When Bela Fleck created this group, his intention was to have great musicians that you wouldn't typically see together. Bela - banjo - is aware of the banjo's history throughout jazz (before guitar the banjo was the primary chordal instrument. Check out his documentary Throw Down Your Heart on Netflix where he traces the origin of the banjo through Africa). On bass we have Victor Wooten. I've seen him live twice, and words cannot express this man's musical wisdom and ability. Check out what he has to say about music being a language. I highly encourage everyone to check him out. And read his book The Music Lesson. It has changed my perception of playing. On drumitar (did I stutter?) we have Victor's brother, who goes by FutureMan. He created his own drum guitar. That's insane. Bela chose him because of how...strange...he is. On this video we also have Branford Marsalis. I'm not a huge fan because he's really pompous, but I wanted a live video. I'm not too certain who's on piano, because usually the harmonica player Howard Levy is with them.
Enjoy!
Here is Pete Seeger's explanation Pete: I made it up. Woody [Woody Guthrie, author of “So Long, It’s Been Good to Know Yuh” and “This Land is Your Land”] had on his guitar: “This machine kills fascists” in World War II. And after World War II, he kept it on, and we said, “Woody, Hitler is dead. Mussolini is dead. Take the sign off.” He said, “These fascists come along every time the rich people get the generals to help them stay in control.” I wanted to have something a little more peaceful: “This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender.” While it’s true, there are still people in the world that hate, small groups here and small groups there…and the stupid scientists invented horrible things that they can do if they get the right weapons.
Such an incredible musician. I had the pleasure of meeting him once.
Oh yes, very much so. I didn't speak to him too much because as a bassist I wanted to be around Victor as much as possible. But yes, he is a very humble man.
Great jazz banjo. Do any of you recall Sandy Bull's classical banjo album, 1963, Vanguard. Here's a banjo version of Carmina Burana.
I don't have time right now to listen to this but when I get a little free time I will. Edit: This is a very beautiful song. Very good time feel and just wonderful chords. Thanks for posting it.
Am I doing alright? I've never really taught jazz before to anyone. Everyone I hang out with sort of already knows this stuff. If there's anything I should change just let me know.
I think you are doing very good. Thank you. I took two History of jazz courses in college and those courses were meant as an introduction for the general listener to the jazz music and to give some information on how jazz evolved during the early and mid 20th century. What the lecturer did was to chronologically introduce the major eras in jazz music along with the main performers for each instrument and give some exemplars. After completing the big bands era for example he continued on to the bebop while explaining briefly what was the main determinants for the shift and how individual players responded to it. I felt I should share this because maybe you might want to do something like this. It could make it easier for someone like me to find an initial jazz genre that is more enjoyable and tractable. As someone who had never listened to jazz before taking the courses I now listen to it almost everyday and it was Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers who caught my attention.
I too have taken two classes on the history of jazz as part of my jazz major. What I've been doing is just posting a variety of tunes (primarily ones I like, to be honest). But I do see how posting tunes in chronological order can be beneficial. I do still have all of my notes from that class so that would help in the "instruction" I'm giving here.
This is great. The more you do this, the more you'll realize what your voice is, why you like certain things, and what you want to say. What I've been doing is just posting a variety of tunes (primarily ones I like, to be honest).
That's a perfectly legit way to teach a course. I can't recall ever being in (or teaching) a literature class where profs gave examples of things they did not like. Tomorrow tell us why you like a certain piece. You can also easily go back and add text to earlier pieces.
The more you do this, the more you'll realize what your voice is, why you like certain things, and what you want to say.
That's what I've started realizing. Even over the past few days it's becoming easier to get my point across. Practice makes perfect, right?