Béla Fleck fretting a note with his nose! (Photo by Rick Gordon)

Only one week till Christmas, so it’s time for some music to get you in the spirit. And to keep things interesting, in 12 time signatures! This week’s recording is just over two weeks old, and it’s by a band consisting of four musicians with unbelievable talent, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones. They released their holiday album Jingle All the Way already in September, and have now been on tour to support it.

This recording is from a show at Maui Arts & Cultural Center on Hawaii. It’s available as Flac, MP3 or Ogg Vorbis, and can be played in the onsite player.

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones Live at MACC on 2008-11-30

The Flecktones have been playing since 1988 and released 13 albums. The band has been in its current form since 1998 when saxophonist Jeff Coffin joined the band. Frontman Béla Fleck plays a range of different banjos. Victor Wooten plays bass, often in highly imaginative and complex styles. His brother Roy “Futureman” Wooten plays percussion, sometimes on an instrument called Drumitar, which he has created himself. Their music is a unique combination of bluegrass, jazz and much else, and it’s usually instrumental.

Futureman with the Drumitar. (Photo by Rick Gordon)

The show starts with their song Throwdown at the Hoedown, next up is a medley of traditional Christmas songs. I like listening to instrumental versions of these familiar songs, not having to hear the lyrics over and over again, just the melody.

Next up is a song written by Victor Wooten, Sex In a Pan, after that Christmas Time Is Here. Linus And Lucy is an old song written by American jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi. Victor Wooten’s solo is great as usual containing some Beatles and Amazing Grace.

Some other Christmas songs on this show are Silent Night, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, and Jingle Bells. What’s most fun is Twelve Days of Christmas, which they play in 12 different time signatures. This was an experiment to make playing the familiar song more challenging.

Béla’s banjo solo closes the set. The encore has their popular song, Big Country. If you like this show, you’ll most likely also enjoy their new Christmas album. Here’s a good review.

I’ll be back with more Christmas music from the Live Music Archive next week.