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Béla Fleck

Born in New York, NY

Béla Fleck's Genre:

Progressive Bluegrass, Bluegrass, Country, Contemporary Bluegrass, Fusion, Jazz, New Acoustic, Folk, Post-Bop, Folk Jazz, Keyboard

Biography

Premier banjo player Béla Fleck is considered one of the most innovative pickers in the world and has done much to demonstrate the versatility of his instrument, which he uses to play everything from traditional bluegrass to progressive jazz. He was named after composer Béla Bartok and was born in New York City. Around age 15, Fleck became fascinated with the banjo after hearing Flatt & Scruggs' "Ballad of Jed Clampett" and Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell's "Dueling Banjos," and his grandfather soon gave him one. While attending the High School of Music and Art in New York, Fleck worked on adapting bebop music for the banjo.

Fleck always had diverse musical interests, and his own style was influenced by Tony Trischka, Earl Scruggs, Chick Corea, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, the Allman Brothers, Aretha Franklin, the Byrds, and Little Feat. After graduation, he joined the Tasty Licks, a group from Boston. They recorded two albums and dissolved in 1979. Afterwards, Fleck joined the Kentucky band Spectrum. That year, only five years after he took up the instrument, he made his solo recording debut with Crossing the Tracks, which the Readers' Poll in Frets magazine named Best Overall Album. In 1982, he joined New Grass Revival and stayed with them until the end of the decade. During this time, his reputation continued to grow and in 1990, Frets magazine added his name to their Hall of Greats. In 1988, one of his compositions, "Drive" (from the album New Grass Revival), was nominated for a Grammy.

Fleck, mandolin player Sam Bush, fiddler Mark O'Connor, bassist Edgar Meyer, and Dobro player Jerry Douglas teamed up in 1989 to form Strength in Numbers and record The Telluride Sessions. Late that year, Fleck was asked by PBS television to play on the upcoming Lonesome Pine Special; in response he gathered together a veritable "dream team" of musicians to form the Flecktones. The original members included Howard Levy, who played piano, harmonica, and ocarina, among other instruments; bass guitarist Victor Lemonte Wooten, and his brother Roy "Future Man" Wooten on the drumitar, an electronic drum shaped like a guitar. Though the special wasn't aired until 1992, the Flecktones recorded their eponymous debut album in 1990 and followed it up with Flight of the Cosmic Hippo (1991).

In 1993, they released their third album, UFO Tofu, which featured music blending different genres ranging from bluegrass to R&B to worldbeat. In 1995, they released Tales from the Acoustic Planet; Left of Cool followed in 1998, and Tales from the Acoustic Planet 2: The Bluegrass Sessions was released a year later. Outbound followed in mid-2000. Busy and prolific, Fleck released an album of classical pieces, Perpetual Motion, in late 2001, followed by Live at the Quick in 2002, the ambitious double-disc Little Worlds (and its truncated single-disc version, Ten from Little Worlds) in 2003, and Music for Two (with bassist Edgar Meyer) in 2004. Fleck appeared on Abigail Washburn's first album, Song of the Traveling Daughter, in 2005. Hidden Land, another album with the Flecktones, appeared on Columbia Records in 2006. The band released its first holiday collection in 2008, appropriately titled Jingle All the Way. The Melody of Rhythm: Triple Concerto & Music for Trio appeared in 2009 from Koch Records, which teamed Fleck with cellist/bassist Edgar Meyer and the Indian percussionist Zakir Hussain along with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra directed by Leonard Slatkin.

Fleck was also part of Washburn's Sparrow Quartet (with cellist Ben Sollee and fiddle player Casey Driessen), which, sponsored by the U.S. government, toured China and released Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet in 2008. Also that year, Fleck went to Africa to take part in a documentary film directed by his half brother Sascha Paladino and collaborated with over 40 of the continent's finest musicians, including D'Gary, Baaba Maal, Vusi Mahlasela, Toumani Diabaté, Bassekou Kouyate, and Oumou Sangare in Tanzania, Gambia, Mali, and Uganda. In 2009, Throw Down Your Heart, Tales from the Acoustic Planet, Vol. 3: Africa Sessions -- both a film and recording -- was released to widespread critical acclaim and commercial success. Fleck reunited the original Flecktones for the spring 2011 release Rocket Science, and toured with the band as well as the trio with Hussain and Meyer. ~ Sandra Brennan

AOL Radio Stations Béla Fleck is Featured on (5)

Earl Scruggs Tribute

Earl Scruggs may not have invented the banjo but he definitely rescued it from obscurity. His innovative three-finger style which produced an impossible flurry of staccato notes gained national attention when he appeared on the Grand Ole Opry as a 21-year-old member of Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys in the fall of 1945. Earl’s music transcends genres and generations. he took his banjo to folk festivals and appeared with the likes of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Ravi Shankar and the Byrds. He won Grammy Awards, cut sides with Elton John and Sting and at the age of 84 appeared at Bonnaroo. Today’s genre-bending artists like Mumford and Sons, Trampled by Turtles and the Punch Brothers carry on the unmistakable influence of Earl. Slacker Radio's Earl Scruggs Tribute station features many of Earl’s classic recordings, along with just a few of the thousands of artists and bands who have been strongly influenced by the greatest banjo player in the history of music, Earl Scruggs.

Jam Bands

Rock, Jazz, Bluegrass...the Jam Band road is an intersection of diverse musical styles. The thread that holds this tapestry together is the art of improvisation. Jam Bands strives to deliver a consistent blend of inconsistency, beginning at it's roots with bands like The Grateful Dead. One moment, you're flying high in Telluride, the next you're swingin' with Coltrane at a smokey uptown club. Jam Bands on Slacker Radio will expand your musical horizons like the dawning of a new day.

Bluegrass

Bluegrass on Slacker Radio features music that'll make you tap your feet and shout “Yeehaw!” You’ll hear plenty of banjo, fiddle and mandolin from Bluegrass stars both past and present. Tune in for Ricky Skaggs, Alison Krauss, Flatt and Scruggs and many more.

World

World on Slacker Radio features the traditional side by side with the neo-traditional: Senegalese hip-hop, nuevo-cumbia electronica, Japanese pop, and global fusions from London, New York, Barcelona, Paris and beyond.

Béla Fleck

This station plays the best music from and music from related artists like Yonder Mountain String Band, David Grisman, The String Cheese Incident, Medeski, Martin & Wood, Phish, Leftover Salmon, Keller Williams, Galactic, Widespread Panic, moe. and more.

All Stations

Béla Fleck's Selected Discography (23)

Artists Related to Béla Fleck (50)

	Yonder Mountain String Band	Although the Yonder Mountain String Band was formed in Nederland, CO, its origins go back to Urbana, IL, where college student and banjo player Dave Johnston met mandolin player Jeff Austin.
	David Grisman	David Grisman is normally associated with the bluegrass wing of country music, but his music owes almost as much to jazz as it does to traditional American folk influences.
	The String Cheese Incident	The bluegrass-based jam band the String Cheese Incident is comprised of mandolinist/violinist Michael Kang, guitarist Bill Nershi, bassist Keith Moseley, pianist Kyle Hollingsworth, and percussionist Michael Travis.
	Medeski, Martin & Wood	A group that effortlessly straddles the gap between avant-garde improvisation and accessible groove-based jazz, Medeski, Martin & Wood have simultaneously earned standings as relentlessly innovative musicians and as an enormously popular act.
	Phish	During the early '90s, Phish emerged as heirs to the Grateful Dead's throne. Although their music was somewhat similar to the Dead's sound -- an eclectic, free-form rock & roll encompassing elements of folk, jazz, country, bluegrass, and pop -- the group adhered more to jazz-derived improvisation than folk tradition.
	Leftover Salmon	The self-described "polyethnic cajun slamgrass" group Leftover Salmon formed in Colorado in the early '90s as a merger of two area acts, the Left Hand String Band and the Salmonheads.
	Keller Williams	Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Keller Williams is literally a one-man jam band. His fascinating live shows feature him solo on-stage with a Gibson Echoplex Digital Pro looping unit, and he creates his backing loops in the moment, building and improvising as he goes on his custom-made ten-string guitar, and thanks to his equally as quirky, upbeat, and semi-surreal songs (which he frequently weaves into extended, half-improvised medleys) and his warm, friendly tenor singing voice, Williams is an utterly unique performer whose musical eccentricities don't keep him from being immediately accessible.
	Galactic	The New Orleans-based jazz-funk ensemble Galactic formed in 1994; originally an eight-piece, the group soon pared down to an instrumental sextet comprised of guitarist Jeff Raines, organist Rich Vogel, bassist Robert Mercurio, saxophonists Ben Ellman and Jason Mingledorff, and drummer Stanton Moore.
	Widespread Panic	One of the many neo-hippie jam bands inheriting the road-warrior mantle left behind by the Grateful Dead, Widespread Panic established a devout grassroots following on the strength of constant touring and a loose, rootsy brand of Southern rock informed by jazz and blues textures.
	moe.	Rising from the dingy college bars of upstate New York, moe. carved a niche for themselves with a distinct blend of Americana, melodic turns, clever songwriting, and jam band ethics.
	Jerry Garcia	Guitarist, singer, and songwriter Jerry Garcia was best known as a founding member of the Grateful Dead, the rock band for which he served as de facto leader for 30 years, 1965-1995.
	Umphrey's McGee	A jam band coming out of the Midwest in the mid-'90s, Umphrey's McGee edged toward the Frank Zappa side of the improv rock scale, as opposed to the Grateful Dead/Allman Brothers Band direction espoused by many of their contemporaries, like the Big Wu.
	Railroad Earth	Railroad Earth emerged from the breakup of one of New Jersey's most popular bands, From Good Homes, in early 2001.
	Gov't Mule	The leaders of Gov't Mule, Warren Haynes and Allen Woody, should be well known to Allman Brothers fans for their stint in Southern rock's most famous native sons.
	Grateful Dead	Rock's longest, strangest trip, the Grateful Dead were the psychedelic era's most beloved musical ambassadors as well as its most enduring survivors, spreading their message of peace, love, and mind-expansion across the globe throughout the better part of three decades.
	Trey Anastasio	Since co-founding the seminal improv rock outfit Phish in 1983, guitarist, composer, and songwriter Trey Anastasio has explored a wide variety of musical pathways ranging from atonal fugues and elaborate charts with Phish to adventurous free jazz on his first solo project, Surrender to the Air (1996), to collaborations with the likes of Tom Marshall, Les Claypool, Philip Glass, Stewart Copeland, and others.
	Nickel Creek	Distinguished by their youth and eclectic taste, Nickel Creek became a word-of-mouth sensation on the progressive bluegrass scene and soon found their appeal spreading beyond the genre's core audience.
	Sam Bush	Sam Bush extended the musical capabilities of the mandolin and the fiddle to incorporate a seamless blend of bluegrass, rock, jazz, and reggae.
	The Disco Biscuits	A jam band active since 1995, the Disco Biscuits play a distinct blend of rock, techno, jazz, soul, blues, and classical music that quickly took them to the upper echelon of the jam-roots-groove scene.
	North Mississippi Allstars	Moving into much rootsier territory than their former punk band DDT, brothers Luther (guitar, mandolin, vocals) and Cody Dickinson (drums, sampling) formed the North Mississippi Allstars in 1996 with bassist Chris Chew.
	Derek Trucks	Blues/blues-rock guitarist Derek Trucks is the nephew of longtime Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks.
	Warren Haynes	Warren Haynes is a generation-spanning guitar hero; he wasn't out of grade school when some of his best-known collaborators were at the peak of their fame, but he's earned a powerful reputation for his fiery guitar work, steeped in blues and Southern rock traditions, and has distinguished himself as a songwriter, bandleader, and solo artist as well as a gifted sideman.
	Tea Leaf Green	San Francisco-based jam band Tea Leaf Green got their start in the relationship between guitarist Josh Clark and drummer Scott Rager, who played in a high-school band together in Arcadia, CA.
	Alison Krauss	Alison Krauss helped bring bluegrass to a new audience in the '90s. Blending bluegrass with folk, Krauss was instantly acclaimed from the start of her career, but it wasn't until her platinum-selling 1995 compilation Now That I've Found You that she became a mainstream star.
	Robert Randolph	A virtuoso on the pedal steel guitar, Robert Randolph set the music world on fire in 2000 when he began playing his first club dates in New York City.
	Rusted Root	Multi-instrumentalist group Rusted Root integrate the Grateful Dead's jam-heavy rock with percussion influences based on the music of Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.
	Phil Lesh	Famed for his three-decade stint as the bassist with the Grateful Dead, Phil Lesh was born March 15, 1940, in Berkeley, CA; rooted in jazz and classical performance, he initially explored the violin and trumpet and, while attending Mills College, studied avant-garde composition and electronic music under the tutelage of Luciano Berio.
	New Grass Revival	New Grass Revival, formed in 1972 by four former members of the Bluegrass Alliance, flourished in a decade when numerous groups took traditional bluegrass and changed it to varying degrees.
	Les Claypool	The most original rock bassist to come along in the '90s was unquestionably Primus' Les Claypool. With his oddball sense of humor and funky playing, Claypool took his varied musical influences and created an invigorating and completely inventive style.
	The Allman Brothers Band	The story of the Allman Brothers Band is one of triumph, tragedy, redemption, dissolution, and a new redemption.
	Bob Weir	A founding member of the Grateful Dead, Bob Weir's musical legacy (separate from its cultural implications) will be of an utterly strange rhythm guitar player and songwriter who grew up in one of the most lasting outside bands of the 1960s.
	Hot Buttered Rum	Bay Area newgrass jam band Hot Buttered Rum have been described as a rock band playing bluegrass instruments (the bandmembers themselves call what they do "high altitude California bluegrass"), and with musical influences ranging from blues, rock, and jazz to Celtic and old-time string band music from the Appalachians, the group could almost be termed bluegrass fusion.
	Oysterhead	Comprised of the unlikely trio of Trey Anastasio, Les Claypool, and Stewart Copeland (of Phish, Primus, and Police fame, respectively), the supergroup Oysterhead first came together for an intended one-off gig at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in May 2000.
	Soulive	Brothers Alan and Neal Evans, on drums and Hammond B-3 organ, respectively, form two-thirds of the soul/groove trio Soulive.
	Ben Harper	Combining funky, groove-laden soul with handcrafted acoustic folk-rock, Ben Harper enjoyed cult status during the course of the '90s before gaining wider attention toward the decade's end.
	Hot Tuna	Begun as an acoustic spinoff of the Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna eventually became the full-time focus of founding members Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen, emerging as a popular touring act of the 1970s.
	Particle	Not your typical jam band (they have just as many disco and electronica influences as anything else), Particle started in 2000 in Los Angeles with keyboardist Steve Molitz, drummer Darren Pujalet, bassist Eric Gould, and guitarist Dave Simmons.
	Jerry Douglas	Jerry Douglas is widely renowned as perhaps the finest Dobro player in contemporary acoustic music. His main foundation is bluegrass, but Douglas is an eclectic whose tastes run toward jazz, blues, folk, and straight-ahead country as well, and he's equally capable of appealing to bluegrass aficionados or new agers with a taste for instrumental roots music.
	Old Crow Medicine Show	Mountain music revivalists Old Crow Medicine Show spin traditional folk and bluegrass yarns with a rock & roll attitude.
	Sound Tribe Sector 9	Founded in Georgia in the late '90s, Sound Tribe Sector 9 quickly refined a style of dub-influenced, breakbeat-infused psychedelic music with a heavy emphasis on group improvisation, comparable to the work of jam band peers such as the Disco Biscuits, Lake Trout, and the New Deal.
	The Band	For roughly half a decade, from 1968 through 1975, the Band was one of the most popular and influential rock groups in the world, their music embraced by critics (and, to a somewhat lesser degree, the public) as seriously as the music of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
	Tony Rice	Tony Rice is one of bluegrass' most inventive flatpicking guitar players. Although he's displayed a mastery of the genre's traditions, Rice set the standard for more contemporary styles.
	Little Feat	Though they had all the trappings of a Southern-fried blues band, Little Feat were hardly conventional.
	Infamous Stringdusters	Drawing on the talents of up-and-coming Nashvillians Andy Hall, Chris Eldridge, Chris Pandolfi, Jeremy Garrett, Jesse Cobb, and Travis Book, the Infamous Stringdusters manage to balance a fluency in old-timey bluegrass with indie jamgrass sensibilities.
	Blues Traveler	A New York-based blues-rock quartet formed in 1988 by singer/harmonica player John Popper, guitarist Chan Kinchla, bassist Bobby Sheehan, and drummer Brendan Hill, Blues Traveler were part of a revival of the extended jamming style of '60s and '70s groups like the Grateful Dead and Led Zeppelin.
	Ekoostik Hookah	Since 1991, the celebratory jam sounds of Columbus, OH's Ekoostik Hookah has made them one of the finest Midwestern bands to emerge from the neo-hippie scene of the 1990s.
	Del McCoury	Among the most distinguished practitioners of traditional bluegrass, Del McCoury was the epitome of the "high lonesome sound" for over three decades.
	G. Love & Special Sauce	G. Love & Special Sauce are a Philadelphia-based trio whose laid-back, sloppy blues sound is quite unique, as it encompasses the sound/production of classic R&B and recent rap artists (the Beastie Boys, in particular).
	Bob Marley	Reggae's most transcendent and iconic figure, Bob Marley was the first Jamaican artist to achieve international superstardom, in the process introducing the music of his native island nation to the far-flung corners of the globe.
	Mike Gordon	The bassist/vocalist for the jam band Phish, Mike Gordon is also a multi-instrumentalist and filmmaker.