''Flight of the Cosmic Hippo'' is the second album by Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, released in 1991. It reached number 1 on the '' Billboard'' Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart. The album title came from an audience member who suggested "Flight of the Codeine Hippo"; the band changed "codeine" to "cosmic". The album received two Grammy nominations.

Production

The group's version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" was recorded the night the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

began.

Critical reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

's Brian Mansfield wrote: "The Flecktones owe more to bebop than bluegrass, and here the group finally names their style 'blu-bop.' That's why ''Flight of the Cosmic Hippo'' topped the jazz, not the country, chart. The Flecktones continue to make it look easy, adding banjo power chords to 'Turtle Rock' and reworking Lennon/McCartney's 'Michelle'." The ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'' wrote that "this is a group with a warm, engaging sense of humor and a desire to communicate, not a bunch of Berklee whiz kids practicing lessons in advanced harmonics." The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' wrote that "over the course of the ''Hippo'' album, the Flecktones ... essay a traditional Irish folk song, 'Star of the County Down'; a spirited rock 'n' roll number, 'Turtle Rock'; a jazzy take on the Beatles' 'Michelle', and a surprisingly soulful reading of '"The Star-Spangled Banner"'." ''

The Indianapolis Star ''The Indianapolis Star'' (also known as ''IndyStar'') is a morning daily newspaper that began publishing on June 6, 1903, in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. It has been the only major daily paper in the city since 1999, when the '' Indiana ...

'' deemed the album "jazz, played with country instruments and down-home warmth—what Chick Corea might sound like if he played with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band."

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, bringing the instrument from its bluegrass roots to jazz, classi ...

unless otherwise noted. #"Blu-Bop" ( The Flecktones) – 4:22 #"Flying Saucer Dudes" – 4:51 #"Turtle Rock" – 4:12 #"Flight of the Cosmic Hippo" – 4:29 #"

The Star-Spangled Banner "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the b ...

" ( Francis Scott Key, arr. The Flecktones) – 2:35 #" Star of the County Down" ( P.D., arr. The Flecktones) – 4:21 #"Jekyll and Hyde (and Ted and Alice)" – 7:04 #" Michelle" (

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

) – 5:10 #"Hole in the Wall" – 4:40 #"Flight of the Cosmic Hippo (Reprise)" – 2:14

Personnel

– banjo (tracks 2, 4-10), electric banjo (tracks 1, 3),

synth A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

(track 1) *

Howard Levy Howard Levy (born July 31, 1951) is an American multi-instrumentalist. A keyboardist and virtuoso harmonica player, Levy "has been realistically presented as one of the most important and radical harmonica innovators of the twentieth century. ...

–

diatonic harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

(tracks 2, 3, 5-8, 10),

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

(tracks 2-5, 7-10), synthesizers (tracks 1, 2, 4-6, 9), harp in a cup (track 4), harp through micro synth (track 2), double ocarina (track 9),

Hammond B-3 organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated ...

(track 6) *" Future Man" – Synth-Axe Drumitar *

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 ...

– 4-string, 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 ...

(tracks 4, 5, 7, 8, 10) and 6-string electric basses

Production notes

*Produced and mixed by

with the Flecktones *Bil VornDick – engineer, mixing *Carlos Grier – editing *Denny Purcell – mastering *Mark Nevers – assistant engineer *Keith Odle – mixing assistant *Richard Battaglia – assistant engineer, mixing assistant *Mark Tucker – photography *Elvis Wilson – design *Laura LiPuma – art direction *Mark Fox – artwork

Chart positions

References

{{Authority control Béla Fleck and the Flecktones albums 1991 albums Warner Records albums