The Sound of Worlds Colliding : Pop music review: Drawing on ‘Tales From the Acoustic Planet’ and other sources, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones explore without regard to genre boundaries.

When banjo player Bela Fleck led his Flecktones as a quartet, featuring Howard Levy on keyboards and harmonica, his band had an unusual sound for sure.

Despite the fact that banjo has rarely been incorporated into the jazz spectrum, Fleck somehow managed to make a solid place for his twangy tone and jazz-bluegrass approach. He teamed with Levy, Victor Wooten’s bass and Roy Wooten’s drumitar--a synthesizer that can make drum sounds and that is held like a guitar--to offer a take on contemporary jazz that, though it took some getting used to, was ultimately quite musical.

Levy left the band more than two years ago, and now Fleck is touring with just a trio, featuring bassist Wooten and his percussionist brother, who prefers to be called Future Man.

The stripped-down Flecktones, performing Sunday before an ebullient full house at the Galaxy Concert Theatre, still came across like nothing you’ve ever heard before. The group embraces a wider range of material, from jazz and rock to country, blues and bluegrass. Many of the selections were from the new “Tales From the Acoustic Planet” (Warner Bros). release.

And though Fleck and his cohorts--Sam Bush was a guest on mandolin and violin--delivered their pieces with zip and spirited self-assuredness, the numbers were almost all patchwork quilts of these various styles, emerging as mishmashes that lacked center and focus.

One reason for this lack of clarity could be the inclusion of Bush, a hearty picker who works with a rhythmic vitality. He’s an ardent bluegrass player--he and Fleck played together for eight years in the band New Grass Revival--and it seemed difficult for him to stretch beyond that genre. Even on his “Funk 55,” which started out as a tasty, slow blues, then segued into a torpid one-chord jam, his whiny ideas on electric mandolin had more country than blues flavor.

Fleck blended a lot more bluegrass into his jazzier tunes, and the two styles got along like a couple on a bad blind date. Songs such as “Cheeseballs in Cowtown” were weird versions of bluegrass, with a jazz bottom provided by Wooten and Future Man that never really grooved with the crisp, bluegrass-styled picking provided by Bush and Fleck. But when the group played a number such as “The Landing,” a purer bluegrass piece, the results were more successful.

Fleck also came across well when he dipped into his contemporary jazz/funk bag, as on “Vix 9,” a fast number that found Fleck and bassist Wooten playing careening unison lines, then featured the leader and the bassist--both virtuosos--soloing with fleet-fingered ideas.

A medley of folks songs from different Asian climes was another high point, as Fleck made his electric banjo sound like a guitar on a tuneful number from Mongolia, then lent a Spanish flavor to a piece from the Philippines.

Both Fleck and Wooten offered unaccompanied solos that were capsulated versions of the show. Fleck began with a Bach-like series of statements, slid smoothly into a bit of “Dueling Banjos,” then closed with a country number made distinctive by the use of impressionistic, and occasionally dissonant, chords.

Wooten, his hands working together as if he were at a keyboard, played snatches of “A Night in Tunisia,” “Waltz of the Sugar Plum Fairies” and “Chopsticks.”

Again, these were whirlwind tours of a number of musical worlds, when a slow cruise through one would have been more satisfying. Judging from the uproarious ovations and the demands for two encores, however, most of his loyal, vocal fans would disagree.

Opening the show was L.A.-based country singer Darryl Purpose, whose original numbers had an authentic ring. Playing tunes from his “Right Side of Zero” CD, Purpose sang with feeling, and his group was also sparked by the harmonious vocals of Rebecca White and the vibrant violin work of Daryl S.