Groundbreaking banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck is coming back to Cincinnati, and fans of the 16-time Grammy Award-winning artist should be especially enthusiastic. Fleck is performing with the original Flecktones lineup to celebrate their 30th anniversary. The tour comes to the Taft Theatre this Sunday, June 30.
For many, the Flecktones are unquestionably the highlight of Fleck’s remarkable career that’s included multiple all-star collaborations, concertos and orchestral performances, Jazz and World Music projects and more — all with his trusty five-string banjo in hand.
Béla Fleck and The Flecktones are a fantastical Jazz Bluegrass hybrid that’s won them seven Grammy Awards. The genre-defying group has toured alongside the Grateful Dead, Bonnie Raitt and Dave Matthews Band. This tour is different, though. It’s their first in decades with original member (pianist and harmonica wiz) Howard Lev, who left the group in 1992. The full original lineup also includes bass virtuoso Victor Wooten and his brother experimental percussionist and instrument inventor Roy “Futureman” Wooten.
Fleck — who also produced an award-winning documentary exploring the banjo’s roots in Africa — has helped shaped the evolution of acoustic music for his role in pushing forward the Newgrass movement. He also has the distinction of being nominated in more Grammy categories than any other instrumentalist in history, reflecting his tendency to push boundaries and embrace experimentation.
It all began when a young Fleck heard the renowned Beverly Hillbillies theme, performed by Earl Scruggs. “People talk about a ‘Come to God’ moment and for most banjo players of note in the Bluegrass world, hearing Earl Scruggs is that moment,” Fleck told National Public Radio’s On Being in 2015. In 2011, he dedicated The Imposter, a concerto for banjo and orchestra, to Scruggs.
That same tendency for acknowledgment of the past is reflected in the Flecktones anniversary tour. When asked by JamBase in 2016 about the likelihood of extending the then just-announced original lineup reunion beyond just a few appearances, he remarked, “It’s an open book. We all share a lot of history… Flecktones had been the center of our musical lives for decades, so we decided to give it a break. Four years later, we’re starting to miss each other!”
