12/18/2009
By Gary Demuth Salina Journal

When thinking of the Christmas classic “Silent Night,” the banjo doesn’t immediately come to mind.
But then Béla Fleck has never been an ordinary banjo player.
Acclaimed by critics and audiences alike as the premier banjo player in the world, Fleck has turned an instrument traditionally used in country music and bluegrass into one that mixes elements of bebop jazz, classical, pop, rock, funk and world music.
In 2008, Fleck added Christmas music to his repertoire by releasing a holiday album, “Jingle All the Way.” The album includes banjo-flavored renditions of classics like “Jingle Bells,” “Silent Night,” “Sleigh Ride,” “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies” and the Christmas jazz classic, “Linus and Lucy,” from “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”
Accompanying Fleck on the recording is his longtime band, The Flecktones, featuring Jeff Coffin on saxophone, Roy “Future Man” Wooten on percussion and Victor Wooten on bass.
“We started doing a holiday medley every year, and people just loved it,” Fleck said. “We were waiting for the right time to really delve into it, and last year we finally did it.”
Not only was the album a No. 1 jazz title throughout the 2008 Christmas season, it also won a Grammy award in 2009 for Best Pop Instrumental Album.
Béla Fleck and the Flecktones will be in concert Sunday at the Stiefel Theatre for the Performing Arts, 151 S. Santa Fe.
Been to Salina before
Fleck and his band last performed in Salina in 1998 at the Bicentennial Center and in 1999 in Oakdale Park, both years as headliners at the Smoky Hill River Festival. Wooten, acclaimed as the most innovative bass technician since Jaco Pastorius, performed a solo concert at the Stiefel Theatre in February 2008.
Fleck is quick to praise his fellow band members, most of whom have performed with him since he formed the Flecktones in 1988.
“Everyone contributes so much,” he said. “I am proud of the fact that Victor and Future Man still find it a healthy place for them to live. Jeff has been with us for 11 years and has moved on to the Dave Mathews Band. He will be with us on this tour.”
Born in 1958 in New York City, Fleck first picked up a banjo at age 15 after immersing himself in the bluegrass music of Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs.
Scruggs, famous for performing the theme song to the hit 1960s TV comedy, “The Beverly Hillbillies,” was perhaps the most influential banjo player in history, Fleck said.
“The sound of Earl Scruggs is powerful and unusual,” he said. “Banjo players often cite the first time they heard Earl as being a turning point in their life.”
While still in high school, Fleck began experimenting with bebop jazz on the banjo. In 1980, he released his first solo album, “Crossing the Tracks.” In 1981, he was invited to join the progressive bluegrass band New Grass Revival, led by acclaimed fiddler Sam Bush.
Full-time in 1990
Fleck spent the next decade making a name for himself on solo and ensemble projects before forming The Flecktones in 1988.
“I was offered a one-hour TV show called ‘The Lonesome Pine Special,’ to play my original music,” Fleck said. “The band that I put together for that one concert stuck, and in 1990 we went full time.”
By selecting virtuoso musicians like the Wooten brothers, Coffin and former keyboardist/harmonica player Howard Levy, Fleck said he wanted to form a band of equals.
“I looked for the greatest musicians I could find,” he said. “I wanted to play challenging music on the banjo, and since no one was calling me to do that in their band, I had to create my own.”
During the past 20 years, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones have developed a large and passionate following, which Fleck attributed to the band’s infectious music and joy in performing.
“People get uplifted by the Flecktones,” he said. “I think the music is so complex and layered, yet has a common-man element, and it makes people happy.”
In his varied music career, Fleck has been nominated for more Grammys in different categories than any other musician. He has had 27 nominations in country, pop, jazz, bluegrass, classical, folk, spoken word, composition and arranging, and has won 11 Grammys.
Both solo and with the Flecktones, Fleck has appeared at bluegrass and jazz festivals throughout the world and has shared the stage with the Dave Mathews Band, Sting, Bonnie Raitt and the Grateful Dead, among others.
African musicians
In February, Fleck will begin touring with a group of African musicians with whom he recorded a 2009 album, “Throw Down Your Heart,” and a documentary film of the same name. Come fall, he plans to record another album with the Flecktones.
“Feather in a movie score that I’ll be doing, and writing a banjo concerto, and it looks like a very busy year,” Fleck said.
When Fleck first picked up the banjo more than 35 years ago, he never envisioned making a music career out of it.
“I was ambitious, but I have exceeded my hopes,” he said. “Now I get to concentrate on being an artist, which is wonderful.”

n Reporter Gary Demuth can be reached at 822-1405 or by e-mail at gdemuth@salina.com.