Just in case you aren’t familiar with Béla Fleck, there are many who say he’s the premiere banjo player in the world. Others claim that Fleck has virtually reinvented the image and the sound of the banjo through a remarkable performing and recording career that has taken him all over the musical map and on a range of solo projects and collaborations. If you are familiar with Fleck, you know that he just loves to play the banjo, and put it into unique settings.

A nineteen-time Grammy Award-winner, Fleck has the virtuosic, jazz-to-classical ingenuity of an iconic instrumentalist and composer with bluegrass roots. For over 30 years, he has led Béla Fleck and The Flecktones, the groundbreaking quartet inspired by jazz, funk, bluegrass and beyond. From writing three banjo concertos for full symphony orchestra to exploring the banjo’s African roots with the award-winning 2009 documentary Throw Down Your Heart, many tout that Béla Fleck is the world’s premier banjo player. As Jon Pareles wrote for The New York Times, “That’s a lot of territory for five strings.”

Collaborators include Abigail Washburn, the Brooklyn Rider String Quartet, Chris Thile, The Blind Boys of Alabama, McCoy Tyner, Zakir Hussain, Edgar Meyer, and Rakesh Chaurasia (their latest album As We Speak won two Grammys in 2024).

Fleck’s album Rhapsody in Blue was released February 12, 2024 on the centennial of the work’s premiere in New York City, and he debuted it at Carnegie Hall with orchestra in May. His Grammy-winning project My Bluegrass Heart, is named in honor of his friend, mentor and hero Chick Corea (My Spanish Heart). Béla and Chick toured for many years as a duo and released three acclaimed albums, including their latest and final duo project, Remembrance (2024) which won a Grammy in 2025.

Fun Fact: Béla Fleck has been nominated in more different categories than any instrumentalist in Grammy history.