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Béla Fleck & The Flecktones
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Biography
Béla Fleck and the Flecktones is a primarily instrumental group from the United States drawing equally on bluegrass, fusion and jazz. The band formed in 1988, initially to perform once on the PBS series "Lonesome Pine Specials." The Flecktones have toured extensively since then, often playing over 200 concerts per year. Each of the current members of the quartet has released at least one solo album. The band's name is a play on the name of the 1960s rock band Dick Dale and the Del-Tones.
Frontman Béla Fleck plays acoustic and electric banjos, mixing a bluegrass and folk sound into a modern improvisational style. Fleck has received Grammy nominations for performances in the jazz, bluegrass, pop, spoken word, contemporary Christian, gospel, classical, and country categories -- more categories than any other musician. Because they adopt so many musical styles it is hard to place Bela Fleck and the Flecktones into a single musical category and just as their music is diverse, so is their audience. The largest category under which the group can be and has been categorized is bluegrass music. This is music that is a product of industrial age and is derived from folk music and has global followers.
Brothers Victor Wooten and Roy "Future Man" Wooten form the rhythm section. Victor Wooten is widely lauded in jazz and bass-playing circles for his sometimes hyperkinetic slap and pop technique on bass guitar, and many consider him the leading bass virtuoso in music today. Futureman – the group's percussionist created the "drumitar" which is a modified SynthAxe rigged to play percussion samples instead of a synthesizer, which he plays.
Membership in the Flecktones has changed little since the band released its eponymous first album. That album, released in 1990, featured a live version of "The Sinister Minister" which won the Best Pop Instrumental Performance award at the Grammy Awards of 1997.
Harmonica and keyboard player Howard Levy appeared on the Flecktones' first three albums. Their 1991 album, "Flight of the Cosmic Hippo," reached #1 on the Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart and was followed in 1992 by "UFO Tofu."
After Levy's departure, Fleck and the Wooten Brothers regrouped on the 1993 album "Three Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," the title a reference to Ken Kesey's novel, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." It reached #7 on the Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart. They then released a live album, "Live Art" in 1996 featuring Sam Bush, Branford Marsalis, Chick Corea, and Bruce Hornsby. Saxophonist Jeff Coffin joined the band beginning with the 1998 album "Left of Cool" which reached #3 on the Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart and marked their first entry on the Billboard 200 Albums chart.
Released in 2000, "Outbound," won Best Contemporary Jazz Album at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards. Special guests included Jon Anderson, Adrian Belew, Sandip Burman, Shawn Colvin and Edgar Meyer. It peaked at #3 on the Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart.
"Little Worlds" was released in 2003 as a 3-disc set. Ten tracks from the set were also released on a single disc called "Ten from Little Worlds." "Little Worlds" again peaked at #3 on the Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart.
The band went on an amicable year-long hiatus throughout 2005, during which the individual members toured frequently in other configurations. The Flecktones were active and touring again in 2006 and that year released, "The Hidden Land," which peaked at #6 on the Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart.
In September 2008, the band released "Jingle All the Way," a holiday album. "Jingle All the Way" reached #1 on the Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz chart, the group's first album to do so since 1991. It also won the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album. The band's rendition of "Sleigh Ride" was nominated for Best Country Instrumental Performance.
The Flecktones toured in 2010 with founding member and harmonica player Howard Levy for the first time in 18 years under the moniker "Béla Fleck and the Original Flecktones." He was filling in for Coffin who joined the Dave Matthews Band in 2008.
In 2011, a new album, titled "Rocket Science," was released. It is an album of new material with the original Flecktones lineup, as Coffin is now playing full time with the Dave Matthews Band.
Albums
Tracks
| Song Title/Album | Time | Play | Price | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Gravity Lane
Rocket Science |
05:58 |
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$0.99 | Buy MP3 |
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Prickly Pear
Rocket Science |
03:50 |
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$0.99 | Buy MP3 |
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Joyful Spring
Rocket Science |
02:40 |
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$0.99 | Buy MP3 |
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Life In Eleven
Rocket Science |
05:25 |
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$0.99 | Buy MP3 |
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Falling Forward
Rocket Science |
05:10 |
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$0.99 | Buy MP3 |
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Storm Warning
Rocket Science |
07:58 |
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$0.99 | Buy MP3 |
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Like Water
Rocket Science |
04:42 |
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$0.99 | Buy MP3 |
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Earthling Parade
Rocket Science |
07:58 |
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$0.99 | Buy MP3 |
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The Secret Drawer
Rocket Science |
02:12 |
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$0.99 | Buy MP3 |
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Sweet Pomegranates
Rocket Science |
05:56 |
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$0.99 | Buy MP3 |
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