Béla Fleck可謂是世界班卓琴王，別人稱贊他說：他通過許多很有特色和風格的演出、錄音重新塑造了班卓琴的音色和形象。如果你熟悉他的音樂，你會知道他是一個酷愛班卓琴，并致力于把它放在獨特的音樂環境中的人。他前后獲得20次“格萊美獎”提名，并九次獲得該項大獎，而且獲得獎項涉及到現代爵士、流行樂器曲、世界音樂、新約、現代古典、鄉村樂器曲、現代民謠、藍草、作曲等多個不同領域。這在“格萊美獎”歷史上是絕無僅有的。在近30年的音樂生涯中，他能演奏包括藍草、爵士、流行、搖滾、世界音樂等不同的音樂形式。雖然他的名字是來自三位古典音樂作曲大師的名字：巴托克（Bartok）、德沃夏克（Dvorak）和楊納切赫（Janacek），但他最近才開始涉及古典音樂。在第44屆“格萊美獎”年度頒獎中，他第一次創作的古典音樂：2001年的《永動》榮獲了2項格萊美獎。 最初他學習音樂是從吉他開始的，一次偶然在電視上看到的傳統歌曲使他充滿了興趣，自此他轉而開始彈奏班卓琴。由于生活在紐約，Béla Fleck能接觸到風格各異的音樂，包括爵士樂。于是后來他開始用班卓琴演奏爵士樂 —— 一種前所未聞的音樂的融合。上個世紀八十年代，大部分時間Béla Fleck是在一個充滿創新的藍草樂隊New Grass Revival中演奏，他們的音樂結合了藍草，搖滾和鄉村音樂。同時New Grass Revival的器樂專輯將班卓琴提升到了一個更加廣泛的領域中。 1990年，New Grass Revival解散后，我們的班卓琴巫師組建了由爵士鋼琴家Howard Levy, funk貝斯演奏家Victor Wooten和鼓手Roy Wooten組成的The Flecktones樂隊。在當時，看起來他們只是田納西州眾多new-acoustic組合中不起眼的一員，或許很快就會曇花一現的被潮流淹沒。然而，讓人們吃驚的是，這個四重奏表現出了與眾不同的活力，接二連三的出了好幾張專輯。 1999年，Béla Fleck & the Flecktones與華納分手后，與Sony's Columbia Records簽訂了5張唱片的合約。 Premier banjo player Béla Fleck is considered one of the most innovative pickers in the world and has done much to demonstrate the versatility of his instrument, which he uses to play everything from traditional bluegrass to progressive jazz. He was named after composer Béla Bartok and was born in New York City. Around age 15, Fleck became fascinated with the banjo after hearing Flatt & Scruggs Ballad of Jed Clampett and Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandells Dueling Banjos, and his grandfather soon gave him one. While attending the High School of Music and Art in New York, Fleck worked on adapting bebop music for the banjo. Fleck always had diverse musical interests, and his own style was influenced by Tony Trischka, Earl Scruggs, Chick Corea, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, the Allman Brothers, Aretha Franklin, the Byrds, and Little Feat. After graduation, he joined the Tasty Licks, a group from Boston. They recorded two albums and dissolved in 1979. Afterwards, Fleck joined the Kentucky band Spectrum. That year, only five years after he took up the instrument, he made his solo recording debut with Crossing the Tracks, which the Readers Poll in Frets magazine named Best Overall Album. In 1982, he joined New Grass Revival and stayed with them until the end of the decade. During this time, his reputation continued to grow and in 1990, Frets magazine added his name to their Hall of Greats. In 1988, one of his compositions, Drive (from the album New Grass Revival), was nominated for a Grammy. Fleck, mandolin player Sam Bush, fiddler Mark OConnor, bassist Edgar Meyer, and Dobro player Jerry Douglas teamed up in 1989 to form Strength in Numbers and record The Telluride Sessions. Late that year, Fleck was asked by PBS television to play on the upcoming Lonesome Pine Special; in response he gathered together a veritable dream team of musicians to form the Flecktones. The original members included Howard Levy, who played piano, harmonica, and ocarina, among other instruments; bass guitarist Victor Lemonte Wooten, and his brother Roy Future Man Wooten on the drumitar, an electronic drum shaped like a guitar. Though the special wasnt aired until 1992, the Flecktones recorded their eponymous debut album in 1990 and followed it up with Flight of the Cosmic Hippo (1991). In 1993, they released their third album, UFO Tofu, which featured music blending different genres ranging from bluegrass to R&B to worldbeat. In 1995, they released Tales from the Acoustic Planet; Left of Cool followed in 1998, and Tales from the Acoustic Planet 2: The Bluegrass Sessions was released a year later. Outbound followed in mid-2000. Busy and prolific, Fleck released an album of classical pieces, Perpetual Motion, in late 2001, followed by Live at the Quick in 2002, the ambitious double-disc Little Worlds (and its truncated single-disc version, Ten from Little Worlds) in 2003, and Music for Two (with bassist Edgar Meyer) in 2004. Hidden Land, another album with the Flecktones, appeared on Columbia Records in 2006.