By JOHN KELMAN
Some say you can't go back, but that's not always true. Emerging from his formative years as a rising star in the blue/newgrass community, banjoist Béla Fleck lept onto a much bigger radar with the release of Béla Fleck & The Flecktones (Warner Bros., 1990), after forming the group in 1988. Stretching and, in some cases, breaking down the boundaries of jazz, bluegrass, classical music and much, much more, the group's debut and two subsequent releases—Flight of the Cosmic Hippo (1991) and UFO Tofu (1991), also on Warner Bros.—positioned The Flecktones as virtuosos with mind-boggling chops, without ever losing site of the intrinsic musicality that made songs like "Sinister Minister," "Blu-Bop" and "UFO Tofu" so eminently appealing. Three years of cross-continent touring built a loyal audience, much as Medeski, Martin & Wood would do a couple years later, with both groups becoming heroes to the jam band community that began emerging around the same time.
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