Béla Fleck
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Categories: 1958 births | Jewish American musicians | American banjoists | American buskers | American bluegrass musicians | Jazz banjoists | Living people | New Grass Revival | People from New York City | New York musicians | Grammy Award winners
Béla Fleck (born July 10, 1958 in New York City, New York) is an American virtuoso banjo player. 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 careerBéla Anton Leoš Fleck, who is named after famous Hungarian composer Béla Bartók and Czech composers Antonín Dvořák and 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).[1][2] 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 French horn, though he couldn't make a sound on it. He was a banjo student under Tony Trischka. Almost immediately after high school, Fleck traveled to Boston to play with Jack Tottle 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 formed Spectrum: the Band in 1981. Fleck toured with Spectrum until 1981. That 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
Bela Fleck and Victor Wooten formed Béla Fleck and the Flecktones in 1988, rounded out with harmonica player Howard Levy and Wooten's percussionist brother Roy "Future Man" Wooten, who plays synthesizer-based percussion. Levy left the group in 1992, making the band a trio until Saxophonist Jeff Coffin joined the group with the 1998 album Left of Cool. With the Flecktones, Fleck has been nominated for and won several Grammy awards. Other music and recordingsFleck 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. Image:Bela Fleck.jpg
Béla Fleck at Massey Hall, Toronto, ON
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 such staggeringly difficult selections 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 Banjo concerto that has been played numerous times 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.[3] 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. These included 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; and forming the acoustic fusion supergroup TRIO! with fellow virtuosos Jean-Luc Ponty and Stanley Clarke. He also recorded an album as a member of the Sparrow Quartet, along with Abigail Washburn, Ben Sollee, and Casey Driessen. Image:Béla Fleck and Chick Corea 2, March 1, 2008.jpg
Fleck performs with Chick Corea, March 1, 2008
In late 2006, Fleck teamed up with Chick Corea to record an album that was scheduled to be released in May of 2007. Fleck and Corea were touring together throughout 2007. In July 2007 at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, he appeared and jammed with Toumani Diabate, the world famous kora player from Mali. In November 2007 at the Bologna Jazz Festival (Italy) he met an Italian guitarist Filippo Stefanoni (as highlited from a famous picture). In December 2007 he is doing charity concerts around Germany to help promote aids awareness. His biggest concert was held in Grosse Halle Bern on 1st December. DiscographySolo/with multiple other musicians
As part of a musical group
Spectrum
One-off collaborations
As a guest musician
Curandero
Grammy awards
Grammy nomination
Notes and referencesReferences
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