There are a number of joys that come from sharing live musical experiences with friends, acquaintances and relative strangers. For me, one of them is watching their faces light up when, after hearing one of your favorites artists perform for the first time, they suddenly understand why you are so passionate about that artist. (Or, vice versa, when someone introduces me to one of his or her favorites and I have a similar aural epiphany.)<\/p>\n One memorable example was in 1992, when I took classically trained Russian keyboardist Igor Len \u2014 then a recent U.S. transplant and an alum of Vladimir Kuzmin & Dinamik, one of the Soviet Union\u2019s top rock acts \u2014 to hear B\u00e9la Fleck & The Flecktones<\/a> at Humphrey\u2019s Concerts by the Bay.<\/p>\n Len, a formidable musical talent who was not easily impressed, practically levitated out of his seat with excitement as the Flecktones soared from one dizzying musical peak to another. It was the same response I had when I heard the Flecktones for the first time in 1991 at the Hollywood Bowl and, a few months later, at San Diego Street Scene.<\/p>\n It was unclear if Len had ever heard a banjo before (let alone one played with Fleck\u2019s masterful command), or a fusion band that draws as much from bluegrass as from jazz and funk. But Len was elated, as was the enthusiastic audience, by the Grammy-winning Flecktones\u2019 seamless ensemble work, mesmerizing songs and bravura solos on instruments both familiar (banjo, electric bass, keyboards) and foreign.<\/p>\n Then and now, the latter category includes: Roy \u201cFuture Man\u201d Wooten\u2019s Drumitar (a guitar-synthesizer he converted into a touch-sensitive \u201cdrum set,\u201d complete with cymbals, that he plays with his fingers); and Howard Levy\u2019s jaw-dropping ability to play chromatically on a 10-hole C diatonic harmonica (which is like being able to play the black keys on a piano, without<\/em> the black keys being there, by bending the existing notes on the harmonica to create the sound of the missing notes).<\/p>\n To add to the “wow” factor, Levy could solo simultaneously –and remarkably well — on piano and harmonica.<\/p>\n “We also call (Levy) `The Man with Two Brains,’ ” Fleck told me during a 1992 San Diego Union<\/em> interview, “because he can play harmonica with one hand and piano with the other. Which hand he uses for which instrument depends on the song and which part of the piano he wants to be playing.”<\/p>\n As for Fleck, his instrument of choice was both familiar and foreign, at least in the early 1990s.<\/p>\n Among his stringed musical arsenal was a Crossfire electric banjo, made by Deering Banjos<\/a> of Lemon Grove. It featured a banjo neck and head mounted on a guitar-like body equipped with coiled magnetic pickups. It combined the sound and sustain of an electric guitar with the sound of a traditional banjo, allowing Fleck to employ distortion, delay, MIDI and other effects common to electric guitars, but unheard of at the time on banjos.<\/p>\n B\u00e9la Fleck & The Flecktones<\/strong><\/p>\n When:<\/strong> 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday, March 13 & 14<\/p>\n Where:<\/strong> Anthology, 1337 India St., downtown<\/p>\n Tickets:<\/strong> $19-$99<\/p>\n Phone:<\/strong> (619) 595-0300<\/p>\n Online:<\/strong>anthologysd.com<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/BelaFleck_320519_img01_CROP_r620x349.jpg\" "\\"BelaFleck_320519_img01_CROP_r620x349\\"")
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