Victor Wooten

Anyone who knows anything about Victor Wooten knows that he's one of those rare souls: he gains a rep for playing the bass. Soul Circus, however, isn't just an extravaganza for bass players. Wooten, as it turns out, is also a heck of a writer and, as the listener will learn on the first track, a fine singer. The unusual first track, "Victa," is a funky, soulful hymn in praise of – who else – Wooten himself, while "Bass Tribute" offers accolades to those who've come before him.

Bassist Victor Wooten began his musical career early. At age three, his brother Regi taught him to play bass, and at age five he made his stage debut with his four older brothers in the Wootens, playing songs by R&B mainstays like James Brown, Sly & the Family Stone, War, and Curtis Mayfield.

As the virtuoso bass man for Bela Fleck, Victor Wooten has become a hero to four- (and five-) stringers everywhere. On his own, he creates a sound that largely rejects the rootsier side of Fleck's sound, embracing instead the funk and jazz-fusion flavors that have already been flowing through him for many years. Wooten's been making solo albums since the mid-'90s, but PALMYSTERY is one of his most wide-ranging efforts yet, incorporating soul/R&B, gospel, bluesy guitar licks (courtesy of Keb' Mo'), and of course the death-defying thumb acrobatics for which the world-class bassist is best known.

Five-time GRAMMY award-winning bass player, producer, composer, author, and educator Victor Wooten will release his first album in five years, TRYPNOTYX, September 8. In support of the album, he will hit the road with the Victor Wooten Trio this fall following August dates with Béla Fleck & The Flecktones of which he is a founding member.

Extraction is a collaborative studio album by guitarist Greg Howe, drummer Dennis Chambers and bassist Victor Wooten, released on October 7, 2003 through Tone Center Records. According to Howe, the album went through a very difficult recording process which spanned two years, resulting in disagreements between the three musicians and Shrapnel founder Mike Varney, as well as several delays in the release date.

Victor Wooten Chambers Franceschini TrypnotyxBassist Victor Wooten, saxophonist Bob Franceschini, and drummer Dennis Chambers slam together a new 21st-century fusion sound on Trypnotyx, their new jazz-funk-fusion album. After launching their magic bus with a backwards glance at 20th-century psychedelia, they take us on a head-spinning journey that fans of Primus and Tool should dig just as deeply as those who fondly remember the sunny heyday of Weather Report.