Béla Fleck and the Flecktones: The Original Line-up. Photo provided by Ted Kurland Associates.
Oxford, Ohio- For the first time since 1991, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones are touring with their original line-up of pianist/ harmonica player Howard Levy, bassist Victor Wooten, percussionist/Drumitarist Roy “Futureman” Wooten and banjoist bandleader Fleck to create some of the most forward-thinking music of their long, storied career. The group will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 20th at Millett Hall, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.
While all manners of genres come into play – from classical and jazz to bluegrass and African music to electric blues and Eastern European folk dances – the result is an impossible to pigeonhole sound all their own, a meeting of musical minds that remains, as ever, utterly indescribable. Simply put, it is The Flecktones, the music made only when these four individuals come together.
“There were a lot of unfinished aspects to this line-up of the band,” Fleck notes, “in that it stopped right when we were peaking creatively.” For Fleck, Levy’s return enables the Flecktones to follow through on the original concept of a band “where each person was reinventing their instruments, where every one of us was a kind of mutant.” “There’s a special thing that happens when the four of us get together and play,” notes Levy. “We all have the same attitude of trying to do things that we haven’t done before and coincidentally, no one else has either.”
The Flecktones first played together in1988, ostensibly for a single performance on PBS’ Lonesome Pine Special. From the start, there was a special kinship between the four musicians, a bond forged in a mutual passion for creativity and artistic advancement. After band member Howard Levy left to pursue other interests, the band played in different reincarnations, garnering five Grammy® Awards in a variety of categories. They recently won the Best Instrumental Composition Grammy Award for “Life In Eleven,” composed by Béla Fleck & Howard Levy and available on the band’s latest album, Rocket Science.
Béla Fleck and The Flecktones are presented by the Miami University Performing Arts Series in collaboration Miami Hamilton and Middletown Artist Series, and issponsored by the Baymont Inn & Suites and Kona bistro. Tickets are $30 for adults and $20 for students and youth. $50 floor seats are already sold out. For tickets or more information, go online to www.muohio.edu/PerformingArtsSeries or call the Miami Box Office at (513) 529-3200.
Behind the Curtain Cincinnati 