''Three Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' is the fourth album released by

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones Béla Fleck and the Flecktones is an American jazz fusion band that is known for its eclectic style and instrumentation, combining jazz Musical improvisation, improvisation with progressive bluegrass, Rock music, rock, Classical music, classical ...

, released in 1993. It is the band's only release as a trio, after the departure of

Howard Levy Howard Levy (born July 31, 1951) is an American musician. A keyboardist and virtuoso harmonica player, he "has been realistically presented as one of the most important and radical harmonica innovators of the twentieth century." In 1988, Le ...

but before the arrival of

Jeff Coffin Jeff Stanley Coffin (born August 5, 1965) is an American saxophonist, composer, and educator. He is a three-time Grammy Award winner as a member of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, with whom he performed from 1997 until 2010. In July 2008, Coffin ...

Reception

In his

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

review, music critic Dan Cross wrote of the album "The Flecktones have stuck with the formula that made their previous records successful: complex, tight grooves wrapped in a very musical, user-friendly package. The Flecktones still suffer from the departure of keyboardist/harmonica player Howard Levy, who provided the band with needed additional musical colors and textures."

Track listing

#"Vix 9" (

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 ...

) – 4:27 #"At Last We Meet Again" (V. Wooten) – 5:34 #"Spunky and Clorissa" (

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, playing music from bluegrass, jazz, classical, rock and various ...

) – 4:30 #"Bumbershoot" (B. Fleck) – 5:22 #"Blues For Gordon" (B. Fleck) – 5:16 #"Monkey See" (B. Fleck) – 3:16 #"The Message" (music:

The Flecktones ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

; lyrics: Joe Wooten) – 4:03 #"Interlude (Return of the Ancient Ones)" (

Future Man Roy Wilfred Wooten (born October 13, 1957), also known as RoyEl, best known by his stage name Future Man (also written Futureman and known to fans as Futche), is an American musician, inventor and composer. He is best known as a member of jazz ...

) – 2:06 #"The Drift" (The Flecktones) – 3:30 #"A Celtic Medley: Meridian/Traveling Light/Salamander's Reel" (B. Fleck) – 6:39 #"Peace, Be Still" (V. Wooten) – 4:05 #"The Longing" (B. Fleck) – 5:25 #"For Now" (B. Fleck) – 2:40

Personnel

– Acoustic (tracks 2, 3, 5–7, 10, 12) and electric

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

s (tracks 1, 4, 9, 12),

gut string Catgut (also known as gut) is a type of cord that is prepared from the natural fiber found in the walls of animal intestines. Catgut makers usually use sheep or goat intestines, but occasionally use the intestines of cattle, hogs, horses, mules, ...

banjo (track 11, 13),

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

(track 4) *

– Synth-Axe

Drumitar A Zendrum is a hand-crafted MIDI controller that is used as a percussion instrument. The Zendrum was influenced by the "Drumitar," invented by Future Man. There are several Zendrum models that are well-suited for live performances: the Z1, ZX, E ...

(tracks 1-12) *

–

Bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

(tracks 1, 4, 6, 9),

fretless bass A fretless bass is an electric bass guitar whose neck lacks frets and thus is smooth like traditional string instruments, and like the neck of an acoustic double bass. While the fretless bass is played in all styles of music, it is most common in ...

(tracks 10, 12), tenor bass (tracks 2, 3, 5, 7, 11), stereo effect (tracks 1, 2), vocals (track 7) Guest musicians *

Bruce Hornsby Bruce Randall Hornsby (born November 23, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. His music draws from folk rock, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, folk music, folk, Southern rock, country rock, jam band, rock music, rock, heartland r ...

–

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

(tracks 3, 7) *

Branford Marsalis Branford Marsalis (born August 26, 1960) is an American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. While primarily known for his work in jazz as the leader of the Branford Marsalis Quartet, he also performs frequently as a soloist with classical ens ...

–

soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a small, high-pitched member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented in the 1840s by Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax. Built in B♭ an octave above the tenor saxophone (or rarely, slightly small ...

(track 9),

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

(track 7) * Roderick Ward –

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...

(track 10)

Chart positions

References

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones albums 1993 albums Warner Records albums {{1990s-jazz-album-stub