Jazz Review : Bela Fleck & the Flecktones Electrify the House of Blues

Banjo-picker Bela Fleck and his band the Flecktones have found a formula guaranteed to alienate nearly all serious music fans. Fleck’s urban-hayseed hybrid is a sound that suggests what might have been if Earl Scruggs had teamed with Bootsy Collins. It offends true bluegrass fans with backbeat and electric instruments, as well as the hip jazz crowd that finds the Flecktones’ chicken-fried stance a bit cornball.

But non-purists can find much to like in the blend of hard beats and down-home comforts. With the core of the Flecktone trio--bassist Victor Wooten and electronic percussionist Future Man (a.k.a. Roy Wooten)--augmented by reed man Paul McCandless, mandolin and fiddle player Sam Bush and violinist Stuart Duncan, Fleck presented a bit wider musical vision Thursday at the House of Blues, but one that didn’t go far enough to reflect the approach on his latest CD, “Tales From the Acoustic Planet.”

The show’s opening half reverted to the Flecktone penchant for strong, accessible rhythms decorated with simplistic thematic material. Though McCandless, the wind-player best known for his work with the pastoral jazz band Oregon, added depth to the tunes with croaks from a bass clarinet and agile soprano sax and oboe playing, the material was too predictable, the solos too short to allow for much personality development.

Worse, Future Man’s rhythmic accompaniment, tapped out on a guitar-shaped drum synthesizer known as the “drumitar,” did little to fire the music. Not only does the instrument have a thin, beefless sound, but Wooten fails to generate anything of interest, resorting to beats that come across as little more than fingers drummed on a table.

Not until the group moved into the “unplugged” portion of its show did things begin to click. Fleck’s unbridled virtuosity burst through backing from cello, reed and percussion tapped out on banjo bodies. The upbeat mood continued through the encore as bassist Wooten snapped and crackled on his electric instrument and the band exchanged round-robin lines on Fleck’s “Tell It to the Gov’nor.” The banjo innovator could take a cue from the reception afforded these efforts and forget the commercial appeal to get down to what he does best: pick.