It was absolutely delightful to watch and hear Bela Fleck and the Flecktones at the Flynn Center on December 7th. As the band continued the ongoing celebration of its thirty years together, the musicians drew on their history almost as much as their innate chemistry and did so in such a largely understated way, the friendly ambiance created within the theater over the course of near three hours was actually the definition of warm holiday cheer.
And that was before the quartet began their second of two sets with a string of Christmas songs or the tricky traversing of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” in different keys and time signatures for each of the dozen. Pianist/harpist Howard Levy did tease “Let It Snow” during his spotlight early in the concert, but that was less notable than how that interval signaled his prominence during the course of the performance: based on the way the lanky, good-natured fellow injected as much dignity and gaiety into the proceedings via his two main instruments, the thought occurred the group might well have renamed itself after him when he returned to the band in 2011.
A definite generosity of spirit did abound around the stage this cold winter night though. The round of individual introductions hardly came across forced and if the instrumental spotlights for each of the musicians did threaten to interrupt the flow of the performance at times—particularly during the overly-theatrical gymnastics of bassist Victor Wooten during the encore—when Fleck was left alone to play his banjo, sitting on a stool at center stage, the informality of his stage presence was that of an impromptu jam, where the participants came and went as they chose, with no disruption of the prevailing mood.
That down-to earth atmosphere explains why, near the home stretch, the self-effacing bandleader demurred on hawking merchandise (as did Levy in a laughing aside). Stuffed toy replicas of the red cosmic hippo of early Flecktones album art had proliferated (at least around the main floor) during the set break, to be joined by the ones the band tossed into the audience upon leaving the stage at show’s end; arrayed around the stage for the duration of the concert, however, the lighthearted figures reaffirmed the sense of play these simpatico musicians share, a uncommon quality that renders more accessible their novel mix of styles and keeps fresh what may be a somewhat standard setlist.
An understated air permeated the musicianship right from the start and that low-key tone allowed Fleck and his ‘Tones’ collective and individual technique to insinuate rather than overwhelm. Without virtually any overt showmanship to telegraph the drama of this rendition of “Half Moon Bay” or “Turtle Rock,” the element of surprise was all the more palpable. The climax of “Juno” may have been slightly more predictable than some crescendos the group enacted just prior during “Sunset Road,” but, as with a tune the group ostensibly re-learned from an early album, “Jekyll and Hyde (and Ted and Alice),” it didn’t have much less impact.
The foursome actually impressed all the more precisely by not trying to impress. Accordingly, the namesake’s playing of what looked and sounded like an electric guitar (a cutaway body inlaid with a banjo) may have sounded different, but the precision of his fingerwork was no less dexterous. Likewise, Futureman (Roy Wooten), whether sitting at the drum kit or working the Drumitar of his own invention: by demonstrating knowledge of the instruments at his command, he was making music, not simply flashing his technical expertise. And the near-sold out house, having conducted itself throughout with a restraint comparable to the performers’, reacted in kind at such junctures; shouts from the crowd were at a minimum and early deceptively polite applause gave way to a more direct and intimate connection between audience and performer(s)as the evening wore on.
Bela Fleck has more than a little history with Burlington, with and without the Flecktones, but he and this group certainly solidified that relationship further on this the penultimate stop of the ensemble’s current tour. The honest expression(s) of respect and mutual affection (including a birthday recognition for a road crew member) resonated throughout the venue for the duration of the event, a rare experience indeed, even for this venerable house.
