O.C. POP MUSIC REVIEW : Fleck Sprinkles Lots of Sweetness, Little Substance

Add this to your list of things that just can’t possibly happen: You’re sitting somewhere listening to a band and you turn to your companion and say, “Gee, this group sounds just like Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.”

No way.

The banjo-toting Fleck’s contemporary ensemble is definitely

Sunday night at the Coach House, Fleck and his three-man, New York City-based crew--Howard Levy on keyboards and harmonica, Victor Wooten on bass and Roy (Future Man) Wooten on “Synthaxe drumitar”--mixed things up as few other bands ever have.

They played jazz, rock, jazz-rock fusion, classical music, bluegrass, Middle Eastern music, funk and more. It wasn’t unusual to find several of these elements in a single selection.

Plus which, Fleck could make his banjo sound like a guitar, or a string section, and Levy was able to coax a world of tones out of his harmonicas and keyboards, while Roy Wooten’s unique “drumitar”--which looks like a guitar synthesizer, and on which he tapped out rhythms and patterns--often offered swirls of sound to accompany the beats.

The lengthy set--drawing mostly on material from Fleck’s “Flight of the Cosmic Hippo” album, which has been in the Top 10 on the Billboard contemporary jazz charts for many weeks--was fun. But was it musically enriching?

Not really. It was more like dessert than a main course, and as much as one may like cheesecake or pie, after a while the sweetness cloys and one yearns for something more nourishing.

The music was at times quite difficult, and sudden shifts in rhythms and meters were handled deftly with nary a snafu. Fleck played with an amazing technical clarity throughout the show. But despite the musicians’ virtuosity, at least one listener longed for some substance to balance the pure entertainment value.

Typical of the fare was “Blu Bop,” as banjo, bass and harmonica alternately delivered the odd-meter melody, and tempos ranged from moderate to slow to blazing fast. At one point, Fleck and Levy traded brief, speeding phrases; the duel climaxed as the two began to play simultaneously, creating a synth-tinged brew. The piece closed with short, rapid-fire bursts played by the band in a crisp unison.

On “Flying Saucer Dude,” Fleck offered Middle Eastern-like lines on acoustic banjo that contrasted with his partners’ electronic melange, but once again, jarring tempo and beat changes kept the piece from settling into a groove.

“Flight of the Cosmic Hippo” was one selection that did cook. It ambled along at a medium slow pace, with banjo and bass in the spotlight on the melody. Fleck’s solo was effective as he relaxed and left space between his ideas.

Two unaccompanied solos were definite crowd pleasers. Levy took a simple, standard harmonica and with it evoked more Middle Eastern flavor, then turned be-bopper as he blew some jazz licks a la Toots Theilemans. He segued into a bluesy approach with long, held-out notes, and finished with a demanding quicksilver scale passage that drew a standing ovation. Later, bassist Wooten played an equally musical solo spot.

If Fleck’s band occasionally would put its technical prowess on the back burner and focus on establishing a single, consistent mood within a piece, its shows would be enhanced.

Electric Tribe, from Orange County, opened the show. The rock-based power trio features guitarist Ron Jessurun, whose solos resembled a stylistic blend of Eddie Van Halen, Jimi Hendrix and, in brief snippets, John McLaughlin. The group’s tunes were fairly undistinguished--swaying vamps often gave way to up-tempo sections where Jessurun soloed--but to the trio’s credit, it did employ dynamics: Surprisingly soft sections followed irritatingly loud ones.