Instruments have no boundaries for Fleck and his band

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

•	Béla Fleck and The Flecktones with Jake Shimabukuro 8 p.m. Tuesday Sheraton Waikiki Hawaii Ballroom $40; $35 advance 526-4400 Also on the Neighbor Islands

"It was the banjo ... just the banjo," said Fleck, by way of explaining he was less impressed as a child by the story of a man named Jed than the picking of Earl Scruggs. "The banjo has a real unique combination of technical complexity and earthiness. There's that plunky funky sound, and yet this incredible speed and dexterity. And I loved it."

Funky — some might say, downright space-agey — explorers of the unlimited interchangeability of music genres, Fleck and his Flecktones' first statewide tour ends in Honolulu Tuesday with a performance at the Sheraton Waikiki Hawaii Ballroom.

An insistence on pummeling preconceived notions of what their respective instruments should sound like together has always been the band's signature.

Fleck already was recognized by peers as a banjo master when he formed the Flecktones in 1989, seeking experimentalists as bold as himself. After failing to impress somewhat reluctant bluegrass and session musicians with his left-of-center goals, Fleck found his partners in the original Flecktones — pianist/harpist Howard Levy, bass guitarist Victor Wooten and percussionist/synthesist Roy Wooten.

The group has since cultivated a loyal fan base drawn to its trippy catalogue of jazz-based sonic journeys such as "Flight of the Cosmic Hippo," "UFO Tofu," and the aptly named "Outbound." Fleck and his Flecktones — currently the Wooten brothers and saxophonist Jeff Coffin — have gained critical kudos both together and apart. With and without his bandmates, Fleck has collaborated with musicians as diverse as Dave Matthews, The Chieftains, Phish, Garth Brooks and Amy Grant.

"Perpetual Motion," a CD of inspired banjo arrangements of classical pieces by composers such as Bach, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Brahms, nabbed Fleck a couple of 2002 Grammys for Best Classical Crossover Album and Best Instrumental Arrangement. Fleck's multiple past nominations — in music categories as diverse as world, country, pop, jazz, classical and bluegrass — are proof of his devotion to musical experimentalism.

Still, he had to pause and think a bit when asked if there was a musical genre that had no hope of getting the Béla Fleck treatment.

"Not really ... maybe ... I don't know," said Fleck, as if he had never been asked before. "Maybe I'm not interested in grunge rock or something, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't find myself in a position of playing it with somebody someday, so I don't know. I like it all."