By Sarah Godcher

The banjo sounds like a sitar one minute, a Hammond B3 organ the next. The bass solos are as sweetly melodic as they are down-home funky. The saxophonist can play two horns at the same time, and the percussionist performs with a stick in one hand and his own invention, a "drumitar," in the other. And in a single song, the entire band tightly shifts from 17/4 to 15/4 to 7/4 and back again without missing a beat.

	Bela Fleck tells a story during his clinic.
	Photo by Kim Grant

When the band visited Berklee in October 1998, they sent a clear message to students: follow your music, take chances, and let your talent speak for itself. It is a formula that has worked well for the Flecktones, earning them critical acclaim, a huge and loyal fan base, and a berth atop the Billboard contemporary jazz charts.

But for Fleck, following this advice meant giving up a successful band and a comfortable status in bluegrass music. By the late 80s, Fleck's rare ability and unique style had propelled him to the top echelon of contemporary bluegrass. His band, New Grass Revival, was breaking new ground while attracting a growing audience. Meanwhile, challenging side projects matched him up with the likes of fiddle genius Mark O'Connor and dobro master Gerry Douglas.

"It was kind of a strange thing for a banjo player who usually can't even get signed," Fleck told students. "I was on three major labels and doing a project on another."

New Grass Revival was at the top of its game. But as much as he loved bluegrass, Fleck felt himself being pulled in another, unexpected direction -- one that would take his banjo playing even farther from bluegrass traditions and into uncharted territory. Fleck wanted to play jazz. On the banjo.

Ten years and six Flecktones albums later, the idea doesn't seem so crazy. But at the time, Fleck felt some trepidation. "I expected a lot of resistance," he said, "but oddly enough, it didn't really come. In the first year, it caught fire."

The Flecktones came together for the first time in 1988, when -- from out of the blue -- bassist Victor Lemonte Wooten approached Fleck. Wooten was impressed with Fleck's music and wanted to meet him, so he took a chance and telephoned Fleck at his home. "That day I ended up playing my bass over the telephone," he said. Within weeks, Wooten, his percussionist brother Future Man, harmonica/keyboard player Howard Levy, and Fleck had put together some tunes to perform for the PBS television special Lonesome Pines.

Soon afterward Fleck departed New Grass Revival to perform full time with the Flecktones. But it wasn't an easy decision. "Leaving was a very difficult thing," he said. "But these other guys were so good, I just figured an opportunity like that doesn't come around very often. When the iron is hot, you have to strike."

Fleck walked away from New Grass Revival's critical and commercial success because that's where his music was leading him. "I thought I was taking a dive into a total art project. I was like, 'I don't care if this takes off. I just want to make music with these guys and the rest will take care of itself,'" he said. "It was this leap of faith."

Echoing this sentiment, the Flecktones' saxophonist Jeff Coffin urged Berklee students to remain open to music's many possibilities. "It's important to stay broad-minded," he said. "When somebody comes up to you -- even if they're a banjo player -- they may be the baddest banjo player you've ever heard in your life."

And Future Man, who used to visit Berklee in the '80s to jam with former students Tommy Campbell and Kevin Eubanks, reminded audience members to take full advantage of everything the college offers them. "You guys really have a great opportunity here," he said. "It's like the future major people are here."