Bela Fleck & The Flecktones On TV

With a subtle reply tweet in response to a fan, this week Béla Fleck hinted strongly at the possibility of reunion of his Bela Fleck and The Flecktones outfit in the not-so-distant future, giving fans of the improvisational jazz-fusion group hope for more innovative output from the acclaimed band. The buzz around a possible Flecktone reunion made us want to look back at some of the band’s previous television appearances in this week’s installment of Sunday Cinema.

Fleck launched The Flecktones in 1988 with bassist Victor Wooten, drummer Roy “Futureman” Wooten and multi-instrumentalist Howard Levy. In 1993 Levy left the group and rejoined again in 2011. Saxophonist Jeff Coffin became a Flecktone in 1998 and left to join the Dave Matthews Band full-time in 2010.

In 1992 Bela & Co. appeared as musical guests on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, performing “Life Without Elvis” from their album UFO Tofu. Watch the original lineup in action:

The Flecktones made a number of appearances on Late Night With Conan O’Brien, here’s a clip of their performance of “Stomping Grounds” from 1996 with Paul McCandless added to the mix:

The group later returned to O’Brien’s late night NBC program to perform “Next” which appeared on their 2003 album Little Worlds.

Finally, watch the group perform “Sinister Minister” on The Arsenio Hall Show in 1990: