Victor Wooten

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Victor Wooten
Victor Wooten 2.jpg
Wooten playing at the Belly Up in 2006.
Background information
Birth name Victor Lemonte Wooten
Born (1964-09-11) September 11, 1964 (age 48)
Mountain Home, Idaho, U.S.
Genres Jazz, jazz fusion, funk, funk-rock
Occupations Musician, songwriter, producer, author
Instruments Bass guitar, upright bass, fiddle, cello, tenor bass, fretless bass, kora, drums, keyboards
Years active 1980–present
Associated acts Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Steve Bailey, Vital Tech Tones, SMV, Greg Howe, Chick Corea Elektric Band
Website www.victorwooten.com
Notable instruments
Fodera Monarch
Fodera Monarch Yin-Yang (4 string)
Steinberger bass guitars

Victor Lemonte Wooten (born September 11, 1964) is an American bass player, composer, author, producer, and recipient of five Grammy Awards.[1]

Wooten has won the "Bass Player of the Year" award from Bass Player magazine three times in a row, and was the first person to win the award more than once.[1] In addition to a solo career and collaborations with various artists, Wooten has been the bassist for Béla Fleck and the Flecktones since the group's formation in 1988.

In 2008, Wooten joined Stanley Clarke and Marcus Miller to record an album. The trio of bassists, under the name SMV, released Thunder in August 2008 and began a supporting tour the same month.[2]

Wooten has also written a novel titled "The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music".[3] On his website he has stated that he is currently writing a sequel and intends to release at least three more books [4]

Contents

Early life [edit]

Born to Dorothy and Pete Wooten, Victor is the youngest of the five Wooten Brothers, the other four being Regi, Roy, Rudy and Joseph Wooten, all of whom are musicians. Regi began to teach Victor to play bass when he was two, and by the age of six, Victor was performing with his brothers in their family band, The Wooten Brothers Band.

Instruments [edit]

Wooten playing his Steinberger headless bass guitar at the Belly Up in 2006.

Wooten is most often seen playing Fodera basses, of which he has a signature model.[5] His most famous Fodera, a 1983 Monarch Deluxe he refers to as "number 1," sports a Kahler Tremolo System model 2400 bridge. Fodera's "Yin Yang" basses (co-designed by and created for Wooten) incorporates the Yin Yang symbol—which Wooten uses in various media—as a focal point of the top's design and construction. The symbol is created from two pieces of naturally finished wood (Ebony and Holly, for example), fitted together to create the Yin-Yang pattern.[6]

As well as playing electric bass (both fretted and fretless) and the double bass, Victor also played the cello in high school. He still plays cello occasionally with the Flecktones. This is the instrument to which he attributes his musical training.

Wooten has also experimented with backward vocals, chanting, and Asian percussion.

Workshops [edit]

In 2000 Wooten created a Bass/Nature camp that has since expanded into Victor Wooten's Center for Music and Nature.

Religious beliefs [edit]

While Wooten considers himself a spiritual individual, he is not a part of any particular religion. He believes that, "God is too big for any one religion."[7]

Discography [edit]

See also: Béla Fleck and the Flecktones#Discography, Bass Extremes, and Vital Tech Tones
Solo
With Bass Extremes
  • Cookbook (1998)
  • Just Add Water (2000)
With Vital Tech Tones
  • Vital Tech Tones (1998)
  • Vital Tech Tones 2 (2000)
With The Wootens
  • The Wootens (1985)
With Greg Howe
With SMV
With Béla Fleck and the Flecktones

Bibliography [edit]

  1. The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music, ISBN 978-0-425-22093-1, Penguin Group, 2008
  2. TONYA JAMESON, Pop Music Writer. "PUSHING THE ENVELOPE; FLECKTONES BASSIST VICTOR WOOTEN HITS A NEW STRIDE IN TWO-DISC ALBUM." Charlotte Observer, The (NC) 01 Dec. 2000: NewsBank - Archives. Web. 11 Oct. 2012.
  3. Ron, Wynn. "Victor Wooten expands his profile with two ambitious solo records; To the Victor .." Nashville Scene (TN) 20 Sept. 2012: NewsBank. Web. 11 Oct. 2012.
  4. Robert, Bell. "Friday To-Do: Victor Wooten." Arkansas Times: Blogs (AR) 27 Sept. 2012: NewsBank. Web. 11 Oct. 2012.
  5. GARY, DEMUTH. "Bassist Victor Wooten takes spiritual approach to music.; Victor Wooten 2/1;." Salina Journal, The (KS) 01 June 2007: NewsBank. Web. 11 Oct. 2012.
  6. "Victor Wooten's Mystical Quest." Downbeat 77.7 (2010): 26-35. Academic Search Premier. Web. 11 Oct. 2012.
  7. Michael, Deeds. "Music runs in Victor Wooten´s family." Idaho Statesman, The (Boise, ID) 31 Jan. 2003: 20. NewsBank - Archives. Web. 11 Oct. 2012.
  8. Wooten, Victor. "I Saw God." Youtube. Google, n.d. Web. <*[1]>.
  9. The Baltimore Sun; Sam, Sessa. "A NATURAL LANGUAGE; STAR BASSIST VICTOR WOOTEN SAYS MUSIC IS BEST TAUGHT THROUGH PERFORMANCE, NOT PRACTICE; CONCERTS." Sun, The (Baltimore, MD) 02 July 2010: NewsBank. Web. 11 Oct. 2012.

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b "Victor Wooten official website/biography". Official website. VixLix Music. 2010. Retrieved May 27, 2010. 
  2. ^ "Marcus Miller News". Retrieved 2008-06-19. 
  3. ^ Salina Journal (2010)
  4. ^ http://www.victorwooten.com/bio.html
  5. ^ Fodera Guitars "Victor Wooten '83 Classic", Fodera Guitars website. Retrieved January 10, 2007.
  6. ^ Fodera Guitars "Victor Wooten Yin-Yang 4 String", Fodera Guitars website. Retrieved January 10, 2007.
  7. ^ Prasad, Anil. "If people we more like music". Web document. Retrieved February 28, 2011. 

External links [edit]

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones
Discography
Authority control
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