My Bluegrass Heart is a studio album by American banjo player Béla Fleck, third of the trilogy, which starts with 1988's album Drive and continues with 1999's album The Bluegrass Sessions: Tales from the Acoustic Planet, Vol. 2. The album features guest appearances from Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, Bryan Sutton, Billy Strings, Chris Thile, Noam Pikelny, Sierra Hull, Molly Tuttle, Tony Trischka, Michael Cleveland and David Grisman.
We’re pleased to announce Throw Down Your Heart: The Complete Africa Sessions, a new comprehensive film and music set documenting Béla Fleck’s transcontinental exploration of the banjo’s roots. The Complete Africa Sessions, out March 27, compiles the 2008 documentary film Throw Down Your Heart; its soundtrack, Tales From the Acoustic Planet, Vol. 3; and the outtakes collection Throw Down Your Heart: Africa Sessions Part 2, Unreleased Tracks. Plus, it includes a brand-new album with kora master Toumani Diabaté entitled The Ripple Effect (also available to purchase individually on 180-gram, 2-LP vinyl).
Drive is an album by American banjoist Béla Fleck. The album was produced toward the end of Fleck's New Grass Revival career and before the Flecktones were formed and included an all-star list of bluegrass performers. This album is a touchstone of modern acoustic music, and has since influenced almost every bluegrasser looking to break new ground. Bela would go on to do many fantastic things in a wide variety of genres, but in his bluegrass endeavors, this has to be consider among the best.
Banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck has certainly broken more boundaries than any other picker in recent memory, from his early days performing bluegrass-inspired folk compositions on Rounder in the late '70s to his quirky jazz freak-outs with the Flecktones throughout the '90s. In late 2001, this peculiar innovator released an album of banjo interpretations of classical works by Bach, Chopin, and Scarlatti. Before classical purists roll their eyes, they must remember that the banjo hasn't always been seen as the instrument of choice of backwoods musicians in the Appalachian mountains, but as recently as the 1940s was used as a primary rhythm instrument in all manner of parlor music.
The album "Rhapsody in Blue" by Bela Fleck is a captivating musical journey that showcases the extraordinary talent of this renowned banjo virtuoso. Released under the Bela Fleck Productions - Thirt label, this album is a fusion of bluegrass, jazz, and classical music, resulting in a unique and innovative sound.
A new project from perception shattering musicians Bela Fleck, Zakir Hussain, Edgar Meyer, and Rakesh Chaurasia, As We Speak brings together their unique takes on Indian and Western Classical music, jazz and bluegrass. Weaving a sonic tapestry of banjo, tabla, double bass, and bansuri, these artists convene to make some of the most soulful, fascinating and undefinable music found in today's world.
Remembrance, a new double album out May 10, serves as a moving final document of the profound creative and personal rapport that banjoist Béla Fleck and pianist Chick Corea first showcased at album length with 2007’s Latin Grammy-winning The Enchantment. It’s also a crucial addendum to Corea’s legacy, featuring three previously unreleased Corea compositions as well as five short free improvisations, or impromptus, that Fleck has infused with written music. “We pushed this duo to a new place before we ran out of time,” says Fleck, who produced Remembrance. “We have here another cool look at Chick Corea, at the different ways that he can play that we wouldn’t have had. There’s a lot of great Chick Corea out there, and this is different.”