Vulfpeck offshoot The Fearless Flyers landed at the famed Blue Note Jazz Club in New York this past week for eight shows in four nights that doubled as the recording sessions for the group’s forthcoming fourth studio album.
Wait, recording a studio album at a live concert? Wouldn’t that make it a live album? As Vulf Records bigwig/Vulfpeck mastermind Jack Stratton, who assembled the group, clarified when he took the stage camera in hand midway through the Flyers’s first set on Sunday evening, “They’ve done one, two, three EPs, tonight we’re gonna attempt the fourth studio album! We are gonna attempt the fourth studio album live, in the studio of Blue Note. It’s a nice, dead room, we got great D.I.s coming off them, good drum mics… it sounds good. Tonight might be the night. … Six songs.”
Jack Stratton (Vulfpeck, Vulf Records) Introduces The Fearless Flyers, Album Recording Plans – Blue Note New York – 12/10/23
[Video: Fuzzy Dunlop]
The members of the outfit—Vulfpeck‘s Joe Dart on bass, Vulf cohort/prolific solo bandleader Cory Wong on guitar, Snarky Puppy‘s Mark Lettieri on baritone guitar, and renowned jazz drummer Nate Smith—are all well-known in their own right, but the four-piece has largely remained silent and stoic since forming in 2018, surfacing only to release new music (they have 3 EPs, a live album, and a full-length studio album to their name) or play a particularly significant live show (their rare gigs have taken place at the likes of Madison Square Garden, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Newport Jazz Festival, Jam Cruise, and Suwannee Hulaween).
Related: How The Fearless Flyers Found Creativity In Specificity [Interview]
While The Fearless Flyers, whose sound Wong has described to Live For Live Music as “speed-metal punk, but in the context of funk music,” operate under a veil of relative mystery, certain elements of the band’s approach have been codified as guiding principles since the start—from the guitar/baritone guitar/bass guitar stands that suspend the instruments in mid-air to the blue jumpsuits and sunglasses dutifully donned by Wong, Lettieri, and Dart to the ferocious drumming of Smith, dressed in all black, on a three-piece kit (kick, snare, and hi-hat only). The Flyers have always approached their recordings in similarly vision-oriented fashion, writing songs together in the studio and quickly recording them via full-band takes with accompanying live videos.
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Co-opting eight sold-out Blue Note shows as their album recording sessions did little to skew the band’s tried and true process. As Stratton prowled the stage capturing video footage of each member of the band, The Fearless Flyers tore through each of the six new tracks on their forthcoming LP—songs that both Stratton and Wong noted were more rehearsed than ever following a weekend’s worth of recorded takes. A Vulfpeck-like minimalist approach remained their core directive—Smith, for example, squeezed an inconceivable amount of sound out of his rudimentary drum set—but the new songs drilled deeper than ever into the diverse sounds and talents of the band’s members, mingling with a range of styles and expanding the scope of their creative mission even from their narrow conceptual lane.
It’s unclear when exactly this new Blue Note album will arrive, but with the added cushion of eight “recording sessions” to pick and choose from, the fourth Fearless Flyers record is poised to keep this experimental aircraft aloft in style. Please ensure that your tray table is locked and your seat back is in the full, upright position.
Below, get a taste of what’s to come on the new Fearless Flyers album with a full video of the band’s Friday, 12/8/23 early set at the Blue Note. Scroll down to view a selection of photos from the residency via Dervon Dixon (@drivenbycontent).
The Fearless Flyers – 12/8/23 (Late Show) – Full Show
[Video: NYC Jazz Fan]
