His work with the Flecktones is no less outstanding. Seeing Victor Wooten live is an amazing experience: he can de-tune and re-tune his bass while playing it. Futureman holds his own in innovations and Jeff Coffin continues the legacy of Roland Kirk. Béla and the Flecktones have always been at the forefront of technology (DVD Audio on Tales of the Acoustic Planet 2 and DualDisc of Hidden Land ) and the breadth of their collaborations and styles of play can easily be grasped in Little Worlds and Live at the Quick. Live at the Quick remains one of my favourite concert DVDs and features a number of guest musicians of whom Kongar-ol Ondar is the most notable.

Béla's new project is a film on his journey to Africa, the birth-place of the banjo (of course, jamming with the locals). It looks to be a promising film and has already picked up awards. The cool graphics of the website is really worth checking out. Here's the preview of Throw Down Your Heart: