Purdue News

September 21, 2001 Banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck to perform at Purdue WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Banjo pioneer Béla Fleck and his band the Flecktones will be perform at 8 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 29, in Loeb Playhouse. Admission is $27.50 plus a $1 box office fee. Tickets can be purchased at Purdue box offices or charged by phone at (765) 494-3933 or (800) 914-SHOW. The performance is presented by Purdue Convocations and the Student Concert Committee. This will be Fleck’s second appearance at Purdue. The previous appearance was in September 1998 as part of Meyer-Fleck-Marshall, an act which featured a primarily classical repertoire. A pioneering banjo player and innovative bandleader, Fleck is often considered the premiere banjo player in the world. A native of New York City, he began playing banjo at age 15 after being awed by the bluegrass pickers Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. "It’s a strange combination of things with me," Fleck said. "Here I’m a New York City kid, and I fall in love with the banjo. Then I get turned on to (jazz) fusion." Fleck began experimenting with bebop on the banjo in high school. In 1982 he joined the progressive bluegrass band New Grass Revival and made a name for himself in the country bluegrass world. He formed the Flecktones in 1989. The group made its self-titled debut recording in 1990, playing a "blu-bop" mix of jazz and bluegrass. The Flecktones soon became a commercially successful, critically acclaimed, award-winning band. Fleck is the only musician to be nominated for Grammy Awards in jazz, bluegrass, pop, country, spoken word, Christian, composition and world music categories. He also has a number of solo releases, including 1994’s "Tales from the Acoustic Planet" and last year’s "The Bluegrass Sessions — Tales from the Acoustic Planet, Volume 2." The fusion-oriented Flecktones are touring in support of their new release, "Outbound" (Columbia Records), their seventh album. Fleck says the title perfectly reflects the current state of the Flecktones – founding members Victor Wooten on bass, Future Man on percussion/vocals and virtuoso saxophonist Jeff Coffin. "There’s a sense of us going on a journey, a voyage, instead of a sense of competition. This album represents us – starting off on a new label and the band becoming even more expansive musically than it already was," the 41-year-old bandleader says. The new album features a wide range of music, from an Ireland-meets-Africa "Shuba Yatra" performed on sitar banjo, to a version of Aaron Copland’s "Hoedown," to Fleck’s "Hall of Mirrors," which features wordless vocals by Shawn Colvin. CONTACT: Larry Sommers, Purdue Convocations, (765) 494-5045, lsommers@purdue.edu. NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: A publication-quality photograph of Fleck and the band is available at ftp://ftp.purdue.edu/pub/uns/. Photo ID: Fleck2001.jpeg Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page