BELA FLECK

Béla Fleck (born July 10, 1958 in New York City, New York) is an American banjo virtuoso. He is best known for his work with the band Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, with bassist Victor Wooten, saxophonist Jeff Coffin, and percussionist Future Man.

Life and early career

Béla Anton Leoš Fleck, who is named after famous Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, Austrian composer Anton Webern, and Czech composer Leoš Janáček, was drawn to the banjo when he first heard Earl Scruggs play the theme song for the television show Beverly Hillbillies. He received his first banjo at age fifteen from his grandfather (1973). He was a member of the class of 1970 at P.S. 75 (the Emily Dickinson School) in Manhattan. Later, Fleck enrolled in New York City's High School of Music and Art where he studied the French horn. He was a banjo student under Tony Trischka.

Almost immediately after high school, Fleck traveled to Boston to play with Jack Tottle, Pat Enright, and Mark Schatz in Tasty Licks. During this period, Fleck released his first solo album (1979): Crossing the Tracks and made his first foray into progressive bluegrass composition.

Fleck played on the streets of Boston with bassist Mark Schatz; and the two, along with guitarist/vocalist Glen Lawson and mandolin great Jimmy Gaudreau, formed Spectrum: the Band in 1981. Fleck toured with Spectrum during 1981. That same year, Sam Bush asked Fleck to join New Grass Revival. Fleck performed with New Grass Revival for nine years. During this time, Fleck recorded another solo album, Drive. It was nominated for a Grammy Award in the then first-time category of "Best Bluegrass Album" (1988).

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones
 
Béla Fleck and Victor Wooten formed Béla Fleck and the Flecktones in 1988, along with keyboardist and harmonica player Howard Levy and Wooten's percussionist brother Roy "Future Man" Wooten, who played synthesizer-based percussion. Levy left the group in 1992, making the band a trio until Saxophonist Jeff Coffin joined the group onstage part-time in 1997, eventually becoming a permanent member. His first studio recording with the band was their 1998 album Left of Cool. In 1996, he appeared on the tribute album to Hank Marvin, one of his influences, and The Shadows "Twang" playing a Shadows UK hit from the 1960s, "The Stranger".

With the Flecktones, Fleck has been nominated for and won several Grammy awards. (Cf. Grammy sections below.)

Other music and recordings

Fleck has shared Grammy wins with Asleep at the Wheel, Alison Brown, and Edgar Meyer. He has been nominated in more categories than any other musician, namely country, pop, jazz, bluegrass, classical, folk, spoken word, composition, and arranging.
 
In 2001, Fleck collaborated with long-time friend and playing-partner Edgar Meyer to record Perpetual Motion, an album of classical material played on the banjo along with an assortment of accompanists, including John Williams, Evelyn Glennie, Joshua Bell and Gary Hoffman. The album includes selections such as Chopin's Etude Op. 10 No. 4 in C# minor, Debussy's Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum, and Paganini's Moto Perpetuo (from which is derived the name), as well as more lyrical pieces such as the first movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, two of Chopin's mazurkas, and two Scarlatti keyboard sonatas. Perpetual Motion won two Grammys at the Grammy Awards of 2002 for Best Classical Crossover Album and Best Arrangement for Fleck and Meyer's arrangement of Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum. Fleck and Meyer have also composed a double concerto for banjo and bass, and performed its debut with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra.

Fleck names Chick Corea, Charlie Parker, and the aforementioned Earl Scruggs as influences. He regards Scruggs as "certainly the best" banjo player of the three-finger style.

Solo and with the Flecktones, Fleck has appeared at Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Merlefest, Montreal International Jazz Festival, Toronto Jazz Festival, Newport Folk Festival, Austin City Limits Music Festival, Bonnaroo, and Jazzfest, among others.

He has also appeared as a sideman with artists ranging from Tony Rice to Ginger Baker and Phish.

In 2005, while the Flecktones were on hiatus, Fleck undertook several new projects: recording with African traditional musicians; cowriting a documentary film called Bring it Home about the Flecktones' first year off in 17 years and their reunion after that time; coproducing Song of the Traveling Daughter, the debut album by Abigail Washburn (a young banjo player who mixes bluegrass and Chinese music); forming the acoustic fusion supergroup Trio! with fellows Jean-Luc Ponty and Stanley Clarke, and recording an album as a member of the Sparrow Quartet (along with Abigail Washburn, Ben Sollee, and Casey Driessen).
 
In late 2006, Fleck teamed up with Chick Corea to record an album, The Enchantment, released in May 2007. Fleck and Corea toured together throughout 2007.

In July 2007 at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, he appeared and jammed with Toumani Diabaté, a kora player from Mali. He is also scheduled to play the 2009 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival with Toumani Diabaté.

In December 2007, he performed charity concerts in Germany to help promote AIDS awareness. His largest concert was held in Grosse Halle Bern on December 1, 2007.

On June 13, 2008, he performed as part of The Bluegrass Allstars, composed of bluegrass heavyweights Sam Bush, Luke Bulla, Edgar Meyer, Bryan Sutton, and Jerry Douglas at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee.

The next day Fleck performed with Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet also at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival.

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Béla Fleck is often considered the premier banjo player in the world. A New York City native, he picked up the banjo at age 15 after being awed by the bluegrass music of Flatt & Scruggs. While still in high school he began experimenting with playing bebop jazz on his banjo, mentored by fellow banjo renegade Tony Trischka. In 1980, he released his first solo album, Crossing the Tracks, with material that ranged from straight ahead bluegrass to Chick Corea’s “Spain.” In 1982, Fleck joined the progressive bluegrass band New Grass Revival, making a name for himself on countless solo and ensemble projects ever since as a virtuoso instrumentalist. In 1989 he formed the genre-busting Flecktones, with members equally talented and adventurous as himself. 

Throw Down Your Heart, the third volume in Béla’s renowned Tales From the Acoustic Planet series, is his most ambitious project to date. In on-location collaborations with musicians from Uganda, Tanzania, Senegal, Mali, South Africa and Madagascar, Béla Fleck explores the African origins of the banjo, the prototype of which was brought to American shores by African slaves. Throw Down Your Heart is a companion to the award-winning film of the same name, which Béla and director Sascha Paladino are currently premiering at festivals nationwide. Transcending barriers of language and culture, Fleck finds common ground with musicians ranging from local villagers to international superstars such as the Malian diva Oumou Sangare to create some of the most meaningful music of his career.

The music on the album is as adventurous and varied as anything we’ve come to expect from Béla, ranging from the tradition-based opening track, performed with a group of Kenyan women singers, to the exquisite title track, performed with the Haruna Samake Trio and Bassekou Kouate from Mali. Basseko, who comes from a long line of Griot musicians, is an incredible improvising player who plays the n’goni, the Malian banjo. The music he and Béla make together is gentle and melodic. Equally modern is his duet with South African guitarist Vusi Mahlasela, who is simply known as ‘the voice’ (and what an awesome and expressive voice he has). His music connects South Africa’s Apartheid-scarred past with its promise for a better future.

Nothing can quite prepare the listener for the sound of the giant marimba played by the Muwewesu Xylophone Group in Uganda. Says Béla, “The marimba is reassembled every day, and it seems to be played by a set group of men. Each one plays a certain musical part in the group. I think there are other people who know each of the parts in case someone is unable, or unavailable to play. Also there seemed to be kids who were being taught parts. But a spot in the primary team seemed to be a very coveted spot, and the men who played in this group were very serious and very good. The village did join in – in large numbers, singing and playing flutes and fiddles and percussion instruments. They also danced.” It’s a sound of pure joy.

Another highlight is “Djorolen,” a duet with singer Oumou Sangare, who delivers a vocal that expresses heartbreaking beauty and sadness. “As she points out in this song,” says Béla, “it is often the orphans, those who have lost their parents when they are young, who have the greatest problems in life.”

“D’Gary Jam” is a fascinating amalgam that exemplifies the spirit of the album. Béla explains, “This track started its life in Nashville. We had a great jam one day, which went for 22 minutes straight, the whole take was really cool.  

This was in July, about 7 months before we went to Africa. I decided to bring the track along, and add people to it as we went, and even after the trip, a kind of science project, if you will. After things got added, I took some liberties with people’s parts and did a little audio sculpting.” Along with the great acoustic guitarist D’Gary, the track features, among others, Oumou Sangare, the legendary kora player Toumani Diabate, and Bassekou Kouyate.

As to the origins of the banjo, Béla comments, “When I went to Africa I found instruments and players that gave me a better sense of where the thing started. In Gambia and Mali in particular, I found what I was looking for!” This is especially apparent on the traditional song medley “Ajula/Mbamba,” performed by Béla and The Jatta Family from the Gambia. “The akonting could very well be the original banjo. Everyone around Banjul certainly seems to think so! Huge numbers of slaves came west from this area. We were told that the musicians were allowed to play these instruments on the slave ships, and that many lives were saved due to it.”

While many of these recordings were made in the field, in Uganda, Tanzania, The Gambia and Mali, the album is beautifully recorded. The lasting impression is that Béla Fleck has revealed many subtle facets of African music, from the fully modern to the deeply traditional. It is some of the most exciting and beautiful music he’s ever made. “[Fleck’s] reverence for his fellow players allows for the honey of the African sounds to seem that much sweeter. And the music, well…You’ll just have to hear it for yourself…” -Popmatters.com

“The banjo sheds its image as the quintessential American instrument to reveal a symbol of deep African heritage and the collective wail of the European slave trade (the film’s title derives from this heartbreaking historical chapter).” - Austin American Statesman

Source: http://www.belafleck.com/bio.html

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Banjos played

Nechville Meteor Electric Banjo made by Nechville Musical Products
Nechville Nextar Banjo made by Nechville Musical Products
Deering Crossfire Banjo made by the Deering Banjo Company
Deering Tenbrooks Saratoga Star made by the Deering Banjo Company
Deering John Hartford banjo made by Deering Banjo Company

Discography

Solo/with multiple other musicians
Crossing the Tracks (Rounder Records, 1979)
Natural Bridge (Rounder Records, 1982)
Double Time (Rounder Records, 1984)
Inroads (Rounder Records, 1986)
Daybreak (Rounder Records, 1987)
Drive (Rounder Records, 1988; SACD reissue: Mobile Fidelity, 2004)
Places (Rounder Records, 1988)
Tales From The Acoustic Planet (Warner Brothers, 1995)
The Bluegrass Sessions: Tales from the Acoustic Planet, Vol. 2 (Warner Brothers, 1999)
Perpetual Motion (Sony Classical, 2001)
Banjo and Harpsichord (Sony Classical, 2004)

As part of a musical group

Tasty Licks
Tasty Licks (Rounder Records, 1978)
Anchored to the Shore (Rounder Records, 1979)

Spectrum
Opening Roll (Rounder Records, 1981)
Too Hot For Words (Rounder Records, 1982)
Live in Japan (Rounder Records, 1983)

The New Grass Revival
On the Boulevard (Sugar Hill 1984)
New Grass Revival (EMI 1986)
Hold to a Dream (Capitol 1987)
Live, (Sugar Hill 1989)
Friday Night in America (Capitol 1989)
Anthology (Capitol 1989)
Deviation (Rounder Records, 1984) – billed as "Béla Fleck with the New Grass Revival", sometimes considered a solo album
Best of New Grass Revival (Liberty 1994)
Grass Roots: The Best of the New Grass Revival (Capitol 2005)

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones
Béla Fleck And The Flecktones (Warner Brothers, 1990)
Flight of the Cosmic Hippo (Warner Brothers, 1991)
UFO Tofu (Warner Brothers, 1992)
Three Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Warner Brothers, 1993)
Live Art (Warner Brothers, 1996)
Left of Cool (Warner Brothers, 1998)
Greatest Hits of the 20th Century (Warner Brothers, 1999)
Outbound (Columbia Records, 2000)
Live at the Quick (Columbia Records, 2002)
Little Worlds (Columbia Records, 2003)
Ten From Little Worlds (Selections from Little Worlds, Columbia Records, 2003)
The Hidden Land (Columbia Records, 2006)
Jingle All the Way (Rounder Records, 2008)

The Sparrow Quartet with Abigail Washburn, Casey Driessen, and Ben Sollee
The Sparrow Quartet EP (Nettwerk Records, 2005)
Abigail Washburn & The Sparrow Quartet (Nettwerk Records, 2008)

One-off collaborations

Fiddle Tunes For Banjo with Tony Trischka and Bill Keith (Rounder Records, 1981)
Snakes Alive! as part of The Dreadful Snakes (Rounder Records, 1983)
Telluride Sessions as part of Strength in Numbers (MCA Nashville Records, 1989)
Solo Banjo Works with Tony Trischka (Rounder Records, 1992)
The Great Dobro Sessions (Sugar Hill Records, 1994)
Tabula Rasa with Jie-Bing Chen and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (Water Lily Acoustics, 1996)
Uncommon Ritual with Mike Marshall and Edgar Meyer (Sony, 1997)
Music For Two with Edgar Meyer (Sony, 2004)
The Enchantment with Chick Corea (Concord Records, 2007)

As a guest musician

Sam Bush – Late as Usual (Rounder Records, 1984)
Øystein Sunde - Kjekt å Ha (Universal Music, 1989)
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two (MCA Records, 1989)
Shawn Colvin – Fat City (Sony Records, 1992)
Phish – Hoist (Elektra Records, 1994)
Bruce Hornsby – Hot House (RCA Records, 1995)
David Grier - Lone Soldier (Rounder Records, 1995)
Curandero – Aras (Silver Wave, 1996)
Dave Matthews Band – Before These Crowded Streets (RCA, 1998)
Eddie From Ohio – Looking Out the Fishbowl (Vriginia Soul Records, 1999)
Phish – Farmhouse (Elektra Records, 2000)
Jorma Kaukonen – Blue Country Heart (2002)
Rodney Crowell - Fate's Right Hand (2003)
Bernie Williams - The Journey Within (2003)
Gov't Mule - The Deepest End: Live in Concert - ATO Records (2003)
Jimmy Sturr & His Orchestra – Let's Polka 'Round (2003)
Dave Matthews Band – Live Trax Vol. 1: 12.8.98 Centrum Centre, Worcester, MA (2004)
Charlie Peacock – Full Circle (2004)
Jerry Douglas - The Best Kept Secret (Koch Records, 2005)
Dave Matthews Band – Live Trax Vol. 7: 12.31.96 Hamptom Coliseum, Hampton, VA (2006)
Keller Williams – Dream (2007)

Grammy awards

1995 
Best Country Instrumental Performance, Hightower by Asleep at the Wheel with Béla Fleck and Johnny Gimble
1996 
Best Pop Instrumental Performance, The Sinister Minister by Béla Fleck And The Flecktones (with Sam Bush & Paul McCandless)
1998 
Best Instrumental Composition, Almost 12 by Béla Fleck And The Flecktones
2000 
Best Contemporary Jazz Album, Outbound by Béla Fleck And The Flecktones
Best Country Instrumental Performance, Leaving Cottondale by Alison Brown and Béla Fleck
2001 
Best Instrumental Arrangement, Doctor Gradus Ad Parnassum from Children's Corner Suite (Debussy) by Béla Fleck and Edgar Meyer
Best Classical Crossover Album, Perpetual Motion by Béla Fleck with Edgar Meyer, Joshua Bell, and others
2006 
Best Contemporary Jazz Album, The Hidden Land by Béla Fleck And The Flecktones
2008 
Best Pop Instrumental Album, Jingle All The Way by Béla Fleck And The Flecktones

Grammy nominations

Béla Fleck has been nominated in more categories than any other musician in Grammy history.
2008 
Pop Instrumental Album Jingle All The Way
Country Instrumental Performance Sleigh Ride (from Jingle All The Way)
2006 
Pop Instrumental Subterfuge (from The Hidden Land)
2005 
Country Instrumental Who's Your Uncle (from Best Kept Secret by Jerry Douglas)
Contemporary Jazz Album Soulgrass by Bill Evans
2002 
Country Instrumental Performance Bear Mountain Hop (from The Country Bears Soundtrack)
2000 
Pop Instrumental Zona Mona (from Outbound)
1999 
Bluegrass Bluegrass Sessions
1998 
Pop Instrumental Big Country (from Left Of Cool)
Country Instrumental The Ride (from Restless On the Farm by Jerry Douglas)
1996 
World Music Tabula Rasa
1995 
Country Instrumental Cheeseballs In Cowtown (from The Bluegrass Sessions: Tales from the Acoustic Planet, Vol. 2)
1994 
Spoken Word For Children The Creation by Amy Grant
1992 
Jazz Instrumental Magic Fingers (from UFO Tofu)
1991 
Jazz Album Flight of the Cosmic Hippo
Jazz Instrumental Blu-Bop
1990 
Jazz Album Bela Fleck & The Flecktones
Jazz Instrumental
1989 
Country Instrumental Bigfoot (from Friday Night In America by New Grass Revival
1988 
Bluegrass album Drive
1987 
Country Instrumental Metric Lips (from Hold to a Dream by New Grass Revival)
1986 
Country Instrumental Seven By Seven (from New Grass Revival by New Grass Revival)