Bela Fleck & The Flecktones

THIS IS A PREORDER
Release Date: 05/09/2025
Format: LP
Label: Real Gone Music
Release type: Cobalt Blue Vinyl LP Pressing. 

How many albums virtually upend a genre? And how many erstwhile bluegrass bands top a contemporary jazz chart?! The answer to these questions, is, one, very few, and two, only Béla Fleck & the Flecktones! Their second album, 1991’s fancifully entitled Flight of the Cosmic Hippo, did indeed top Billboard’s contemporary jazz albums chart and scored a couple of Grammy noms. But more importantly, this record really made explicit the Flecktones’ bebop leanings, as they devised the term “Blu-Bop” to describe their unique fusion of bluegrass and jazz. Stylistic whiplash has never felt so good or sounded so sweet; check out their warm, instrumental wizardry on chestnuts like “Michelle” and “The Star Spangled Banner”…and don’t miss Béla’s banjo power chords on “Turtle Rock!” We had Mike Milchner at Sonic Vision remaster this classic for vinyl for maximum fidelity, and gave it a repress in cobalt blue vinyl limited to just 900 copies. Essential!

1. Blu-Bop
2. Flying Saucer Dudes
3. Turtle Rock
4. Flight Of The Cosmic Hippo
5. The Star Spangled Banner
6. Star Of The County Down
7. Jekyll And Hyde (And Ted And Alice)
8. Michelle
9. Hole In The Wall
10. Flight Of The Cosmic Hippo (Reprise)