Bela Fleck

Bela Fleck:
The Best Musician You've Never Heard Of

by David Banyas

“Béla Fleck is…”

This sentence can be ended in a thousand ways: a banjo prodigy; a guitar virtuoso; one of the most well-respected musicians among his peers; a musical genius; laid back; the only musician to ever be nominated for Grammy Awards in eight different categories; a genuine person. What cannot finish the sentence is one or two or even three types of musician. In fact, Fleck is as famous for his ability to avoid classification as his unparalleled talent. “I want people to say it’s good music,” said Fleck in an interview with MODE. “I’d like for them to pass it on saying, ‘Here. I don’t know what this is, but it sounds great. See what you think.’” Okay, then. Take a look.

Béla (BAY-lah) Fleck and the Flecktones will be in concert on March 16 at the American Music Theatre in Lancaster. The usual fare at the AMT is country, Dixieland, and homespun music. The Flecktones can do that. They can also do jazz, bluegrass, pop, country, spoken word, Christian, composition and world music, all genres in which they have been nominated for a Grammy. All four of the Flecktones are considered to be the acme of talent in their respective instruments.

Jeff Coffin’s saxophone and clarinet skills have garnered him recognition as one of the most respected and well-liked musicians in the business. As a consequence, his work appears on over 20 different albums aside from the Flecktones’.

Roy Wooten, ‘Futureman’ to Fleck and bandmates, is not just the main vocalist and percussionist, but is known as a scientist and composer. He invented ground-breaking instruments called the Roy-El and the Drumitar, a cross between a drum and guitar, which give the Flecktones their telltale sound.

Victor Wooten, Roy’s brother, has earned the best bassist honor for three straight years at the Nashville Music Awards and in Bassist magazine. He is one of the few bassists able to turn a backup instrument into a lead instrument and even offers his unique technique to bassists of all ages at his Woot Camp.

And Fleck? Just five years after being introduced to the banjo as a student in New York’s High School of Music, Fleck put out his first solo album, 1979’s Crossing the Tracks. It was voted best overall album by the guitar magazine Frets. Since then, Fleck’s work can be heard on over 170 different albums including Garth Brooks, Neil Young, Phish, and Dave Mathews Band. “It’s very easy to play on a record,” says Fleck humbly. How does someone so talented and prolific continue to move forward and stay challenged?

“I do whatever feels good to me,” said Fleck. “I love finding new places to put the banjo. But at the same time I love trying to push my musicianship and get to a deeper expression. It seems both goals happen when I work on either one.” Fleck vows he doesn’t have any expectations for the band or himself — all happenings are well-appreciated.

And the Flecktones are permitted and expected to pursue ideas and projects that satisfy their creative needs. “If everybody gets to do everything that they want to do, when they come into the band they come in a very selfless way. Myself included,” admits Fleck. “If I get to go play bluegrass or classical, I don’t feel the need to do those things in the band. I can just let the band be whatever it becomes.”

The entire Flecktones sound changes from album to album. Until Left of Cool, there was no overdubbing. In the recently released Outbound, named for the inclusion of outside musicians like Yes lead singer John Andersen and Shawn Colvin, there is another new sound. Outbound, like Left of Cool, is Grammy-nominated. In fact, there has been very little that Fleck has done that has not been awarded. “It’s becoming kind of a fun thing to see how many different categories we can get nominated for. It’s just what happens,” said Fleck. “It’s what good musicians do.”

There you go. I don’t know what it is, but it sounds great. See what you think.