Growing up as a youth I have always been fascinated with jazz music. My intent of this blog is to increase my knowledge in jazz music as a whole, but more importantly being a brass player I want to learn more about the rhythm section of a jazz band. The bass guitar is an essential part of a jazz band, without it there is little structure in the music played. It is stringed instrument that can be played acoustically as in the case of a stand up base or it can be played in the form of an electric bass. My first post on this blog is about a bassist that you may have heard play before, but may not know his name or anything about him. Victor Wooten is a name I have become more familiar with throughout my life as a musician. He is an American bass player and author that currently plays with the band known as “Bela Fleck and the Flecktones”. “Victor is the recipient of five Grammys and was voted Bassist of the Year by BASS PLAYER readers three times (the only person to have won the award more than once)” [1]
Victor Wooten was born in September of 1964 to a military family outside of Boise, Idaho. He was the youngest of five boys and began reading music at the age of two. Being in a family where his brothers were all musicians Wooten was being taught to play bass so he could play in the family band as soon as he could sit up and hold the instrument. Soon they were the opening act of many big name artists and bands such as The Temptations. The family moved a lot due to the military during Wooten’s childhood. He claims this helped him diversify his music and is a large part in why he is so diverse in his music. He has played about every kind of music there is to play and cannot really be claimed by one genre of music. Some have called Victor Wooten “…..The Michael Jordan of the Bass” and “one of the most fearless musicians on the planet”. [2] Part 1
Part 2
The Sinister Minister is a great piece of music that displays his diversity in music. I picked it mainly because of the long bass solo by Victor in the middle of the song ( note: there are two parts to this song). It starts out as with Wooten playing a funky bass line as some sort of electric banjo comes in. These two complement each other quite well. The piece seems to be in the typical 4 beats per measure time signature. After a bit a soprano saxophone comes in. The sax plays with one of the singers almost as kind of a duet feel. Next comes a guitar solo all this while Victor is still keeping that funky bass line in the background. At this point I’m a little more than five minutes into the song and Victor goes right into a bass solo. He starts off by plucking the bass in different ways while everyone else falls out except for drum taps. I am amazed at the skill this guy has and how creative he is on the bass! He quickly goes from a quiet and smooth style of playing to a very intense kind of playing and back again. Almost like he is fighting with the bass. As I watch the video I notice he has broken one of his strings and yet keeps on playing. As the solo ends he waits for a minute and goes right back into his initial bass line riff that he had at the beginning of the song. The song seems to start over again, kind of unusual. I don’t really know how to classify this song but I’m very intrigued by it. Truly an amazing piece of music!
In case the two You Tube videos above did not post right here are the links to both parts.
Part 1:
Part 2:
