Béla Fleck & The Flecktones will kick off their 30^th anniversary celebration on Thursday, May 30 at Red Rocks. This special Béla Fleck & The Flecktones:  Friends & Family performance will feature the Flecktones, Jerry Douglas, Abigail Washburn and a performance with the Colorado Symphony. Of particular note is that former Flecktone (and current Dave Matthews Band member) Jeff Coffin will appear with the band at Red Rocks for the first time in a decade. This will be the initial occasion that both Coffin and Howard Levy appear in the group together. The group also has confirmed a run of November and December dates beyond the upcoming shows.

To commemorate all of this, today we premiere a special live video of  Béla Fleck & The Flecktones performing “Sex in a Pan” at the Capitol Theatre. All four current Flecktones took a moment to share their thoughts on the song with Relix.

Victor Wooten: “Originally, I wrote “Sex in a Pan” as a solo bass tune, but everything is better with the Flecktones on it. I bet people didn’t know banjo and harmonica could be that funky.”

Béla Fleck: “Sex in a Pan” is a catchy number that Vic showed up with one day at rehearsal. It immediately became one of our special tunes which offered a new vision of how we could sound together. And it sounded great from the first time we played it.  We had quite a lot of highly arranged compositions at that time and it was so good to have what was an actually a song – but with a wide open blowing section.  It was named for a dessert we had in North Carolina, made by Donna Metcalf at a wild venue called Green Acres near Rutherfordton, NC. It was made from chocolate pudding on a graham cracker crust with cool whip on top. Simple ingredients but an extraordinary result.  Kind of like Vic’s tune.”

Future Man: “Sex in a Pan”  is a tune where the bass and the drums lock in with that James Brown dark-chocolate-like-super-funk attitude. It’s so funky that it is sexy.  So I guess you could say “Sex in a Pan” is related to James Browns “Sex Machine,” where the Flecktones are the musical chefs cookin’ up a very special meal.”  – 

Howard Levy: “This tune of Vic’s is one of my favorites to play. I love playing the melody that alternates between funk and that beautiful section that almost sounds like Coltrane’s ‘Naima.’ The solo section is a jam over one chord, which creates the opportunity for a lot of freedom and interaction. The approach I take to my solo largely depends on what Bela and Vic play before me. In this performance, I did a surreal take-off on ‘Old Joe Clark,’ and even threw in a quote from Fiddler on the Roof.  I probably won’t do either of those things again!”   

The group’s upcoming 30^th anniversary dates appear below the video, with tickets now on sale.

Béla Fleck & The Flecktones 30^th Anniversary Tour

May 30  Morrison,
CO  Red Rocks Amphitheater  Béla Fleck & The Flecktones:  Friends &
Family

May 31  Salt Lake
City, UT  Red Butte Garden Amphitheater ^

June 1  Missoula,
MT  Wilma Theatre

June 2  Garden City,
ID  Revolution Center

June 3  Spokane, WA 
First Interstate Center

June 4  Eugene, OR 
Jaqua Concert Hall

June 6  Sacramento,
CA  Crest Theatre

June 7  Oakland, CA 
Fox Theater

June 8  Los Angeles,
CA  Playboy Jazz Festival

June 21  Telluride,
CO  Telluride Bluegrass Festival

June 22  El Prado,
NM  Taos Mesa Brewing

June 23  Salina, KS 
The Stiefel Theatre

June 24  Oklahoma
City, OK  The Tower Theatre

June 26  Apple
Valley, MN  Minnesota Zoo (on sale 4/20)

June 27  St. Louis,
MO  Powell Hall

June 28  Cleveland,
OH  Tri-C Jazz Festival

June 29  Fort Wayne,
IN  Sweetwater Pavilion

June 30  Cincinnati,
OH  Taft Theatre

July 1  Interlochen, MI  Kresge Auditorium

July 2  Bayfield,
MI  Big Top Chautauqua

July 3  Ann Arbor,
MI  Michigan Theater

Nov 22  Birmingham,
AL  Alys Stephens Center

Dec 3  Philadelphia,
PA  Kimmel Center

Dec 4  New York, NY 
Town Hall

Dec 5  Hartford, CT 
The Bushnell

Dec 6  New
Burnswick, NJ  State Theatre

Dec 8  Portland, ME 
State Theatre

^ with Billy
Strings