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MUSIC

Banjoist takes music everywhere

Bela Fleck and The Flecktones have dived into progressive jazz, rock, classical and swing music

By Burl Burlingame

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Nov 28, 2008

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Although Bela Anton Leos Fleck may have been named after classical composers Bela Bartok, Anton Webern and Leos Janacek, his real musical birth was the moment he first heard Nashville sessionist Earl Scruggs play the theme song for "The Beverly Hillbillies." What was that lead instrument, so silvery and brisk and authoritative, showering cascades of percussive notes on the melody?

BELA FLECK AND THE FLECKTONES

With the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra Pops

Place: Blaisdell Concert Hall

Time: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday

Tickets: $20 to $82

Call: 792-2000 or visit www.honolulusymphony.com

Also: The Honolulu Symphony is offering a "Holiday Duets" concert package, in which a ticket to the Beethoven's Ninth on Dec. 27 can be combined with any other concert for only $10 more.
It was the good ol' "Deliverance" classic, the banjo, an instrument that resembles a skinny fretboard married to a snare drum, with five strings stretched tighter than Mama Cass' underwear. At 15, Fleck's grandfather presented him with a secondhand banjo, and by the time he graduated from New York City's High School of Music and Art, Fleck was already a professional banjoist.

Not just any blazing bluegrass picker or Dixie strummer. Fleck took the humble slave instrument -- the banjo is descended from various African instruments -- into realms that had been banjo-free zones, such as progressive jazz, rock, classical and swing, and in the process earned nine Grammy awards and received 25 nominations. More than any other musician, Fleck has been a Grammy contender in more diverse categories.

"The banjo seems to fit well in traditional music from many cultures. You just have to get the feel and language down," said Fleck, currently on Maui. "My goal is for it to sound as if it belonged there."

What about that half-length fifth string that is unique to the banjo?

"I use a variety of tunings, but I also play in standard G tuning, but in other keys. The fifth string can be used as a drone, or you can fret it, and play melodies that include it. It is integral to the sound of the banjo!"

Fleck's longtime band, The Flecktones, include bassist Victor Wooten -- many bass aficionados proclaim Wooten to be the greatest living bassist, no less -- Jeff Coffin on sax and flute, and Wooten's brother Future Man on percussion. Entertainment Weekly calls them "heavyweight players who make an endearing fusion, the Flecktones have a fine time roaming all over the musical map. ... It's hard to resist a band that draws on bluegrass, funk, world music, pop and jazz with such glee and blissful lack of pretension."

Their newest release, for most, would be that old chestnut, the Christmas album; however, The Flecktones sit in with Tuvan throat singers on "Jingle Bells," which gives you an idea how adventurous the holiday "Jingle All The Way" album is. The new record will be the core of their Honolulu Symphony Orchestra Pops performance, presided over by maestro Matt Catingub.

"We choose certain songs, usually with high melodic content," Fleck says, explaining how to integrate his tight little band into the sweep of a symphony. "We love hearing the sounds of the orchestra in our music. We have built up some really cool charts -- be playing a bunch of our quirky Christmas arrangements while we are here."

Speaking of Honolulu, ever play an ukulele banjo?

"My grandfather gave me a couple of these. I think they sound really great. I don't play them, though."

It's a busy time for Fleck. There's the African-journey film, "Throw Down Your Heart," and upcoming CD made with half brother Sascha Paladino, sitting in with Chinese bluegrass group Sparrow Quartet and collaborations with Chick Corea, Zakir Hussein and Edgar Meyer. It's all about taking the banjo one step beyond.

"Usually it just works," Fleck muses. "Probably the best example is my album 'Perpetual Motion,' in which I played the music of Bach, Chopin, Debussy, Beethoven and other classical greats.

"It seemed to work well, and we won two Grammys for it! Pretty crazy for a banjo!"

Although Bela Anton Leos Fleck may have been named after classical composers Bela Bartok, Anton Webern and Leos Janacek, his real musical birth was the moment he first heard Nashville sessionist Earl Scruggs play the theme song for "The Beverly Hillbillies." What was that lead instrument, so silvery and brisk and authoritative, showering cascades of percussive notes on the melody?

COURTESY BELA FLECK

BELA FLECK AND THE FLECKTONES

With the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra Pops

Place: Blaisdell Concert Hall

Time: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday

Tickets: $20 to $82

Call: 792-2000 or visit www.honolulusymphony.com

Also: The Honolulu Symphony is offering a "Holiday Duets" concert package, in which a ticket to the Beethoven's Ninth on Dec. 27 can be combined with any other concert for only $10 more.
It was the good ol' "Deliverance" classic, the banjo, an instrument that resembles a skinny fretboard married to a snare drum, with five strings stretched tighter than Mama Cass' underwear. At 15, Fleck's grandfather presented him with a secondhand banjo, and by the time he graduated from New York City's High School of Music and Art, Fleck was already a professional banjoist.

Not just any blazing bluegrass picker or Dixie strummer. Fleck took the humble slave instrument -- the banjo is descended from various African instruments -- into realms that had been banjo-free zones, such as progressive jazz, rock, classical and swing, and in the process earned nine Grammy awards and received 25 nominations. More than any other musician, Fleck has been a Grammy contender in more diverse categories.

"The banjo seems to fit well in traditional music from many cultures. You just have to get the feel and language down," said Fleck, currently on Maui. "My goal is for it to sound as if it belonged there."

What about that half-length fifth string that is unique to the banjo?

"I use a variety of tunings, but I also play in standard G tuning, but in other keys. The fifth string can be used as a drone, or you can fret it, and play melodies that include it. It is integral to the sound of the banjo!"

Fleck's longtime band, The Flecktones, include bassist Victor Wooten -- many bass aficionados proclaim Wooten to be the greatest living bassist, no less -- Jeff Coffin on sax and flute, and Wooten's brother Future Man on percussion. Entertainment Weekly calls them "heavyweight players who make an endearing fusion, the Flecktones have a fine time roaming all over the musical map. ... It's hard to resist a band that draws on bluegrass, funk, world music, pop and jazz with such glee and blissful lack of pretension."

Their newest release, for most, would be that old chestnut, the Christmas album; however, The Flecktones sit in with Tuvan throat singers on "Jingle Bells," which gives you an idea how adventurous the holiday "Jingle All The Way" album is. The new record will be the core of their Honolulu Symphony Orchestra Pops performance, presided over by maestro Matt Catingub.

"We choose certain songs, usually with high melodic content," Fleck says, explaining how to integrate his tight little band into the sweep of a symphony. "We love hearing the sounds of the orchestra in our music. We have built up some really cool charts -- be playing a bunch of our quirky Christmas arrangements while we are here."

Speaking of Honolulu, ever play an ukulele banjo?

"My grandfather gave me a couple of these. I think they sound really great. I don't play them, though."

It's a busy time for Fleck. There's the African-journey film, "Throw Down Your Heart," and upcoming CD made with half brother Sascha Paladino, sitting in with Chinese bluegrass group Sparrow Quartet and collaborations with Chick Corea, Zakir Hussein and Edgar Meyer. It's all about taking the banjo one step beyond.

"Usually it just works," Fleck muses. "Probably the best example is my album 'Perpetual Motion,' in which I played the music of Bach, Chopin, Debussy, Beethoven and other classical greats.

"It seemed to work well, and we won two Grammys for it! Pretty crazy for a banjo!"

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