!!BASSIST
VICTOR WOOTEN RELEASES 'LIVE' DOUBLE CD SET!!
(Reprinted with permission)
"Wooten has done more than anyone since the late Jaco Pastorious to
redefine the possibilities on the electric bass."
UPI (United Press International)
Victor Wooten is one of the most recognized and celebrated electric
bassists of all time. His secret seems to lie in doing his own
thing, breaking boundaries and defying categorization along the way.
Chip Stern wrote in Musician Magazine that Wooten is "proof that all
men are not created equal." To this Wooten says, "A lot of
guys who have been around for a long time are shocked when they see some
of the things I am doing. Fortunately, they like it."
Wooten's performances as a member of the Grammy-award winning Béla
Fleck and the Flecktones have gained him the adoration of bass players and
music fans worldwide. His album Yin Yang was nominated for the Best
Contemporary Jazz Album Grammy award and he was awarded a 1999 Nashville
Music Award for Bassist of the Year (his second). In 1998 he
received his third Bass Player of the Year award from Bass Player Magazine
(the only bassist to have received this award more than once) and was
named one of the Top 10 Bass Innovators of the '90s by the same
publication. Also in 1998, Wooten won his second Grammy (Best
Instrumental Composition for Almost 12 from The Flecktones album Left of
Cool) and Down Beat magazine voted him Talent Most Deserving Wider
Recognition. It was a very good year.
Live in America, Wooten's fourth solo album, marks the first time that his
explosive live show has been captured on cd. Guests on the album
include band members Regi Wooten, Joseph Wooten, JD Blair (Shania Twain)
and MC Divinity as well as special guests Marcus Miller, Michael Kott and
Bootsy Collins. Among the album's 18 tracks are new versions of
songs from Wooten's 3 previous studio albums as well as several new songs
written on the road including the part gorgeous and part funky Wooten
composition Sacred Silence/Jam Man. Other stand out tracks include
an extended jam with fellow bass monster Marcus Miller on Miller Time , a
spoken word band introduction offered up by Bootsy Collins and Tappin and
Thumpin a rare recorded feature for guitar shredmaster and Wooten brother
Regi Wooten again shows why he is considered a master of the electric
bass.
After years of touring with the Flecktones and as a solo artist, Wooten's
live performances have garnered praise from critics and fans worldwide and
have brought an enjoyment to him as an artist that continues to grow with
each passing year. Wooten explains "We are a very lucky group
of people. We know this and we try not to take it for granted. Traveling
around the world playing music is a wonderful thing and it produces many
wonderful moments. Many of these moments are on this CD: my first time on
stage with Marcus Miller, the intro that Bootsy recorded especially for
us, MC Divinty & Anthony Wellington on their first tours, and the
night that I improvised a second verse on "Good People" because
I had neglected to write one, and which the guys wouldn't let me erase for
this CD. I had just written the song on the airplane ride the day
before."
Wooten himself would be the first to tell you how his solo work is
influenced by those around him. "My brothers and parents were
the foundation," he says. "They prepared me for just about
anything by teaching me to keep my mind open and to learn to adapt.
Musically, that means not being rigid and not having to play in a certain
way." Wooten grew up in a military family, the youngest of five
brothers. His brothers all played and sang, and by the time Wooten
was 3, oldest brother Regi was teaching him to play bass. Wooten credits
his open-mindedness about music to this early start. "When you're
older, you're more hesitant to try something because you're afraid it will
look wrong or come out wrong. When you're a child it doesn't matter. We'd
try anything. We'd do anything we could think of to try and duplicate the
sounds we heard on records. I'd learn songs one note at a time by
listening to records on the player, moving the needle back and then
listening to it again. Playing the bass was like learning how to talk for
me. It was just another language I was picking up."
Wooten made his professional stage debut at age five with The Wooten
Brothers Band, the five-brother band that started out playing covers and
later opened concert tours for Curtis Mayfield and War. They also
spent several years playing music and honing their skills at Busch Gardens
theme park in Williamsburg, Virginia. This experience provided him
with a valuable training ground and a vehicle for his musical development.
In 1988, Wooten moved to Nashville and was immediately recruited by blues
and soul singer Jonell Mosser. The following year he joined New
Grass Revival's banjo ace Bela Fleck, who hired him and his brother, known
as Future Man, to play in a jazz band for a Lonesome Pine Special TV show.
The two brothers became the rhythm section and with Howard Levy on
keyboards and harmonica The Flecktones were born.
In 1996 Wooten released A Show Of Hands, his groundbreaking solo debut on
Compass Records. With no band and no overdubs, he revealed
outstanding technical brilliance as well as a remarkable gift for creating
uniquely musical compositions from only the strings of his electric bass.
Critic J.D. Considine called the debut "an amazing and
stereotype-shattering album"; eminent jazz critic Vic Garbarini
wrote, "(Wooten's) compositions are conceptually breathtaking as well
as technically beyond anything you've ever heard on an electric stringed
instrument...Victor Wooten is truly the Bach of the bass." The
album earned Wooten international recognition as well as the Record of the
Year Award in Bass Player Magazine's 1996 Readers Poll and the Gibson
Guitar Award for Best Male Bassist of 1996. Rave reviews and
features in Musician, JazzTimes, Playboy and Bass Player culminated in an
appearance on BET's Jazz Central.
On his second solo outing What Did He Say?(1997), Wooten expanded his
musical palette to include special guests Paul McCandless, Béla Fleck,
Rod McGaha, Davy Spillane and drummer JD Blair. The album became a
family affair when The Wooten Brothers and Wooten's parents joined him in
the studio. Again, he received rave reviews from the critics
including Down Beat (5 Star Review), USA Today (which described the music
as "infectious") and The Washington Post which asked,
"What can't he play?" What Did He Say? was also awarded a
1998 Nashville Music Award for Rhythm and Blues Album of the Year.
In 1997 and 1998, Wooten began using his down time from The Flecktones to
tour as a solo artist, often performing as a duo with drummer J.D. Blair
to packed houses of fans mesmerized by the pair's musicality and
virtuosity.
Wooten has earned international recognition as a member of the Flecktones
and has furthered his reputation as the greatest bassist of our time with
his 3 critically acclaimed solo releases. Live in America is
certain to excite those who have already discovered his incredible talent
and to bring those who have not into the loop because just as the
Washington Post said, "What can't he play?" Wooten
currently resides in Nashville when he's not out touring with The
Flecktones or performing as a solo artist. In addition to his tour
dates, he maintains a busy schedule of bass workshops, clinics and master
classes.
--Shari Lacy - Director of Publicity
`When you lose
wealth, you lose much. When you lose a friend, you lose more. But when you
lose hope, you lose everything.'
