The Fearless Flyers

The jazz-funk-soul collective Vulfpeck earned early notoriety by uploading a fully silent album to a major streaming platform in 2014, then became one of the rare acts without major-label support to fill Madison Square Garden. Their offshoot the Fearless Flyers recasts that collective's approach through unexpected shifts in texture and pace, yielding a distinct sonic identity.

Primarily built around Vulfpeck bassist Joe Dart, guitarists Cory Wong (a touring member of the band) and Mark Lettieri (of Snarky Puppy), and drummer Nate Smith, the Fearless Flyers surfaced in 2018 with the brisk instrumental "Ace of Aces." A companion video showed Dart, Wong, and Lettieri in matching jumpsuits stationed at evenly spaced guitar stands while Smith powered a miniature drum kit; the track launched their self-titled EP, which showcased the quartet's taste for accelerated funk instrumentals, among them renditions of the Little Mermaid staple "Under the Sea" and Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours," the latter enlivened by Blake Mills and gospel legend Sandra Crouch. Their follow-up, The Fearless Flyers II, arrived in 2019 and largely adhered to the same blueprint while incorporating appearances from Nickel Creek's Chris Thile and multi-instrumentalist Joey Dosik.

Maintaining the pattern, the group delivered the full-length Tailwinds in 2020, pushing tempos higher and introducing a three-piece horn section for added shading. By then established as Vulfpeck's regular opening act, the Fearless Flyers released their Madison Square Garden set as a live album in 2021. The Fearless Flyers III appeared in 2022, supplying further high-velocity jams alongside a reading of Steely Dan's "Reelin' in the Years." After a year's pause, they returned in 2024 with The Fearless Flyers IV, an EP captured at the Blue Note Jazz Club.