Anyone would think that Béla Fleck didn't like Scotland.

The last time the banjo virtuoso played at Celtic Connections, in 2009, he flew back to the US between his concerts at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and the 02 ABC on the Saturday and Wednesday respectively, although there was the small matter of a concert marking Barack Obama's inauguration in Washington involved.

And by the time most of his audience from tonight's opening concert are having breakfast tomorrow, Fleck'll be gone again, flying off with his band, the Flecktones, on the first plane out of Edinburgh to play in Israel.

These are just the pressures of work. The truth is, Fleck loves it here. He and his wife, fellow banjoist, singer and songwriter Abigail Washburn, spent their honeymoon visiting the Highlands and Islands and between that and another trip to take part in BBC Television's Transatlantic Sessions, the country's made quite an impression. Both these visits have also contributed some research into the guest list for tonight's gig.

"Abi and I got to know Kathleen MacInnes, who's a lovely singer, when we were over on honeymoon and I've subsequently played on her latest album," he says. "In putting the concert together, I wanted to feature musicians that the Flecktones would really enjoy playing with and to include some songs because we hardly ever work with singers. I've wondered for some time what Michael McGoldrick's flute would sound like in the band and our drummer, Futureman, told me he wanted to play with a bodhran player, so when I heard Martin O'Neill, I thought he'd be great to have along. It's really just a case of having people I or the band admire: Karan Casey, who I've known and enjoyed listening to since she sang with Solas; Casey Driessen, who's a great fiddle player. There might be a few surprises but we'are all doing our homework, having a day's rehearsal and going for it. It'll be hectic but fun for everyone, I think, the audience included."

Apart from bringing the Flecktones together with guests from the Gaelic, Irish and American scenes, the concert marks the return of the band's original line-up. During a break while the four members who played on the band's previous Celtic Connections appearance went off and did other things, such as Fleck's trip to find his instrument's roots in Africa that was documented in the film Throw Down Your Heart, saxophonist Jeff Cotton was first asked to deputise in and then join the Dave Matthews Band.

"We were really happy for Jeff because that meant he was playing in one of America's highest profile and busiest groups," says Fleck. "But it left us with the problem of who was going to replace him. He'd been with us for 14 years and we developed a really strong relationship in that time. But then Howard Levy, who was the original fourth member, suddenly became available. The Flecktones were actually designed with Howard in mind back in 1988, when I was trying to find guys who could play this kind of electronic bluegrass with jazz elements that I was getting into. And when we got back together, it took a little time to adjust to having harmonica instead of saxophone, but pretty soon it was like Howard had never left. The chemistry we had back then was still there but we'd all matured as musicians, so it felt familiar and yet at the same time, brand new."

Released last summer, the reconstituted original line-up's first album, Rocket Science, certainly picked up where they'd left off in terms of teamwork and musical understanding. By turns sweetly melodic and deeply funky, there are pieces on there, such as Earthling Parade, where Fleck's banjo, Levy's harmonica, Victor Wooten's bass guitar and his brother Roy, or Futureman's drums, percussion and "drumitar" seem to be controlled by the one musical brain.

"It's tricky stuff, sure, and a lot of work goes into it," says Fleck. "But the idea is not to sound like we're super-smart. We want to make it sound natural. One of the reasons Futureman doesn't want written parts – not that I could write them for him, I use my own banjo shorthand or tablature – is so that he can make any intricate changes in rhythm flow right from the beginning. Earthling Parade actually started out way back as a solo banjo piece because I couldn't get anyone to play this complicated arrangement. But the guys heard me play it and learned it section by section until it became as natural as breathing for them. Now we take it out onstage and just have a blast."

When not playing with the Flecktones – and their now frequent lay-offs are seen as being central to keeping the band sounding fresh – Fleck can be found in any amount of musical situations. There's the Sparrow Quartet with wife Abi, where her interest in Chinese traditional music meets American folk music; a trio with bassist Edgar Meyer and Indian percussion master Zakir Hussain; duos with jazz pianist Chick Corea, and a band with Corea's colleague in Return to Forever, bassist Stanley Clarke and violinist Jean Luc Ponty.

Over the next few months he'll be touring his first banjo concerto, which he premiered in Nashville last September, round the symphony orchestra circuit. He'll also be teaming up with jazz pianist Marcus Roberts's trio to promote the album they are about to release.

"There are all sorts of things I'd like to do," he says. "I'm always looking for interesting new people to play with and having been to Mali and seen where the banjo came from, I'd also like to go to India and spend some time soaking up the music there and meeting the banjo's Indian cousins. Preparing this Celtic Connections concert, especially listening to the Scottish and Irish musicians who are involved and imagining them singing and playing with the Flecktones, has also made me realise that I haven't explored Celtic music as much as I'd like to. So I may well be back for more."

An Evening with Béla Fleck and The Flecktones opens this year's Celtic Connections at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall tonight, sponsored by ScottishPower.