''Rocket Science'' is a studio album by
Béla Fleck and the Flecktones
Béla Fleck and the Flecktones is an American jazz fusion band that is known for its eclectic style and instrumentation, combining jazz Musical improvisation, improvisation with progressive bluegrass, Rock music, rock, Classical music, classical ...
, released in 2011. It reached number 1 on the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' Jazz chart and number 36 on the Top Independent Albums chart.
The song "Life in Eleven" won Best Instrumental Composition at the
54th Annual Grammy Awards
The 54th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 12, 2012, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles being broadcast on CBS honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2010 through September 30, 2011. LL Cool J hosted ...
.
The album is the first since 1992's ''
UFO Tofu
''UFO Tofu'' is the third album by Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, released in 1992. The title is a palindrome, which is also a musical theme in the title track; the idea originated with the musician Baby Gramps.
Production
The album was produce ...
'' to feature founding member
Howard Levy
Howard Levy (born July 31, 1951) is an American musician. A keyboardist and virtuoso harmonica player, he "has been realistically presented as one of the most important and radical harmonica innovators of the twentieth century."
In 1988, Le ...
in the regular band lineup.
Reception
In his
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
review, music critic Thom Jurek praised the album, calling the Flecktones re-energized. He wrote "With Levy on harmonica and piano, it's as if he never left. Rather than try to re-create the band's old sound, the Flecktones push ever further into their own seamless, unclassifiable meld of jazz, progressive bluegrass, rock, classical, funk, and world music traditions on this delightful—and at times mind-blowing—record."
Track listing
All songs by
Béla Fleck
Béla Anton Leoš Fleck (born July 10, 1958) is an American banjo player. An acclaimed virtuoso, he is an innovative and technically proficient pioneer and ambassador of the banjo, playing music from bluegrass, jazz, classical, rock and various ...
unless otherwise noted.
# "Gravity Lane" – 5:58
# "Prickly Pear" – 3:49
# "Joyful Spring" (
Howard Levy
Howard Levy (born July 31, 1951) is an American musician. A keyboardist and virtuoso harmonica player, he "has been realistically presented as one of the most important and radical harmonica innovators of the twentieth century."
In 1988, Le ...
) – 2:39
# "Life In Eleven" (H. Levy/B. Fleck) – 5:25
# "Falling Forward" – 5:08
# "Storm Warning" – 7:57
# "Like Water" (
Victor Wooten
Victor Lemonte Wooten (born September 11, 1964) is an American bassist, songwriter, and record producer. He has been the bassist for Béla Fleck and the Flecktones since the group's formation in 1988 and a member of the band SMV with two other ...
/B. Fleck) – 4:42
# "Earthling Parade" – 7:58
# "The Secret Drawer" (
Future Man
Roy Wilfred Wooten (born October 13, 1957), also known as RoyEl, best known by his stage name Future Man (also written Futureman and known to fans as Futche), is an American musician, inventor and composer.
He is best known as a member of jazz ...
) – 2:12
# "Sweet Pomegranates" (H. Levy) – 5:55
# "Falani" – 6:50
# "Bottle Rocket" – 5:53
;Deluxe Edition
#
"Wolf Laurel" – 6:05
Personnel
*Béla Fleck
Béla Anton Leoš Fleck (born July 10, 1958) is an American banjo player. An acclaimed virtuoso, he is an innovative and technically proficient pioneer and ambassador of the banjo, playing music from bluegrass, jazz, classical, rock and various ...
– 5-string banjo
The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin.
...
(tracks 1, 3-8, 10-12), Goldtone 10-string Prototype (track 8), Deering Crossfire electric banjo (tracks 2, 6)
*Future Man
Roy Wilfred Wooten (born October 13, 1957), also known as RoyEl, best known by his stage name Future Man (also written Futureman and known to fans as Futche), is an American musician, inventor and composer.
He is best known as a member of jazz ...
– drumitar
A Zendrum is a hand-crafted MIDI controller that is used as a percussion instrument. The Zendrum was influenced by the "Drumitar," invented by Future Man. There are several Zendrum models that are well-suited for live performances: the Z1, ZX, E ...
, acoustic drums
The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
, percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...
*Howard Levy
Howard Levy (born July 31, 1951) is an American musician. A keyboardist and virtuoso harmonica player, he "has been realistically presented as one of the most important and radical harmonica innovators of the twentieth century."
In 1988, Le ...
– diatonic harmonica (tracks 1, 2, 4-8, 11, 12), bass harmonica
The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica include ...
(track 8), synth
A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...
(track 2), piano
A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
(tracks 1-7, 10, 12)
*Victor Wooten
Victor Lemonte Wooten (born September 11, 1964) is an American bassist, songwriter, and record producer. He has been the bassist for Béla Fleck and the Flecktones since the group's formation in 1988 and a member of the band SMV with two other ...
– Fodera 4-string bass
Bass or Basses may refer to:
Fish
* Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species
Wood
* Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree
Music
* Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...
, Fodera 5-string NYC bass, Compito 5-string fretless bass
A fretless bass is an electric bass guitar whose neck lacks frets and thus is smooth like traditional string instruments, and like the neck of an acoustic double bass. While the fretless bass is played in all styles of music, it is most common in ...
(track 5)
Production notes:
*Béla Fleck – producer
* Kevin Dailey – engineer
*Richard Battaglia – engineer
*Richard Dodd – mastering
*Jeremy Cowart – photography
*Sean Marlowe – art direction, design
*Paul Grosso – cover art, creative director
References
2011 albums
Béla Fleck and the Flecktones albums
MNRK Music Group albums
{{2010s-jazz-album-stub