 Next Article | Previous Article | |
| Back |
by Seth Rogovoy
LENOX, Mass., Aug. 4, 1996 -- The banjo is rarely seen or heard these days outside of bluegrass, old-time country ensembles and Dixieland bands. For better or worse, it is an instrument that has been relegated to the status of novelty, plagued as it is with what banjoist Bela Fleck calls in one of his song titles "The Yee-haw Factor."
But as Fleck proved in a concert with his band, The Flecktones, on Saturday night at the National Music Center, the banjo's only built-in limitations are those constraining the musician's imagination and access to modern, digital technology. With the advent of MIDI -- in plain language, a synthesizer that can make any instrument sound like any other -- a banjo can be played like itself yet, as Fleck demonstrated, be made to sound like a guitar, a marimba, an organ or a string orchestra. The trick is once one has that ability, what does one do with it? Is there any good reason for a banjoist to make his instrument sound like a guitar? When he does, does it cease being a banjo and turn into a guitar? And in that case, what's the point?
These were the sorts of questions raised by the Flecktones' performance on Saturday night. The answers to these questions were not easily forthcoming, which is what made it probably the most innovative, challenging and compelling concert of the summer so far. It also occasionally made it the most frustrating one, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It was just in stark contrast to the typical, shlocky fare being pawned off as "the American musical tradition" at the National Music Center this summer.
There was nothing shlocky about the Flecktones, who if anything might have benefited from a little polish. Fleck himself was so self- effacing a frontman he threatened to disappear at times. You could have easily billed the show as Victor Wooten and the Flecktones, as bassist Wooten was the driving force behind the group, not so much for his rhythmic underpinnings but for his amazingly non-basslike leads.
Paul McCandless, the woodwind player from Oregon, sat in with the Flecktones, which also includes Wooten's brother Roy -- who goes by the name Future Man -- on synthesized percussion. McCandless's contributions on saxophones, oboe, English horn and whistles were key, often lending a Celtic feel to the fusion jazz that made up most of the evening's repertoire. As for Future Man, he triggered the full sounds of a drum kit and percussion ensemble with his patented, shoulder-slung Synth-Axe Drumitar, which was a novelty to watch but disappointed in the one extended solo he was given.
Together, the quartet functioned intuitively, constructing familiar, Pat Metheny-like fusion ballads and anthems, with funk grooves, tempo changes and duet patterns rigorously asserted. While bassist Wooten seemed to lead the most, garnering attention with his two-handed slap technique and guitar-like attack, it was McCandless who provided the most musical enlightenment, through his imaginative soloing and his arsenal of quotes from Bach to the theme to "Mission: Impossible."
As for Fleck himself, his work mostly shone as a bandleader. His compositions were erratic, with some merely fusion-by-numbers and others, including "Flight of the Cosmic Hippo," marvelously inventive. Not so inventive were his few solo turns, which, combined with his lack of stage presence, detracted from the whole.
[This review originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on Aug. 6, 1996. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 1996. All Rights Reserved.]
| Next Article | Previous Article | |
| Back |
