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Béla Fleck and the Flecktones
Béla Fleck and the Flecktones
Béla Fleck and the Flecktones
History
Frontman Béla Fleck plays acoustic and electric banjos, mixing a bluegrass and folk sound into a modern improvisational style. Fleck has received Grammy nominations for performances in the jazz, bluegrass, pop, spoken word, contemporary Christian, gospel, classical, and country categories. To date, they are the only artist to receive nominations in as many diverse categories. Brothers Victor Wooten and Roy "Future Man" Wooten form the rhythm section. Victor Wooten is widely lauded in jazz and bassplaying circles for his sometimes hyperkinetic slap and pop technique on bass guitar, and many consider him the leading bass virtuoso in music today. Future Man plays percussion using the Synthaxe Drumitar, a MIDI controller of his own invention shaped like a guitar, as well as electric and acoustic kit drums and other percussion. Membership in the Flecktones has changed little since the band released its eponymous first album. Harmonica and keyboard 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 Ken Kesey’s novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Saxophonist Jeff Coffin joined the band beginning with the album Left of Cool. The band went on an amicable year-long hiatus throughout 2005, during which the individual members toured frequently in other configurations. The Flecktones were active and touring again in 2006. On September 30, 2008, the band released Jingle All the Way, their new holiday album.
(L to R) Victor Wooten, Béla Fleck, Jeff Coffin, and Futureman
Background information Genre(s) Years active Label(s) Bluegrass, Jazz Fusion 1988–present Warner Bros. (1990–1999) Columbia/Sony BMG
(2000–present)
Website Members Béla Fleck Victor Wooten Future Man Jeff Coffin
www.flecktones.com
Former members Howard Levy (1988–1992)
Béla Fleck and the Flecktones is a multi-Grammy winning, primarily instrumental group from the USA, that draws equally on bluegrass, fusion and jazz, sometimes dubbed "blu-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. Each of the current members of the quartet has released at least one solo album. The band’s name is a play on the name of the 1960s rock band Dick Dale and the Del-Tones.
Discography
• Béla Fleck and the Flecktones (1990) • Grammy nomination, Jazz Album • Flight of the Cosmic Hippo (1991) • No. 1, U.S. jazz charts • Grammy nomination, Jazz Album
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• • • • • • • • • • • • UFO Tofu (1992) Three Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1993) Live Art (1996) Left Of Cool (1998) Greatest Hits of the 20th Century (1999) Outbound (2000) Live at the Quick (2002) Live at the Quick (DVD, 2002) Little Worlds (2003) Ten From Little Worlds (2003) The Hidden Land (2006) Jingle All The Way (2008)
Béla Fleck and the Flecktones
• 2007 • Best Contemporary Jazz Album, The Hidden Land by Béla Fleck and the Flecktones • 2008 • Best Pop Instrumental Album," Jingle All The Way" by Béla Fleck And The Flecktones
External links
• • • • • • • • Official band web site Béla Fleck’s web site Victor Wooten’s web site Future Man’s web site Another Future Man web site Howard Levy’s web site Jeff Coffin’s web site Béla Fleck and the Flecktones collection at the Internet Archive’s live music archive
Grammy awards
• 1997 • Best Pop Instrumental Performance, "The Sinister Minister" by Béla Fleck and the Flecktones • 2001 • Best Contemporary Jazz Album, Outbound by Béla Fleck and the Flecktones
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9la_Fleck_and_the_Flecktones" Categories: Jazz fusion ensembles, Post-bop ensembles, American jazz musical groups, Jam bands, Musical groups from Nashville, Tennessee, Grammy Award winners This page was last modified on 21 May 2009, at 02:54 (UTC). All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) taxdeductible nonprofit charity. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers
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