Béla Fleck

Béla Fleck
Fleck performing on February 9, 2007
Background information
Birth name	Béla Anton Leoš Fleck
Born	(1958-07-10) July 10, 1958 New York City, U.S.
Genres	Jazz, jazz fusion, bluegrass, folk, classical, world, folk rock
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter, composer
Instruments	Banjo
Years active	1976–present
Labels	Rounder, Warner Bros., Sony Classical, Rhino
Associated acts	New Grass Revival, Strength in Numbers, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Abigail Washburn, Sparrow Quartet
Website	belafleck.com
Notable instruments
Deering Crossfire electric banjo with custom pickups and synthesizer pickup

Béla Anton Leoš Fleck (born July 10, 1958) is an American banjo player. An innovative and technically proficient banjo player,^[1] he is best known for his work with the bands New Grass Revival and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones.^[2]

Early life and career

A native of New York City, Fleck was named after Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, Austrian composer Anton Webern, and Czech composer Leoš Janáček. He was drawn to the banjo at a young age when he heard Earl Scruggs play the theme song for the television show Beverly Hillbillies^[3] and when he heard "Dueling Banjos" by Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell on the radio. At age fifteen, he received his first banjo from his grandfather.^[4] During the train ride home, a man volunteered to tune the banjo and suggested he learn from the book How to Play the Five String Banjo by Pete Seeger.^[5] He attended the High School of Music & Art in New York City, playing French horn until he flunked and was transferred to the choir, though he spent most of his time on the banjo. He studied the book Bluegrass Banjo by Pete Wernick and took lessons from Erik Darling, Marc Horowitz, and Tony Trischka.^[6]

After graduating from high school, he moved to Boston and became a member of the group Tasty Licks, with whom he recorded two albums. He released his debut solo album, Crossing the Tracks (1979), and it was chosen Best Overall Album by the readers of Frets magazine.^[4]

Fleck played on the streets of Boston with bassist Mark Schatz. Along with guitarist Glen Lawson and mandolinist Jimmy Gaudreau, they formed Spectrum in 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, in 1987 Fleck recorded another solo album, Drive, which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1988 for Best Bluegrass Album. During the 1980s Fleck and Bush also performed live with Doc Watson and Merle Watson in bluegrass festivals, most notably the annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones

Fleck (right) with Victor Wooten

In 1988, Fleck and Victor Wooten formed Béla Fleck and the Flecktones with keyboardist and harmonica player Howard Levy and Wooten's brother, Roy "Future Man" Wooten, who played synthesizer-based percussion. They recorded numerous albums, most notably Flight of the Cosmic Hippo, their second album, which reached number one on the Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart and found increased popularity among fans of jazz fusion.

Levy left the group in 1992, making the band a trio until saxophonist Jeff Coffin joined the group onstage in 1997. His first studio recording with the band was their 1998 album, Left of Cool. Coffin left the group in 2008 to replace the Dave Matthews Band's saxophonist, the late LeRoi Moore. Levy returned to the Flecktones in 2009. Béla Fleck and the original Flecktones recorded Rocket Science and toured in 2011.

Other music and recordings

Fleck in Raleigh, North Carolina, June 6, 2011

Fleck played banjo on Before These Crowded Streets by the Dave Matthews Band, including the album's debut single "Don't Drink the Water".^[7]

In 2001, he collaborated with Edgar Meyer on Perpetual Motion, an album of classical music played on the banjo. They were accompanied by John Williams, Evelyn Glennie, Joshua Bell, and Gary Hoffman. Perpetual Motion won Grammy Awards for Best Arrangement and Best Classical Crossover Album

Fleck and Meyer composed a double concerto for banjo and bass and performed its debut with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. They were commissioned to compose a trio concerto, for which they invited Indian tabla player Zakir Hussain. The concerto debuted in Nashville in 2006 and was recorded for the album The Melody of Rhythm.

Fleck premiered his Concerto for Banjo in Nashville, Tennessee on September 22, 2011, performing with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, which commissioned the work.^[8]

In 2005, while the Flecktones were on hiatus, Fleck undertook several new projects: recording with traditional African musicians; co-writing the documentary Bring it Home about the Flecktones; co-producing Song of the Traveling Daughter, the debut album by his wife, Abigail Washburn; forming the acoustic fusion supergroup Trio! with Jean-Luc Ponty and Stanley Clarke; and recording an album as a member of the Sparrow Quartet with Washburn, Ben Sollee, and Casey Driessen.

Personal life

Fleck and his wife Abigail Washburn play a duet at Shakori Hills Festival in 2010

Fleck is married to banjo player Abigail Washburn.^[3][9] Washburn first met Fleck in Nashville at a square dance at which she was dancing and he was playing.^[10] Fleck produced Washburn's first solo album. Fleck brought Washburn to Sascha Paladino's wedding in August 2007, and they played in a scratch band composed of wedding party members.^[11] In May 2009, the Bluegrass Intelligencer website satirized the upcoming "strategic marriage" of Washburn and Fleck, with Driessen joking that the couple promised a "male heir" who will be the "Holy Banjo Emperor".^[12]

Media appearances

Fleck was featured on Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Saturday Night Live, Later with Jools Holland, Sesame Street, Austin City Limits, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Music City Tonight, and The Marty Stuart Show.

He appeared on the cover of the July/August 2013 issue of Making Music magazine.^[13]

Festivals

Alone and with the Flecktones, Fleck has appeared at the High Sierra Music Festival,^[14] Telluride Bluegrass Festival,^[15] Merlefest,^[16] Montreal International Jazz Festival,^[17] Toronto Jazz Festival,^[18] Newport Folk Festival,^[19] Delfest,^[20] Austin City Limits Music Festival,^[21] Shakori Hills,^[22] Bonnaroo,^[23] New Orleans Jazz Fest,^[24] and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass.^[25]

Discography

Accolades

Grammy Awards and nominations

Fleck has shared Grammy Awards with Asleep at the Wheel, Alison Brown, and Edgar Meyer. He has been nominated in more categories than any other musician,^[26][27] namely country, pop, jazz, bluegrass, classical, folk, spoken word, composition, and arranging.

References

Further reading

• Gray, Michael (1998). "Béla Fleck". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 174–5.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Béla Fleck.

• BelaFleck.com – Béla Fleck Official website
• Flecktones.com – Flecktones Official Website
• BACH & friends Documentary