[atlantaprog] Re: Victor Wooten, Variety, July 16

Man, I'm sorry I missed it!  According to the website, though, he's playing at 
a festival in Lafayette, GA  10/8 so there's another chance.
 
Brian


Wheat Williams <wheat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I have to chastise all of you for not beeing at the Victor Wooten 
Band show at the Variety Playhouse last night.

You might say, "It's funk. What's prog about that?" but you would be 
missing the point. The musicianship was staggering. The show included 
a guest sit-in by Steve Bailey, and a very rare reunion of all five 
Wooten Brothers (whose history is too deep to relate here) on a 
Return to Forever cover that I can't quite remember the name of. In 
addition to Victor's usual band, which is stunningly tight.

M. C. Divinity opened with her own Atlanta band who played a 30- 
minute set of rap funk metal. Or metal funk rap. Take your pick. This 
lady is one of the most talented vocalist/instrumentalists you will 
ever hear.

Reggie Wooten, the oldest of the Wooten Brothers, is a frightening, 
frightening guitarist, and led Victor's band in a very credible and 
completely internally consistent funk version of Led Zepplin's 
"Kashmir". Then he took off on a ten minute guitar solo that I could 
only describe this way:
Stanley Jordan got very angry and decided to mud wrestle with Vernon 
Reid, and the two emerged from the mud as one creature who decided on 
the spot to improvise a neoclassical sweep-picking and shredding 
arena anthem designed to make Yngwie Malmsteen lose control of his 
bowels. All on a $100 Squier Strat.

Victor Wooten finally revealed to the world that he has eight arms, 
and eight hands, which is what enables him to play so many notes in 
such a short space of time on a four-string bass. If you've never 
heard the man's recordings, you can't possibly imagine his technique, 
and I won't try to describe it to you.

And overall the show was the funkiest, hardest-funking funk show 
you've ever seen since Bootsy Collins with George Clinton in their 
prime. Lots of really great original songs with amazing grooves.

After the show I turned to my wife and said, "If you work out the 
number of notes played per dollar, this is the best entertainment 
value you've ever gotten for your ticket price." It was also the 
funkiest thing you've experienced in the last ten years, if you don't 
count previous Victor Wooten Band appearances.

Wheat Williams


                
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