Bela Fleck & The Flecktones
When bluegrass banjo whiz Bela Fleck formed the Flecktones in 1990 with jazz pianist Howard Levy, funk bassist Victor Wooten, and electronic-drummer Roy Wooten, it seemed like just one more of those new-acoustic music bands that appear and disappear in Nashville with depressing regularity. There was something special about this quartet, though, for it used its peculiar instrumentation not as an end in itself but as a means to three albums of startling melodicism, improvisation, and feeling. At the end of 1992, Levy amicably departed to spend more time with his family and his own music. Rather than hire a new fourth member, Fleck and the Wootens have tried to compensate for his absence by an increased reliance on synthesizer sounds that they can trigger from their instruments and floor pedals. This has led to less emphasis on melody, harmony, and feeling and an increased emphasis on rhythm and showy virtuosity. --Geoffrey Himes