Bela Fleck could retire from the music business today and his resume would be longer and more diverse than most.

The 50-year-old New York City native is a giant in the world of newgrass. He’s a pioneer when it comes to spicing up bluegrass with other genres, especially jazz.

He has cut an album with jazz legend Chick Corea, arranged classical music with Edgar Meyer and performed with jam-band mega-stars Phish and the Dave Matthews Band.

And did we mention Fleck, who’ll play with his band the Flecktones on Sunday in Bend (see “If you go”), is arguably the world’s greatest banjo player?

But, as the old saying goes, there’s no rest for the supernaturally talented and endlessly curious. (That’s a saying, right?) And so, here in late 2008, Fleck is adding two more lines to that resume: call ‘em “Christmas” and “Africa.”

Sunday’s show in Bend is part of a tour behind the Flecktones’ first-ever Christmas album, “Jingle All The Way.” At 16 tracks long, the record features all your favorite holiday jams — from “O Come All Ye Faithful” to “The Hanukkah Waltz” — played in the band’s boundary-stretching style.

The Flecktones have been doing Christmas medleys for nearly two decades, Fleck said in an e-mail interview, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that fans began demanding a recording.

“We worked up a new medley, in which we played a different version of ‘Silent Night’ in a jazzy 54 time, with a breakneck version of ‘Sleigh Ride,’” Fleck said. “At that point, the audience began asking loudly for a holiday album. Last year we decided to go for it.”

The album is nothing if not a fun listen. Among the non-Flecktones to appear on “Jingle All The Way” are Klezmer clarinetist Andy Statman, bassist Meyer (“a Bach Christmas cantata with some amazing four-part writing (allowed us) to add (him) to the mix,” Fleck says), and the Alash Ensemble, a group of Tuvan throat singers.

Because nothing says Christmas like Tuvan throat singing, a style of music developed among Asian herders that involves singing multiple pitches at the same time. Still, it works.

“I had never heard Tuvan singing in harmony, and they are great,” Fleck said. “All in all, we are very happy with how the album has turned out.”

Once the Flecktones are done promoting the Christmas record, Fleck will turn his attention — at least some of it — to “Throw Down Your Heart,” a documentary about his journey to Africa in 2005. (Fleck hopes the film will be out next year. An album will be released in February, with a tour planned for the spring.)

The trip wasn’t Fleck’s first to Africa, but it was his first time in Uganda, Tanzania, Mali and The Gambia, where he traveled around, met up with African musicians and jammed.

The goal? In part, to show the banjo in a context beyond the American South, beyond bluegrass, beyond “hillbilly” music.

But there was more to it than that. Something more primal.

“I wanted to remind people that the banjo is an African instrument,” Fleck said. “But mostly, I just love African music and wanted to play with great musicians.”

Mission accomplished.

“I had many amazing musical experiences (in Africa),” he said. “I found a lot to inspire me over there. There was a lot of new music to learn, and all of it gave me new ideas to try.”

And for Bela Fleck, new ideas are fuel. And if new ideas are fuel, this man is the Mario Andretti of the music business.

Though even he acknowledges the need to let up on the gas pedal once in a while.

“I think there will always be music to get excited by,” he said. “I do need to be careful to take some time out to avoid getting exhausted. That is the only time when my enthusiasm for music weakens for a while.”

If you go

What: Bela Fleck and the Flecktones

When: 7 p.m. Sunday

Where: Tower Theatre, 835 N.W. Wall St., Bend

Cost: $36, $55, $70.50, available through the Tower box office, 541-317-0700 or www.towertheatre.org

Contact: 541-317-0700 or www.towertheatre.org