Its a heavy burden to lay at the feet of one mediocre sax player, but I agree about the perception.  Let's blame the popularization of "light, adult-oriented" anything.  That was deliberate and fits with the other evils perpetrated by the music industry.  Ole Kenny was just trying to make a living doing what he likes.  (and no, I don't like that pap one bit, but I feel bad for the guy).

 aeknust wrote: 

mezzanine wrote:

Agreed! Vic always lays it down... I've always thought this group should be called Victor Wooten and the Wootones.

Gosh, there sure are a lot of haters out there... I think the Flecktones are an amazing example of musical fusion. Each member of the group is a true virtuoso... including Jeff Coffin on the sax.

It's just too bad that Kenny-G came along and gave the soprano sax (and jazz for that matter) a bad name.

weevilkinevil wrote:

this album is from 2003, fwiw (nor is it bad, imo)

I've never heard a banjo in Muzak before

Can we please leave the bad 80's saxophone-laden music where we found it?

Zeito wrote:

Holy hell that sax sucks.

xkolibuul wrote:

Could agree with you more, I love his banjo but that sax is just ... distracting. It is like Weather Channel Jazz.

I mean, really, how can Bela live with himself when that sax kicks in? Its like putting Kraft parmesan on a good bolognese.

I also wondered about the likeness to Nickel Creek picking:

" ends with two similarly-named pieces which both feature the three principal members of Nickel Creek as guests, Off the Top (The Gravity Wheel), and Off the Top (Line Dance)" from http://georgegraham.com/reviews/bela2003.html.

Seperately, I love the Flecktones, but the sax always makes me cringe - it turns bluegrass into smooth jazz...

skdenfeld wrote:
Yep.

mojoman wrote:

Here's the funniest part - if you listen to RP on WinAmp, as I do, check out the 'Song Title' box in the player while this is playing...

"Bla Fleck - Gravity Wheel"

healyf52 wrote:
Clever mechanical contraption? You mean like the one in the lobby of the Port Authority Building? I love that thing. I could watch it for hours.

...Maybe that's why I like this.

Does anybody know if this was a collaboration with Nickel Creek? I hear the guitar, mandolin and fiddle in there, and it sounds like their style alongside Bela and the rest of the Flecktones.

skdenfeld wrote:

Agreed! Just give me the banjo and this would be decent. Way too much corn. Elevator music.

4.

Vic lays it down in this one!

skdenfeld wrote:

Yep.

I have my volume up pretty loud and I could hear someone counting time over the guitar in the beginning. . .

While structurally and compositionally impressive, this song doesn't really go anwhere or do anthing for me. It's like watching a clever mechanical contraption go round in circles..

Liked it right up to where the sax comes in. Corny after that.

I really enjoy Bela's banjo, and the Flecktones in general (esp Wooton's Synth-Axe Drummitar) but this has a bit too much sax to measure up to other pieces they've done. So, it gets just a 5 from me, IMHO.

Thought this was Chris Thile or Nickel Creek until the sax came in. Bleh!

You know, I was just going to say that this was cool until it got really muzak when the sax came in, but PG beat me to it.

And was more clever in the process.

PG, do you give snark lessons? I'd totally sign on for some.

I liked it until it went all "smooth jazz" - meh. Just the banjo is fine.

physicsgenius wrote:

got to admit that's pretty clever.

Dueling banjo and saxaphone??

I HATE this. It sucks. Make it stop.

Once again, the banjo is interesting while the sax (if that's what it is) sounds like something you'd hear at the dentist's office, if the dentist's office were in a grocery store embedded inside an elevator.

Hob wrote:

Sure is interesting.. the bass is played by Victor Wooten!!!.. one of the best bass players of all times.

I speccialy recommend you the disc Ying&Yang of Victor Wooten.

Bela Fleck deserves a 11!... and Wooten a 12!

lizardman_tcs wrote:
Only Two?

I like it... elegant, pretty, and short. I like that you can dip into the complexity if you want (and be thoroughly impressed) or simply listen to the song.

Hehe, certain types of "challenging" (technically difficult?) music really repulse people... I guess its not surprising. Many other forms of art lose me when they get too rarified... so I shouldn't be surprised it happens in music too. For me though, the trick is that anything that sounds good is good. If its dangerously hard too, thats like added spice.