Corea Elektric Band, Béla & Flecktones To Join Forces for 2017 Summer Tour

By DownBeat I Nov. 29, 2016

Béla Fleck & The Flecktones (top) and Chick Corea’s Elektric Band will join forces for a multi-city tour from Aug. 5–21, 2017.
(Photo: Courtesy Kurland Agency)

DownBeat Critics Poll Award winners Béla Fleck and Chick Corea proved a dynamic pairing on two albums released in the past decade, The Enchantment (2007, Concord) and Two (2015, Concord). Now, the two will join forces for a North American tour with their respective groups—The Flecktones and Elektric Band—from Aug. 5–21, 2017.

The shows will feature the original lineups of both bands.

Béla Fleck & The Flecktones have been performing and recording as a unit for more than three decades, winning six Grammy Awards in the process. For the 2017 tour, Fleck has reunited the original lineup of his band—Victor Wooten (bass), Roy Wooten/aka Future Man (drumitar) and Howard Levy (harmonica and keyboard). UFO Tofu (Warner Bros.), released in 1992, was the last album recorded by this lineup.

The Chick Corea Elektric Band, formed in 1986, has for decades experimented with musical forms and genres. With Corea on keyboards and electronics, the Elektric Band has delivered seven albums to date, the last of which, To The Stars, was released in 2004 on Stretch Records. The entire classic quintet will be on stage: John Patitucci (bass), Frank Gambale (guitar), Eric Marienthal (saxophone) and Dave Weckl (drums).