Words: Seth Lyda | Photo: Dan Florez
Victor Wooten is arguably the world’s most talented bass player, and the list of musicians that he’s shared the stage with reads as a who’s who in the music industry. Wooten’s been learning to play since the age of two, and was touring as the opening act for Curtis Mayfield by the time he was six. He’s gone on to take home five Grammy Awards, win Bass Player of the Year on three separate occasions (he is the only player to garner the accolade more than once), and Rolling Stone named him one of the Top 10 Bass Players of All Time. He’s just released two new records and is currently touring the country with his new band; complete with an all star-cast. I recently sat down with Victor before his October 4th performance, and he caught me up to speed
on all things Wooten.
Tell me about the new band.
It is probably one of the most different things I’ve done. There are two drummers: JD Blair and Derico Watson, two guys that I’ve worked with for many years. A wonderful vocalist that’s the newest member of our band, her name is Crystal Peterson. Then there are 4 of us on stage that are primarily bass players: Steve Bailey, Dave Welsh, and Anthony Wellington. But everyone plays many different instruments, so we decided to brush up on our other instruments and bring them into the show, so it’s actually rare that we’re all playing bass at the same time. One of the guys may be playing trumpet, trombone, keyboard, guitar, or upright bass. I may be playing cello or guitar, so we’re switching throughout the show and sometimes in the middle of a song.
Your music has been an inspiration to so many different people, who or what inspires you?
Kind of everything; for me music is just a way to communicate. So, if I think about talking and I ask you on any given day what you talk about, what inspires you to talk, it is everything! Whatever is happening in your life, you talk about it. So I use music the same way, whatever is going on in my life affects how I play and how I talk about it musically. I’m a father now, 4 young kids, been married nearly 18 years; you know there is a lot to be inspired about. A lot of times in life we look at only the bad things, at any given moment if you look around you’ll notice that there are more good things happening than bad. And those things are inspiring, and it finds its way into my music.
Do you have any method for song writing?
Well fortunately I have more than one way. If you only have one way of doing it, sometimes that way may not show up, so I have a bunch of different ways. But the main thing I do that really helps, I use a technique that I heard about with improv comedy troupes; a group of people who get on stage and they’re just funny, they just get up there and do it, but they follow a rule that says whatever somebody does they treat it as right. If someone takes a left, everyone goes left. Because there’s no time to judge it, you just have to go with it. So when I’m song writing, I kind of do the same process, I just do whatever I do without judging it, and I don’t spend the time until a little bit later to judge whether it’s good or bad. I just go that way with whatever pops into my head. Especially if you run into a place where you’re stuck, and you don’t know what to do, just do anything, and sometimes when you can’t figure out what to do that’s right, then just do what you know is wrong. Play something you know is horrible. That gives you a place to go from there. A lot of times that will get me out of a jam.
You have a very holistic approach to teaching music, and teach certain things that are rarely taught; almost backwards from the academic approach. Do you find that it’s a more effective way of teaching?
Absolutely. Think about learning English; imagine someone trying to teach you the theory behind talking before you could talk. They wanna teach you to read and write, they wanna teach you about nouns, and pronouns, and verbs, or even the alphabet. You gotta learn to talk first, or else that stuff makes no sense. So learning the academics first is the slow route. It works, but its slow, it takes forever. But if you learn in the proper manner, like learning to speak your first language, within a couple years from birth, you can do it. So to me that’s a proven method. Learn to play first, and we’ll learn the rules behind what you’re doing later.
Tell me about your bass rig.
A lot of your tone is in your hands and your body and your soul, but you want gear that’s going to amplify who you are, and I’m using Hartke amps, and a new speaker they’ve been making for a few years called High Drive, and they are half aluminum, half paper, and I use a LH1000 head. And the one thing I will say about my gear is that everything I’m using, anyone can go out and get. There is nothing specially crafted for me. Yeah my Fodera bass has a yin-yang top made for me at my request, but it’s still an instrument, the electronics, anything about it, anyone can get. It’s not custom or tailor made that’s going to sound a certain way. It’s really pretty standard gear that anybody can get. The rest comes from you. You’re the voice that’s going to speak through these tools. You know the music comes from you. Even though I have an expensive bass, when you put it in the stand or sit it down, it sounds like any other bass. It doesn’t sound good until you play it. That’s the same with a drum or a microphone or anything. So we need to remember the music always comes from us, and the instrument gives us a tool to express that with.
You’ve collaborated with everyone from Bootsy Collins to Keb Mo to Marcus Miller to Bruce Hornsby. Are there any moments in particular that stand out to you?
Yeah there are a lot. Getting a chance to be on stage with Bootsy Collins and realizing that this is the guy that as a kid I was emulating, and here I am on stage with him. Or touring the world with Stanley Clark and Marcus Miller, two more of my bass heroes, and I’m touring the world with them as an equal, and these are guys that I remember listening to as a kid, so it’s hard not to feel like a kid when I’m around them. So to be an equal with them on tour or on a recording plays with your mind a little bit, so that’s something that you don’t prepare for and you have to deal with that. But that’s a great thing. Getting a chance to play with Chick Corea was a real challenge, musically and really mentally. All of sudden you look over…and I’m realizing all the people that have stood where I’m standing playing bass, and doubt comes in, self worth, ‘am I good enough?’ All of that comes in, and you gotta be strong enough to say ‘Chick Corea hired me to be me,’ and I’m good at being me. So just settle down and be me. So it plays a whole mind game, but there is nothing better than, all of a sudden, all the people you grew up listening to, you’re getting to play with.
What’s next for Victor Wooten?
(Laughing) The real answer is I don’t know, because sometimes I can plan something but it doesn’t turn out that way, but what I can see in my mind is to continue to tour with these new records, hopefully millions of people will purchase it and enjoy it, I hope so, and that’s why I do it; so people can enjoy it. I have more camps lined up, we just finished our 13th season this year, but in 2013, we have another big camp season lined up for all instruments and all ages. I put out a book a few years ago called The Music Lesson, and I’m currently writing the sequel to that, so that the book will continue, and I’m working up to in a couple of years, when I turn 50, I’m going to have a big party at Wooten Woods. Then send everyone home and I’m just gonna hang out. I’m literally gonna take a couple years off from touring, so I can spend some time with my wife and my kids, and really give them the time that they deserve. So I’m gearing up to all of that, getting the record label rolling, building the camp up more, it’s not-for-profit now, and we wanna have it to where all summer its going every day with a staff. People can come after school, stay for a week or a weekend or whatever. So I wanna get all that going, I’m kind of working every day toward that goal.
Check out www.IgntionStAug.com for the live video of the entire interview with Victor Wooten. To purchase his new album, visit www.VictorWooten.com.
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