''The Hidden Land'' is the eighth studio album and twelfth album overall released 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 2006. It was recorded before the band's year-long hiatus during 2005 and released afterward. ''The Hidden Land'' won the 2007

Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album was an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for works (songs or albums) containing quality ...

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 was lukewarm about the album, writing, "It's not that complexity and a multiplicity of ideas is a bad thing; quite the opposite, but knowing when to and make the music sing is another thing. This record sings only in a couple of places. The rest is 'serious Flecktones.' Perhaps this determination is simply not for most of us. It's easy to accept that, especially when those serious Flecktones fans will be debating individual musical passages until the next album is released." Devin Grant of '' No Depression'' wrote: "Fleck keeps things centered, wielding his banjo in directions the instrument wasn’t originally envisioned to go."

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. #"Fugue from Prelude/Fugue No. 20 in A minor,

BWV The (, ; BWV) is a Catalogues of classical compositions, catalogue of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was first published in 1950, edited by Wolfgang Schmieder. The catalogue's second edition appeared in 1990 and the third edition in ...

889" ( J.S. Bach, arr.

The Flecktones ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

) – 1:51 #" P'Lod In The House" (

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 ...

/B. Fleck) – 3:46 #"Rococo" – 3:46 #"Labyrinth" – 6:21 #"Kaleidoscope" (The Flecktones) – 5:08 #"Who's Got Three?" – 5:22 #"Weed Whacker" – 7:44 #"Couch Potato" – 3:03 #"Chennai" (

Jeff Coffin Jeff Stanley Coffin (born August 5, 1965) is an American saxophonist, composer, and educator. He is a three-time Grammy Award winner as a member of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, with whom he performed from 1997 until 2010. In July 2008, Coffin ...

/B. Fleck) – 5:48 #"Subterfuge" – 4:04 #Interlude (The Flecktones) – 0:39 #"Misunderstood" – 7:27 #"The Whistle Tune" – 4:54

Personnel

- 1937 Style 75 Gibson Mastertone

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, 7, 8, 13), 1936 Style 18 Gibson Top Tension gut string banjo (track 3), 2004 Deering Tenbrooks banjo (track 5), 1932 Vega-Vox Deluxe banjo (track 6), Deering Crossfire electric banjo (tracks 2, 9), 1967 Rickenbacker 5-string electric banjo (track 10, 11), Deering 6-String bantar (tracks 11, 12), Paradis stereo

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

(track 4),

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 9) *

Soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a small, high-pitched member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented in the 1840s by Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax. Built in B♭ an octave above the tenor saxophone (or rarely, slightly small ...

(tracks 2, 5, 7, 8, 11),

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

(tracks 4, 10, 12),

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...

(track 1),

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

(tracks 3, 9),

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

(track 6), D

whistle A whistle is a musical instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. It is a type of Fipple, fipple flute, and may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a s ...

(tracks 4, 13), low-D whistle (track 13),

conch shell Conch ( , , ) is a common name of a number of different medium-to-large-sized sea snails. Conch shells typically have a high spire and a noticeable siphonal canal (in other words, the shell comes to a noticeable point on both ends). Conchs ...

(track 8),

singing bowl A standing bell or resting bell is an inverted bell, supported from below with the rim uppermost. Such bells are normally bowl-shaped, and exist in a wide range of sizes, from a few centimetres to a metre in diameter. They are often played by st ...

(track 9),

sleigh bells A jingle bell or sleigh bell is a type of bell which produces a distinctive 'jingle' sound, especially in large numbers. They find use in many areas as a percussion instrument, including the classic sleigh bell sound and morris dancing. Th ...

(tracks 8, 9),

synthesizer 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 ...

(tracks 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 13), synth (track 10), high

throat singing Throat singing refers to several vocal practices found in different cultures worldwide. These vocal practices are generally associated with a certain type of guttural voice that contrasts with the most common types of voices employed in singing, wh ...

(track 9) * Roy "Future Man" Wooten - Synth-Axe

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

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 ...

Zendrum 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 ...

(track 1),

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

(tracks 4, 12), throat singing (track 9) *

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

electric bass The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an electric but with a longer neck and scale leng ...

(tracks 1–5, 7, 8, 10, 13), Compito 5 string

fretless A fretless guitar is a guitar with a fingerboard without frets, typically a standard instrument that has had the frets removed, though some custom-built and commercial fretless guitars are occasionally made. The classic fretless guitar was first ...

electric bass, (tracks 6, 9, 11, 12), synth pedal (tracks 4, 7)

Production notes

with the Flecktones *Robert Battaglia – engineer, mixing *Richard Dodd – mastering *Frank Ockenfels – photography *Christopher Austopchuk – art direction *Giulio Turturro – design

Chart positions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hidden Land, The Béla Fleck and the Flecktones albums 2006 albums Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album