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Béla Fleck: The Hidden Land

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Sony Music BMG Entertainement
Released: 2006.02.15
Time:
 60:00
Category: Progressive Jazz
Producer(s): Béla Fleck
Rating: ********.. (8/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.flecktones.com
Appears with: Victor Wooten
Purchase date: 2007.10.18
Price in €: 24,99



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Fugue from Prelude/Fugue No. 20 in a Minor, BWV 889 (J.S.Bach) - 1:51
[2] P'lod in the House (B.Fleck/V.Wooten) - 3:46
[3] Rococo (B.Fleck) - 3:46
[4] Labyrinth (B.Fleck) - 6:21
[5] Kaleidoscope (J.Coffin/B.Fleck/V.Wooten/R.Wooten) - 5:08
[6] Who's Got Three? (B.Fleck) - 5:22
[7] Weed Whacker (B.Fleck) - 7:44
[8] Couch Potato (B.Fleck) - 3:03
[9] Chennai (J.Coffin/B.Fleck) - 5:48
[10] Subterfuge (B.Fleck) - 4:04
[11] Interlude (J.Coffin/B.Fleck/V.Wooten/R.Wooten) - 0:39
[12] Misunderstood (B.Fleck) - 7:27
[13] The Whistle Tune (B.Fleck) - 4:54

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Béla Fleck - Synthesizer, Banjo, Guitar, Arranger, Producer, Mixing, Electric Banjo
Jeff Coffin - Synthesizer, Clarinet, Flute, Keyboards, Alto, Soprano & Tenor Saxophone, Whistle, Bells, Sleigh Bells, Singing Bowls, Conch Shell, Throat Singing
Victor Lemonte Wooten - Synthesizer, Arranger, Electric Bass, 5-string Banjo
Roy "Future Man" Wooten - Drums, Vocals, Synthaxe, Throat Singing, Drumitar, Zendrum

Roberto Battaglia - Engineer, Mixing
Richard Battaglia - Engineer
Richard Dodd - Mastering
Frank Ockenfels - Photography
Christopher Austopchuk - Art Direction
Giulio Turturro - Design
David Bennett - Management

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


2006 CD Sony/Columbia 96417

Bela Fleck's progressive fusion of jazz, bluegrass, classical, rock, and anything else he can get his hands on has been surprising listeners for some time now. 2006's THE HIDDEN LAND offers more of the same, though "sameness" for Fleck is liberated from its usual meaning. For example, the elaborate riff on Bach's "Fugue from Prelude & Fugue No. 20" that opens the disc is a stylistic whiplash that manages to incorporate bop, swing, funk, and psychedelia while still honoring the spirit of the original.

Fleck's genre-smashing banjo playing is enough to win the heart of any adventurous listener, but his Flecktones - who include bassist Victor Wooten, multi-instrumentalist Jeff Coffin, and drummer Future Man - are as flexible and risk-hungry on their instruments as the leader is on his. Whether on breezy, tuneful jams like "Roccoco" or frenetic free bop like "Couch Potato" (which comes complete with countrified interludes), Fleck and the Flecktones keep fans guessing, but in the most delightful way.



The Hidden Land, the first album of new material recorded in the wake of a year off the road, is the logical extension of the Flecktones' recent activities. It makes sense to go back to the basics and start afresh. Also, after the eclectic complexity and artful ambitions that produced the last Bela Fleck/Flecktones album (the three-CD set Little Worlds), there may have been little further afield to go, given the way the group married production and musicianship lavishly and intricately, retaining spontaneity at the heart of improvisation.

The Hidden Land opens with the band rendering two Bach pieces almost as if to warm up, which makes sense as this somewhat studied combination gives way to the more free-flowing likes of “P’lod in the House.” Radiating the joy of collaboration, each of the four musicians is in perpetual motion, yet the music doesn’t sound busy or flashy. In a more subdued vein, “Rococo” finds Bela and the ‘Tones waxing and waning respectively, their interaction delicate but authoritative.

Jeff Coffin’s flute work recalls the warm whimsy of the earliest Flecktones material (prior to his joining the group upon the departure of Howard Levy). While that atmosphere wasn’t necessarily the target of the sessions that produced this CD, it’s a natural and welcome byproduct nonetheless. The beauty of Fleck’s production of The Hidden Land is that it captures the timbres of the instruments accurately through the expert recording and mixing by Richard and Robert Battaglia. As the group escalates to high gear on “Labyrinth,” the welcome simplicity of Victor Wooten’s bass supplies gravity, as does Futureman’s kick drum, alternating with his brushes.

Bela Fleck often belies his roots in bluegrass (as through the New Grass Revival), particularly when his banjo so closely approximates the sound of an electric guitar, as it does on “Kaleidoscope.” Yet the quick circular turns he navigates with the Flecktones recall his sources, at the same time rendering distinctive the sound of this band. The Celtic motif that ran through the previous album may be gone, and though no guests appear on the new album, the same integrity that earmarked Little Worlds, with its host of outsiders, remains intact here. “Who’s Got Three?” proceeds as if a natural outgrowth of Fleck & ‘Tones instrumental chemistry, while “Weed Whacker” will again bring to mind the refreshing simplicity of their earliest projects together. You might criticize the group for not breaking any new ground here, but reinventing themselves is not the point here, reinvigorating themselves is.

Hearing the band proceed through the deconstruction and reassembly of the evocative “Misunderstood,” it’s hard not to hope that the down-to-earth approach which distinguishes The Hidden Land carries over when the group returns to live performance later this year. This group is often plagued by an impersonal distance on stage. However, this newest studio effort finds Bela Fleck and the Flecktones radiating a warm rapport that in turn generates music which is eminently accessible on its surface and endlessly fascinating below.

Doug Collette - All About Jazz



Banjo player Bela Fleck has a world-class set of chops and a willingness to follow his muse wherever it takes him. The band ranges far and wide once again on the The Hidden Land ­ it opens with a Bach Fugue, delves into swing, has a bit of bluegrass, does progressive rock, and jets to several other locales. But the everything-and-the-kitchen sink concept is still considerable more streamlined than 2003's Little Worlds, an overproduced and under-focused three-CD set. Highlights here include Fleck's pickin' on a progressive country stomp called "Weed Whacker" and the playful "Couch Potato," which has a hyper edge that doesn't match the sedentary implications of the title. The band's telepathic interaction is highlighted on the Middle East-influenced "Chennai," ­where musical lines are played in unison or tossed back and forth, making the song crackle with energy. The broad aesthetic and restless sonic changes might be a bit much for some, but a patient survey of this album will be rewarded.

Tad Hendrickson - Amazon.com



Nearly three years since the outrageous exercise in self-indulgence that was the three-disc Little Worlds, Béla Fleck & the Flecktones come back to the marketplace with The Hidden Land. The former outing was so excessive that Sony issued a single-disc sampler from the set hoping it would sell. Thankfully, the new set is a single disc, and for fans of the band there is plenty here to delight. The fusion of instrumental musics here -- jazz, bluegrass, funk, classical, and some global sounds is called by Fleck "serious Flecktones." It feels serious. For starters, the quartet dig into Bach's Preludes and Fugues (No. 20 in A Minor) to kick things off. It's a classic piece of the Flecktones wearing the original enough to make it their own. It's entertaining only for the sound of Fleck's 1937 Gibson Mastertone banjo. Much more compelling is "Labyrinth," a winding, knotty journey through jazz and improvisation -- the funk undertones of the piece are carried by Victor Wooten's gnarly bass line. But even here, Future Man's "Synth-Axe Drumitar" and his vocals -- poorly aping Naná Vasconcelos' glorious wordless singing from Pat Metheny's earlier recordings -- are more than what's really necessary. What moves this cut is Jeff Coffin's wondrous tenor playing. "Kaleidoscope"'s knotty blend of bluegrass riffing between Fleck and Coffin is stomping and beautiful, though it gets bogged down in fusiony nonsense on the choruses. But the moving playing in the bridge between the aforementioned pair over the skittering acoustic drums and programmed Drumitar keeps it grounded even when the piece becomes more abstract toward the end. The lyrical abstraction on the ballad "Who's Got Three" is amorphous but eerie and beautiful. It slips directly into the nearly straight-ahead swinging jazz of the horribly titled "Weed Whacker." The musical ideas here are, as usual, endless, which doesn't make it a great record. There are simply so many things vying for attention, seeking to make themselves known here, that a few less would have made individual compositions stand out more. The wandering, perhaps meandering, minor-key Middle Eastern flavor of "Chennai" works well because it's not cluttered and has distinctly different phases. The funky "Subterfuge" is just plain boring, and "Misunderstood" is just a mess, a mishmash of half-baked ideas couched in a ballad. As the "Whistle Tune," closes the album with Fleck just wrangling his Celtic-styled banjo playing transcendentally with Coffin's whistles and Wooten's pared bassing atop a simple drum track, we are rooted once more into the basis of the Flecktones' musical universes, not their metaverse. It's not that complexity and a multiplicity of ideas is a bad thing; quite the opposite, but knowing when to reign them in and make the music sing is another thing. This record sings only in a couple of places. The rest is "serious Flecktones." Perhaps this determination is simply not for most of us. It's easy to accept that, especially when those serious Flecktones fans will be debating individual musical passages until the next album is released.

Thom Jurek - All Music Guide


Banjo maestro Béla Fleck and his band have spent much of the last few years exploring "bigger is better" territory, piling on overdubs and calling in a posse of like-minded guests. They pull off that highway on The Hidden Land -- which is a decidedly more dirt-road-styled jaunt, filled with high with organic, live-in-the-studio performances of stripped-down songs. Fleck flexes his muscle more robustly here than he has in a while, conjuring up images of Appalachian hill country on the good-timey "Couch Potato," as well as sonic snapshots of more far-flung lands, as he does on "Chennai," which suggests the streets of Calcutta. As ever, the quartet evince bountiful good humor, which is both a blessing and a curse -- on "Subterfuge (Bond)," for instance, they trot out some all-too-obvious 007 riffs. Still, there's no disputing how instinctively these musicians intertwine -- the ensemble work on the Bach fugue that opens the disc is both pitch-perfect and persuasively emotive. And unlike ghosts of prog-rock past, the Flecktones don't rub listeners' noses in the fact that they're being cultured -- they simply set up a sonic buffet and invite 'em to graze to their hearts' content.

David Sprague - Barnes & Nobel



"Fleck exhibits his usual musical mastery of all styles, creating sparkling solos powered by both passion and precision."

Down Beat (p.68) - 3.5 stars out of 5



"[I]t is wildly eclectic and teeming with all the complex parts, disciplined stop-time unison lines, odd time signatures and cleverly superimposed rhythms that have become a signature of this extraordinary band."

JazzTimes (p.72)



"[T]his CD is a genre-hopping showcase of superb instrumentation and musical innovation."

Dirty Linen (p.83)


It's been 15 years since Bela Fleck and the Flecktones first wowed audiences and pioneered a genre all their own, mixing virtuosic musicianship with experimental, bluegrass, jazz and pop influences, but in 2005 the Flecktones did something they've never done before: they took a break. The reunited core group of banjoist Fleck, bassist Victor Wooten, percussionist Future Man and saxophonist Jeff Coffin, mark a stripped-down and explosive return to roots and a new creative peak with The Hidden Land. The DVD side of this DualDisc features a revealing behind-the-scenes film filled with interviews and performance. The short film documents, with generous doses of humor, the return of the Flecktones to the studio to begin their rehearsals for the recording of The Hidden Land and includes rehearsal footage, as well as a full unreleased live performance. Also included is a brief but insightful question and answer session with some fans. The Flecktones' answers to these questions give some important and intelligent information on their philosophies about music and their approaches to their respective instruments…includes some performance examples to illustrate the concepts discussed.

© 2007 Acoustic Sounds



Bela Fleck and the Flecktones have wowed audiences for years and pioneered a genre all their own, mixing virtuosic musicianship with experimental, bluegrass, jazz, and pop influences. With their new album, The Hidden Land Fleck, along with bassist Victor Wooten, percussionist Future Man, and saxophonist Jeff Coffin, mark a stripped down and explosive return to their roots, and a new creative peak. "There is a hidden land out there, a territory where people push the boundaries of music," explains Fleck, who says that the album's title is a nod to music that exists for its own sake rather than transient or commercial instincts. "In some ways we live under the radar, but at the same time we have had some amazingly large numbers of people interested in what we're doing" he continues, this album reflects that - it's an uncompromisng album. It's serious Flecktones."

The CD Audio side of the DualDisc edition includes the entire studio album!
 • A revealing behind-the-scenes film filled with interviews and performance. The short film documents, with generous doses of humor, the return of the Flecktones to the studio to begin their rehearsals for the recording of "The Hidden Land," and includes rehearsal footage, as well as a full unreleased live performance.
 • Also included is a brief, but insightful question and answer session with some fans. The Flecktones' answers to these questions give some important and intelligent information on their philosophies about music and their approaches to their respective instruments...includes some performance examples to illustrate the concepts discussed.
 • The entire album in enhanced LPCM stereo.

Copyright ©2007 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT



I'm giving this DualDisc four stars strictly due to the continually creative music of all sorts coming from Bela Fleck plus the clever and humorous short film on the band - not for the DualDisc format on which it comes to us. The disc refused to play on either of my Macs or my car CD player, and the CD side refused to play on my best DVD/CD player. The case says "Entire album in enhanced PCM Stereo," yet the soundtracks for the three videos Dolby Digital 5.1 surround - the music album being only 48K PCM instead of 96K. Why didn't they mix the music album for DD 5.1 while they were at it?

Fleck has done albums of Bach and other classical keyboard music on banjo - not an easy transformation - and he has the guts to open this album with a Bach Fugue, No. 20 in A Minor. Accompanied by alto sax, electric bass and Future Man's various real and synth drums, it really gets the proceedings underway.  Fleck plays a variety of banjos, switching among the 13 tracks from instruments made in the 1930s to modern banjos and even an electric model, plus something called a stereo guitar on one track. The range of styles and sounds of the tunes is wide.  The tunes are all his originals or written in conjunction with other band members, and they delve into rock, funk, world music and bluegrass along the lines of David Grisman's dawg music but with a twist.

Jeff Coffin is supports the front line of the band with Fleck, playing not only various saxes but also flute and keyboards. You get to know the four band members' personalities in the delightful short film titled "Bring It Home," and there is another video of a music workshop the band did, including a question and answer session with young musicians.  Another great album from Bela Fleck...if you can play it.

TrackList: Bach Fugue No. 20, P'Lod in the House, Rococo, Labyrinth, Kaleidoscope, Who's Got Three?, Weed Whacker, Couch Potato, Chennai, Subterfuge, Interlude, Misunderstood, The Whistle Tune.

John Henry - Audiophile Audition



Béla Fleck has so thoroughly revolutionized the role and sound of the banjo that it’s easy to forget that the instrument was previously relegated to bluegrass, old-timey Americana and little else. Produced by Fleck and performed sans outside aid by the band—Fleck, bassist Victor Wooten, saxophonist Jeff Coffin and percussionist Future Man (whose reliance on the electronic Synth-Axe Drumitar lends a fusionesque aura to the much of the album)—The Hidden Land is never short on virtuosity, but it could use a little heart. From the Bach-penned opener, “Fugue From Prelude & Fugue No. 20 in A Minor, BWV 889,” it becomes apparent immediately that Fleck and ’tones are here to strut. And that they do well: Band-composed exercises in indulgence like “P’lod in the House” and “Weed Whacker” offer ample proof that the music lessons paid off. But it’s not until six tracks in, when they take a breather for the airy ballad “Who’s Got Three,” that The Hidden Land feels less like showoff-manship and more like a group of musical comrades enjoying each other’s company.

Jeff Tamarkin (May 2006) - HARP Magazin




In case you've been living under a rock for about the last 20 years, or maybe are just oblivious to things like jazz and bluegrass, the Flecktones could use a little introduction. Formed in 1998, they've performed an unlikely combination of bluegrass and jazz fusion sometimes termed "blu-bop" and spend large amounts of time touring including stints with various jam bands. In 2005 the band took a hiatus where all of the members worked with side/solo projects and Béla took a trip to Africa. Their 9th release (not counting live sets), The Hidden Land, reins in things a little bit compared to their previous offering, 2003's three-disc set Little Worlds.

Before getting into the actual meat of the music, I watched the DualDisc DVD footage which contains a short film called "Bring It Home." Some of the parts of the video are obviously a joke; for instance, Big Foot coming up and knocking on Béla's door, only to be turned away from his lesson, or the band sending Jeff Coffin out into the middle of a field for rehearsal so as not to be overpowered by his baritone sax. On the other hand, they say Victor Wooten hasn't been speaking for a while, and he spends the first half of the video communicating only via writing on a whiteboard. While some of the introduction is entertaining, the real gem of the DVD part is video at a jazz workshop including some question-and-answer and live performances of "Over the Wall," the intro to "Puffy," and "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie." Just a word of caution about DualDiscs though, the CD side doesn't conform to the CD audio standard and won't always play. For instance, none of the computers I tried were able to play it; fortunately, the DVD side also includes stereo and 5.1 surround versions of the CD. If you can play the CD side of the DualDisc, or don't mind listening to it through a DVD player, the live performance is definitely worth the price to upgrade.

The CD opens with a Bach fugue, which I imagine sounds somewhat different than Bach ever imagined when played on banjo and sax. This leads into "P'lod in the House," which percussionist Future Man explained was about the alien who shakes the hand of the winning presidential candidate on the cover of tabloids. This song marks one end of the spectrum of the CD's tonal palette, with Béla's typical electric banjo tone and a wild, rather unconstrained free jazz jam in the middle. On the other end of the spectrum is "Labyrinth," a moody, atmospheric piece with a twangy piezo guitar and background vocals and scat singing by Future Man. Some other standouts are the Brazilian-influenced "Rococo," the interesting, out-there harmonies of "Who's Got Three?" and "Weed Wacker," with a long smooth solo section that transitions first into bluegrass-style banjo rolls and then into an upbeat, wah-drenched groove.

So what's the verdict? If you're a fan of all things Flecktones, you probably already have this, and if not, you should stop reading immediately and go buy it. People turned off by the sprawling, little-bit-of-everything nature of Little Worlds should give this a try too, as it's somewhat more accessible while still completely retaining everything that's great about the Flecktones. And for anybody sitting quietly on the sidelines, this wouldn't be a bad introduction. In short, if you have any interest at all in creative, exploratory instrumental music, you should check this out.

Dan Upton - Rocknworld.com

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