Bela Fleck

The Bluegrass Sessions

(Warner Bros.)

This is the second volume of Bela’s Bluegrass Sessions (a.k.a. Tales from the Acoustic Planet) and it may be oneof the most seductive CDs bluegrass has produced yet. Bela’s banjo work with the Flecktones has made him popularwith a listenership that accepts the instrument in his hip-hop/acid-jazz/funk settings and overlooks the common"hick" prejudice. The music on The Bluegrass Sessions is varied, from straight-ahead bluegrass("Foggy Mountain Special") to new acoustic ("Dark Circles") that could pass on a smooth jazz stationif they added that metronomic click track (God forbid). It’s all impeccably played so that even the first-timebluegrass listener will be charmed. Joining Bela are some of the very best players around: Jerry Douglas (Dobro), SamBush (mandolin), Tony Rice (guitar), Stuart Duncan (fiddle) and Mark Schatz on bass. Also guesting on the CD aremulti-instrumentalist John Hartford and fiddler extraordinaire Vassar Clements. Bela’s earliest banjo influences— his first teacher, Tony Trischka, and the first banjoist he ever heard as a small boy, Earl Scruggs —contribute to the recording as well. Best of all, once the listening has convinced you to explore, Bela includes a listof recommended recordings by the other players, all easily obtainable.

—Mary Armstrong

Bela and the Bluegrass Sessions gang will play at the Keswick Theater, Fri., Oct. 22, 8 p.m., 215-572-7650. Soldout.