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Bela in Ottawa tonight


Cosmic ChrisC

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Wow!!! This show blew my mind. And the tapes came out AMAZING. I was by the right stack flying a 9-10' black mic stand. You might have seen me. I'll try and get the tunes up by Sunday night. If the guy patching out of me (Chad, I think your name was), could refrain from seeding your copy since it has an aditional analog transfer in the lineage, that would be great.. thanks man. I had a great night and I can't believe how brilliant the flecktones are.... I'll post info when the recordings up on the archive. Peace

Berg

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Guest Low Roller

Pffft. You probably wish you were Polish, don't you?

The Flecktones blew my mind tonight. I went in expceting a good show, I came out seeing the best show of 2004 so far!! Woah!!!!!

Good to see everyone out tonight, and thanks y'all for coming to Chez Casa Roller afterwards. Yeah boi, that's a Friday night~@!!

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My expectations weren't super high either. I saw them open for DMB twice, and while those were great openings sets, I wasn't left thinking that this band was one that I would have such a reaction to. I am not totally familiar with their regular live shows, but it seemed to me like this would have to be right up there with their best performances.. they all looked so into it. I can't wait to read what the papers are saying about the show. They stole jazzfest for sure.

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Oh yeah... great show last night. Pretty much my only previous exposure to Bela Fleck (and Victor Wooten) was the guest spot on the Gov't Mule DVD. Really happy that the Jazzfest organizers brought these guys to town. I was thinking Bela would sound pretty good playing with The Dead.

I got the setlist from the stage:

Next

Mudslingers

Costa Brava

Futch/Bela

Off the Top

Nu Guitar

Vic/Jeff

Dm 5/4

Sherpa w Kenny

Nu C

Am Latin

E: Sex in a Pan (w K)

?Royal?

Thanks for taping the show Andrew! Can't wait to hear it.

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Here's the review from the Ottawa Citizen:

Flecktones' repertoire covers a geographical spectrum

Doug Fischer

The Ottawa Citizen

Saturday, July 03, 2004

After 15 years as their leader, Bela Fleck says ensuring the Flecktones remain in top improvisational form is his main job these days. He does that by overhauling the band's songlist for every concert.

Of course, the man they call the Jimi Hendrix of the banjo is being unduly modest when he talks like that. But you get what he means.

An evening with Fleck and his splendid sidemen is a journey to surprising geographical locations and musical styles -- a touch of India, a piece of Kentucky bluegrass, a bit of North Africa, some Dixieland, a shot of Coltrane, a hint of Bach, a visit to Birdland for good measure.

If you need a label, this stew of newgrass and funk and reggae and free-form jazz is known as blu-bop. But as the 9,500 people -- including more enthusiastic young people and sweet smoke than usual -- who crammed Confederation Park last night found out, it might more accurately be called pure genius.

Whether he was whacking away on an electric or acoustic banjo, or picking a guitar, Fleck's virtuosity provided the spark, and the platform, for the jam band explorations of the Flecktones. And explore they did.

First there was Victor Wooten, Bass Player magazine's musician of the year an unprecedented three times. Not only did he push and his prod his mates with his throbbing percussive style, he enthralled the audience with a several exhilarating solos, including one in which he dueled with himself with the aid of an electronic loop.

Across the stage, meantime, Wooten's brother Ray -- better known as Future Man -- his dreadlocks flying out from under a three-cornered pirate's hat, played with a mess of fibreglass, speaker wire and duct tape. It's something he calls a Synth-axe Drumitar, but essentially it's a synthesizer worn like a guitar and modified to sound like an entire percussion ensemble -- snare, tabla, tom-toms -- all rolled into one ugly mass. When he soloed, the crowd didn't want him to stop.

And then there was Jeff Coffin, the "newest" Flecktone. He's only been with Fleck for eight years, about half the tenure of the Wootens. His melodic playing on soprano and tenor sax was a little closer to traditional jazz, giving the brothers a solid spot off which to bounce their sonic adventures.

Standing in the middle of all this excitement was Fleck, the least animated of the bunch but clearly in charge. Fleck is able to wring sounds out of his old-fashioned five-string instrument than Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs ever dreamed of. His playing veered from long solos with echoes of Indian ragas to moody, straight-ahead rock 'n' roll and free-flowing improvisation.

If more evidence of the incredible range of Fleck and his bandmates is required, consider this: they are the only act to score Grammy nominations in the classical, jazz, Christian, pop, country, spoken word, composition and arrangement categories. In all, 20 nominations and seven wins.

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