An Interesting Fleck of Music

I like all forms of music and I appreciate when someone can mix and match styles. As I write this I am watching a performance by a jazz band playing intricate jazz, not the Smooth Jazz that’s on the radio. What is intriguing is that the lead instrument of this ensemble is a banjo. Yes, I said BANJO. There is also a soprano sax, a bass guitar, a drum set and some kind of guitar-looking thing I’ve never seen before.

The banjo player is awesome, his technique is part fast picking bluegrass and part rock electric guitar. He weaves melody into all of this, as well as hints of classical, all with an overlay of jazz. His picking blends perfectly with the sax player. And the bass player rivals some lead guitarists I’ve heard.



Who the hell are these guys? And what gave them the idea to put a banjo in a jazz band. And how did they know it would sound so cool? Charlie Parker meets Ricky Scaggs.

My vocabulary fails me when it comes to describing how unique their sound is. And it’s a ‘recorded-live’ performance, with a real audience and no special effects.

Now the sax player is blowing a sweet melody on a flute while the banjo is pickin’ and the bass is walking.

Who are these guys and where can I get more of their music (short of pledging a donation to the local public television station that is bringing this into my home office).

An interview clip between songs reveals the answer: Bela Fleck.

Not only have I heard of him, but I realize I have actually met him. He played some kind of music festival near Baltimore back in the 1980s. I did stage announcements for part of the event and brought him on stage. But I was distracted that day and didn’t really see him perform.

During one of the interview clips on this TV show I’m watching, he calls his group a league of unusual crafty musicians. It is so much more than that. And in digging around the internet for more information, I learn that the unusual guitar-looking thing I referred to earlier is a synthaxe drumitar, a hand-made box instrument with buttons and a guitar neck that basically serves as an electronic drum set.

Crafty musicians indeed.