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Béla Fleck and the Flecktones is a primarily instrumental group that draws equally on bluegrass, fusion and jazz band, sometimes dubbed "blue-bop." 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.
Frontman Béla Fleck plays banjo, mixing a bluegrass and folk sound into a modern improvisational style. Fleck has received Grammy nominations for jazz, bluegrass, pop, spoken word and country.
Brothers Victor Wooten and Roy "Future Man" Wooten form the rhythm section. Victor Wooten is widely lauded in jazz circles for his sometimes hyperkinetic slap and pop technique on bass guitar. Future Man plays percussion using a drumitar, a MIDI synthesizer shaped like a guitar.
Membership in The Flecktones is little changed since the band released its eponymous first album.
Harmonica and keyboards player Howard Levy appeared on the Flecktones' first three albums. After Levy's departure, Fleck and the Wooten Brothers regrouped on the album Three Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the title a reference to the 1975 movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest based on Ken Kesey's novel. Saxophonist Jeff Coffin joined the band beginning with the album Left Of Cool.
The band has won several Grammy awards.
Each of the current members of the quartet has released at least one solo album.
The band is on an amicable year-long hiatus throughout 2005. It is not yet certain what direction the band will take in 2006 and beyond. The individual members of the band tour frequently in other configurations.
Discography
- Béla Fleck and the Flecktones (album) (1990)
- Grammy nomination, Instrumental Composition
- Grammy nomination, Jazz Album
- Grammy nomination, Jazz Instrumental
- Flight of the Cosmic Hippo (1991)
- No. 1, U.S. jazz charts
- Grammy nomination, Jazz Album
- Grammy nomination, Jazz Instrumental
- UFO Tofu (1992)
- Grammy nomination, Best Instrumental
- Grammy nomination, Instrumental Composition for "Magic Fingers" (track)
- Three Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1993)
- Live Art (1996)
- Grammy winner, live album
- Grammy winner, Best Pop Instrumental Performance for "Sinister Minister" (track)
- Left of Cool (1998)
- Grammy winner, Best Instrumental Composition for "Almost 12" (track)
- Greatest Hits of the 20th Century (1999)
- Outbound (2000)
- Grammy winner, Best Contemporary Jazz Album
- Live at the Quick (2002)
- Little Worlds (2003)
- Ten From Little Worlds (2003)
External Links
- Official band web site (http://www.flecktones.com/)
- Victor Wooten's web site (http://www.victorwooten.com/)
- Future Man's web site, the "Roy-el experience" (http://www.evolutiondamour.com/)
- Howard Levy's web site (http://www.levyland.com/)
- Jeff Coffin's web site (http://www.jeffcoffin.com/)