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Béla Fleck: Outbound

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Columbia Records
Released: 2000.07.25
Time:
 63:47
Category: Progressive Jazz
Producer(s): Béla Fleck
Rating: ****...... (4/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.flecktones.com
Appears with: Victor Wooten
Purchase date: 2001.06.27
Price in €: 14,99



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Intro (J.Coffin) - 0:41
[2] Hoe Down (A.Copland) - 4:54
[3] A Moment So Close (B.Fleck) - 4:47
[4] Zona Mona (J.Coffin/B.Fleck) - 5:01
[5] Hall of Mirrors (B.Fleck) - 4:53
[6] Earth Jam (V.L.Wooten/B.Fleck/V.L.Wooten) - 5:55
[7] Something She Said (B.Fleck) - 3:36
[8] Ovombo Summit (V.L.Wooten) - 0:40
[9] Aimum (V.L.Wooten/B.Fleck/V.L.Wooten) - 5:50
[10] Prelude (A.Narell) - 0:41
[11] Lover's Leap (B.Fleck) - 4:16
[12] Outbound (B.Fleck) - 4:52
[13] Scratch & Sniff (B.Fleck/V.L.Wooten) - 5:00
[14] Shuba Yatra (B.Fleck) - 4:42
[15] That Old Thing (B.Fleck) - 3:22
[16] Reprise (B.Fleck) - 0:46
[17] Two-Timers (V.L.Wooten) - 3:51

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Béla Fleck & The Flecktones:
BÉLA FLECK - Banjos (Gibson Style 78 and 18 Acoustic, Nechville Electric Sitar and Dreering Crossfire Electric), National Steel Guitar, Paradise Guitar, Banjo Synth, VG8, String Arrangements, Horn Arrangements, Engineer
JEFF COFFIN - Tenor, Alto and Soprano Saxophones, Alto Flute, Clarinet, String Arrangements, Horn Arrangements
ROY "Future Man" WOOTEN - Simultaneous Synth-axe Drumitor, Zendrum, The "x drum" Square Bass Drum, Paerl Tall Cajuns, Sabian Manhattan Ride Cymbal, 2 Zildijan Crashes, 3 Pearl MRX Toms, 10" tambourine Mini Snare by Sonor, Roland 760 Samples, Lead Vocals as Royel
VICTOR LEMONTE WOOTEN - Electric Basses (Fodera 4 String and Stereo Tenor Bass, Compito 5 string Fretless)

Additional personnel:
SANDIP BURMAN - Tabla
PAUL HANSON - Basson, Soprano & Tenor Saxophones
PAUL MCCANDLESS - Oboe, English Horns, Soprano Saxophone, Penny Whistle
JOHN MENDESKI - Hammond B-3 Organ
ADRAN BELEW - Electric Guitar, Overdub Engineer
EDGAR MEYER - Acoustic Bass
ANDY NARELL - Steel Pans
MARK FELDMAN - Violin
RITA SAHAI - Vocals
ONDAR - Tuvan Throat Singing
JON ANDERSON - Vocals
SHAWN COLVIN - Vocals

The Love Sponge Strig Quartett:
KIRSTIN WILKINSON - Viola, String Arrangements
JOHN CATCHINGS - Cello
DAVID DAVIDSON - Violin
DAVID ANGELL - Violin

RICHARD BOTTAGLIA - Engineer
ROBERT BOTTAGLIA - Engineer
ZACH NEWTON - 2nd Engineer
TRACY HACKNEY - 2nd Engineer
DANNY PURCELL - Mastering
KEN LATCHNEY - Overdub Engineer

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


2000 CD Columbia 498921-2



After a decade with Warner Bros., Béla Fleck jumped to Sony's Columbia Records, signing a five-record deal that called for two releases on Sony Classical, a solo album, and two discs with his band the Flecktones of which Outbound is the first. It is a typically eclectic effort. For example, the Fleck original "Shuba Yatra" (its title, he explains in the press materials, "is an Indian term that means taking a journey with a safe return") features a tabla player and Fleck on a "sitar banjo," an electrified instrument with a banjo head and a sitar bridge. Such instruments give the tune something of an Indian flavor, except that much of it is borrowed from traditional Irish music with a touch of South African rhythm. Such odd juxtapositions of instrumentation and style are typical not only from track to track but also within tracks. Fleck and his bandmates seem to view all styles of music as readily and randomly interchangeable, but sometimes, as with a colorblind person picking out clothes, the results clash or otherwise disturb, and the rest of the time they come off as flashy and insubstantial. Fleck really offers no defense to the charge of being a musical dilettante, he simply celebrates the surface pleasures of different varieties of music, offering an overlapping series of appetizers. A fan of any particular style is liable to feel that it has been trivialized, but Fleck doesn't mean any harm. His music represents the pursuit of facileness as a musical goal, one that he and his band achieve with alacrity.

William Ruhlmann, All-Music Guide, © 1992 - 2001 AEC One Stop Group, Inc.



Béla Fleck and the Flecktones emit joy, exuberance, and stylistic outreach routinely when playing live. That reach opens their Outbound with "Hoedown," which might just as well be titled "Barn Dances of the Gods," connecting as it does the Appalachian folk lineage to the works of Aaron Copland and Oliver Nelson. On their first recording for Columbia, this charismatic touring band is making a serious move for the kind of commercial breakthrough (à la The Pat Metheny Group or Heavy Weather) that their talent and ambition should long ago have cemented. Thus, when Shawn Colvin's lilting soprano answers "Futureman" Roy Wooten's raplike intro on the bridge to "A Moment So Close," followed by exotic textures and metric changes right out of a South Indian raga, the effect is not unlike the Dave Matthews Band's sophisticated amalgam of pop and jazz-fusion. Indeed, Futureman's vocals key several excellent tracks, as Outbound finds these virtuoso populists cruising in the passing lane of popular acceptance with airs of Near Eastern, North African, and South Indian folk music abounding (and commingling with Northern European elements on "Shuba Yatra"). Guest artists Adrian Belew on guitar, Andy Narell on steel drums, and John Medeski on organ help flesh out several fine arrangements. Bluesy undercurrents, coy humor, and echoes of rustic and urban Americana abound on the title tune, "Lover's Leap," "Scratch and Sniff," and "That Old Thing." Even when a more jammy mood predominates (as on "Earth Jam," where one of Fleck's electric lines suggests both the tone and phrasing of a Jerry Garcia solo), the virtuoso imagination of banjo master Fleck and bass guitar innovator Victor Wooten are focused entirely at the service of the arrangements. A giant leap forward for the Flecktones and their fans.

Chip Stern, Amazon.com



Béla Fleck and the Flecktones vermitteln ganz selbstverständlich bei jedem ihrer Live-Auftritte übermütige Lebensfreude und gleichzeitig hohen stilistischen Anspruch. Outbound wird entsprechend anspruchsvoll mit "Hoedown" eröffnet, das auch den Titel "Barn Dances of the Gods" tragen könnte, da es mit den Folk-Traditionen der Appalachen anknüpft an Werke von Aaron Copland und Oliver Nelson. Bei ihrer ersten Aufnahme für Columbia macht diese charismatische Tournee-Band einen deutlichen Schritt zu einem kommerziellen Durchbruch (wie es The Pat Metheny Group oder Heavy Weather geschafft haben), den ein solches Talent und ein solcher Ehrgeiz eigentlich schon vor langer Zeit hätten festigen können. Wenn Shawn Colvins lebhaft heiterer Sopran bei "Futureman" nach Roy Wootens im Rapper-Stil präsentierten Intro einsetzt und den Übergang schafft zu "A Moment So Close", dem wiederum exotische Klangstrukturen und ständige Taktwechsel wie aus einem südindischen Raga folgen, so wird hier eine Wirkung erreicht, die an die anspruchsvolle Mischung von Elementen der Popmusik und an die Jazz-Fusion der Dave Matthews Band erinnern. Tatsächlich liefert der Gesang von Futureman einige ausgezeichnete Tracks, und mit Outbound erreichen diese Virtuosen endlich allgemeine Anerkennung mit Melodien der Volksmusik aus dem Nahen Osten, aus Nordafrika und Südindien (die sich bei "Shuba Yatra" mit Elementen aus Nordeuropa vermischen). Als Gastkünstler treten auf: Adrian Belew an der Gitarre, Andy Narell am Schlagzeug und John Medeski an den Keyboards, diese helfen sehr dabei, einige gute Arrangements zu verstärken. Unterschwellige Elemente des Blues, versteckter Humor, Anklänge an ländliche und städtische Grundzüge von Americana sind reichlich im Titelsong zu finden, bei "Lover's Leap", bei "Scratch and Sniff" und in "That Old Thing". Selbst wenn die Jam-Stimmung dominiert (wie bei "Earth Jam", bei dem eine von Flecks elektrisch verstärkten Passagen an die Klangfarbe und an die Phrasierung eines Solos von Jerry Garcia erinnern), bleiben die virtuose Fantasie des Banjospielers Fleck und Victor Wootens innovatives Spiel an der Bassgitarre ganz und gar darauf ausgerichtet, die Arrangements zu unterstützen. Ein riesiger Schritt nach vorn für die Flecktones und ihre Fans.

Chip Stern, Amazon.de



Bela Fleck and the Flecktones have orbited the Acoustic Planet and expanded our musical universe as a quartet (with multi-instrumentalist Howard Levy), as a stripped-down trio, and back again to a four-piece unit (with Jeff Coffin on wind instruments). Now banjo wizard Fleck has embarked on a five-album mission for Columbia Records and Sony Classical, and the first resultant Flecktones set has the fusion quartet accompanied by a varied and versatile set of friends as it explores a new section of its creative cosmos. Outbound adds to the familiar Flecktones palette with the judicious use of guest vocalists Shawn Colvin and Yes-man Jon Anderson, as well as a pair of singers less familiar to American ears: Tuvan throat singer Ondar and Indian classical vocalist Rita Sahai. Also coming on board for this outing are Andy Narell on steel pans, bassist Edgar Meyer, guitarist Adrian Belew, keyboardist John Medeski, oboist Paul McCandless, bassoonist Paul Hanson, and Sandip Burman on tablas. The result is a wild and unpredictable voyage through the eclectic imagination of Fleck, Coffin, and the Brothers Wooten. The funk-driven groove of "Scratch & Sniff" gives way to the Indian evocations of "Shuba Yatra," complete with Burman's tablas and Fleck on a sitar/banjo, while Aaron Copeland's "Hoedown" gets a rollicking saxophone/banjo bullride. "Earth Jam," in which Fleck and Coffin's dueling solos yield to a Victor Wooten tour de force, sets up the gentle almost-classical sound of "Something She Said." Roy "Future Man" Wooten takes over lead vocals on a pair of offbeat numbers, "A Moment So Close" and "Aimum," augmented by Colvin and Anderson. The Flecktones show no sign of being any less daring or surprising than ever. Outbound is a whirlwind excursion through the collective talents of some of the most amazing musicians in this galaxy.

Henry Koretzky - July 31, 2000
CDNOW Contributing Writer
Copyright © 1994-2001 CDnow Online, Inc. All rights reserved.



It's hard not to think of that creepy, inbred Appalachian family from Deliverance every time you hear a banjo. Historically, however, the banjo has been a happier instrument, albeit one with dark undercurrents: African American slaves played it to blanch the horrors of life. More recently, Bela Fleck has transformed the instrument into a thoroughly modern, lethal weapon. With Outbound, their seventh album, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones set off into new, uncharted territory - yet this new album coheres, as others before it, to Bela's concept of the "banjo being weird." Weird, perhaps, but the banjo hasn't sounded so good since the instrument's original maestro, Joel Walker Sweeney, played it with his toes. Add his Flecktones - the blistering electric bass of Victor Wooten, one of the greatest players of recent time; the cut-and-paste percussion of Future Man and his drum invention, the Synth-Axe Drumitar; and Jeff Coffin's searing saxophone - and you have complex music with a undeniably grooving beat. Like Fleck's Grammy-nominated 1998 album, Left of Cool, Outbound sports infectious tunes amidst a barrage of nonstop riffs. What's different here is the supporting cast. Joining the Flecktones are Shawn Colvin and Yes' Jon Anderson, legendary oboe player Paul McCandless, and keyboardist John Medeski, as well as among others tabla player Sandip Burman and Tuvan throat singer Ondar. The end result is a superior exhibition of top-notch musicianship, one that is desperately needed in the Age of Britney. The album's best, "Hoe Down," returns to the classically wistful melodies of Aaron Copeland; with its intricate composition, plus with Bela's virtuoso banjo augmented by electric-guitar effects, the song is quite simply medicine for the soul. While the upped synth in "Earth Jam" flirts dangerously with Kenny G territory, "Scratch & Sniff" is as funky an original as it gets, here or anywhere. Fleck - the only musician to be nominated for Grammys in jazz, bluegrass, pop, country, spoken word, Christian, composition and world music - is outbound indeed, and you can be sure his fan base, which has grown incrementally with every album, will follow him wherever he chooses to venture next.

VH1 Online
© 1999 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved.



“Zona Mona” marks the beginning of a new record-label affiliation for banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck and his band the Flecktones. The title of the new album, Outbound, reflects for Fleck the band’s current state: “There’s a sense of us going on a journey, a voyage, instead of a sense of completion. This album represents us starting off on a new label and the band becoming even more expansive musically than it already was.” In addition to increasing the spontaneity in their recording process, the Flecktones enlisted the aid of several diverse and impressive guests, including vocalists Shawn Colvin and Jon Anderson (of the prog-rock band Yes), guitarist Adrian Belew, and keyboardist John Medeski (Medeski, Martin & Wood).

Jazziz - September 28, 2000
 

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