Results for "Bela Fleck"

Musician

Bela Fleck

Born: July 10, 1958

Just in case you aren't familiar with Béla Fleck, there are some who say he's the premiere banjo player in the world. Others claim that Béla has virtually reinvented the image and the sound of the banjo through a remarkable performing and recording career that has taken him all over the musical map and on a range of solo projects and collaborations. If you are familiar with Béla, you know that he just loves to play the banjo, and put it into unique settings. Born and raised in New York City, Béla began his musical career playing the guitar. In the early 1960's, while watching the Beverly Hillbillies, the bluegrass sounds of Flatt & Scruggs flowed out of the TV set and into his young brain. Earl Scruggs's banjo style hooked Béla's interest immediately

Album

BEATrio

By BEATrio

Label: Thirty Tigers
Released: 2025
Track listing: Archipelago; Pellucidar; Kaleidoscopes; Countryside; Cloak and Dagger; Whispers of Resilience; coda; Walnut and Western; Three is Not a Crowd; Hooligan Harbor; Touch and Go.

Album

Jingle All The Way

By Bela Fleck

Label: Thirty Tigers
Released: 2025
Track listing: Jingle Bells; Silent Night' Sleigh Ride; The Christmas Song; The Twelve Days of Christmas; J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio— BWV 248: # 41 “Ich will nur zu Ehren leben”; Christmas Time is Here; Linus and Lucy; Jingle Bells (reprise); The Hanukkah Waltz; Danse of the Sugar Plum Fairies; What Child is This/Dyngyldai; O Come All Ye Faithful; Medley; Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas; River.

Article: Album Review

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones: Jingle All The Way

by Doug Collette
December 22, 2025

Originally released in 2008 on Rounder Records, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones' Jingle All The Way is an accurate microcosm of the deceptive whimsy the group displays on stage during the best moments of their live performances. Its uplifting effect is all the more pronounced as this is a collection of holiday-related music. This ...

Article: In Pictures

Bela Fleck & the Flecktones at the Salt Shed in Chicago

by Sandra Kozintseva
December 16, 2025

Bela Fleck & The Flecktones stopped by the Salt Shed in Chicago on their “Jingle All the Way" reunion tour in December 2025. The band, with original members Bela Fleck, Victor Wooten, and Roy “Future Man" Wooten, was joined by Jeff Coffin, Sierra Hull, and the Alash Ensemble for this holiday show. They played tunes from ...

Article: Radio & Podcasts

Improvising the Classics: Jazz Goes Baroque

by Larry Slater
November 28, 2025

I love classical music almost as much as jazz. Like jazz, classical music is a big tent, spanning the entire musical spectrum from medieval chant to twelve tone atonality. Jazz musicians today get most of their music education in universities and colleges, and often in conservatories. A great many of today's jazz artists have ...

Video

Béla Fleck & Edmar Castañeda: Live at Big Ears Festival 2019

Featuring the music of Bela Fleck
Duration: 44:04
October 12, 2025

Strike a victory for #alt-instrument-jazz ! This video features two absolute masters of their instruments, Béla Fleck on banjo and Edmar Castañeda on harp. Among the elements that might blow you away are: the opening groove established without percussion instruments; how the duo is locked in together across up-tempo lead lines and arpeggios (never having played together before); their ability to generate musical and emotional dynamics from instruments with limited volume range; and "watch me fly!" solos; Enjoy just the first song, "No Fear", through 08:15, or more pieces from “Live at Big Ears Festival 2019.”

News: Crowdfunding Campaign

Bluegrass Ambassadors And ReString Appalachia Launch Fundraiser/ Raffle For Béla Fleck Prototype Banjo For Texas Flood Victims

July 30, 2025

Chicago-based non-profit, Bluegrass Ambassadors, founded by critically-acclaimed bluegrass band Henhouse Prowlers, have, once again, partnered with Tennessee's ReString Appalachia, a non-profit initiated by the music history podcast American Songcatcher, to raise funds to provide musical instruments to individuals affected by the devastating flooding in Texas. The organizations collaborated earlier this year raffling off a custom handmade ...

Article: In Pictures

BEATrio at the Perry Pavilion

by Mark Robbins
July 16, 2025

Béla Fleck is a trailblazing banjo player whose genre-defying approach has redefined the possibilities of the instrument. Born in New York City in 1958 and named after the Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, he's spent his career weaving bluegrass, jazz, classical, and world music into dazzling sonic tapestries. Whether leading his groundbreaking group Béla Fleck and the ...

Article: Live Review

BEATrio At National Concert Hall

by Ian Patterson
July 15, 2025

BEATrio National Concert Hall Dublin, Ireland July 7, 2025 Some stars take longer than others to align. In the case of BEATrio, the supergroup of drummer Antonio Sánchez, harpist Edmar Castañeda and banjoist Béla Fleck, you could say that the stars took 16 years to line up. BEATrio might ...