Victor Wooten Funks Up Charlotte’s Neighborhood Theatre
The bassline to “What Did He Say” was just enough to pump up the Charlotte crowd as Victor Wooten slapped out the well-known notes of the nearly 25 year-old song on his bass guitar. The fans at Neighborhood Theatre had been waiting for Victor and his brothers to take stage after a pump-up-the-funk set performed by New Orleans band, Rebirth Brass Band.
The opening band consisted of a variety of musicians, whom quite frankly, barely all fit on the stage.
The Rebirth Brass Band had every instrumental possible to make up a jazzy funk band including trombone, tuba, trumpet, sax, bass drum, and snare drum.
As the stage was fully occupied by people and equipment, the members of the band could hardly move around as they played through their setlist.
However, the band’s talent alone, which had a feel for funk with a bit of jazz and hip-hop, was enough to get Victor fans in the mood for a groovy night.
Back to “What Did He Say”, well, he (Victor) didn’t say anything. As Victor Wooten and the Wooten Brothers took stage, the bass-line to the well-known song transitioned into another tune without a single word sung to the song.
To me, this was Victor’s way of saying that the band is in another era in their music. It’s time to grow and be different, offer something else that’s been lurking in the shadows. Most of the material didn’t venture back to the fast bass-slapping days in earlier years of touring. Victor Wooten, no doubt, is one of the most gifted and talented bassist in the last half-century or our time.
On stage with him, were his brothers, Regi Wooten on guitar, Roy Wooten on the drum kit, and Joseph Wooten on the keys.
Each one of them are talented and have had their own successes in the music industry outside of the family band. Victor Wooten and Roy Wooten, also known as Future Man, are members in Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.
Joseph has been the keyboardist for the Steve Miller Band for quite some time. And Regi Wooten, well, he’s what they call “the Teacher”, because he has taught every single one of his brothers how to play their instruments.
In fact, Victor joked on stage that night, saying if you didn’t like anything they were playing, you can blame it on Regi. Obviously, that joking led to a bunch of smiles and chuckling in the audience, since everyone knows that Regi can play a mean ol’ guitar, which was definitely on display that evening.
Victor Wooten and his brothers put on a great show, displaying their talent with every song they played. Victor introduced each of his brothers early on in the show, giving each one of them the spotlight to perform a solo for the crowd. In between songs, Victor would banter here and there, but one story he told stuck out. He told the crowd of a story of how they were able to get back an 18-song demo cassette from a gentleman that was going to sell it, if I heard correctly, to raise funds for a medical surgery.
Their brother, the late Rudy Wooten was on that cassette, and Victor consulted with his brothers and gave the gentleman much more than what he was asking for it, to get the demo tape back. I’m not quite sure why you needed to know that, other than family means a whole lot to the Wooten brothers, they miss Rudy very much, and the Wooten brothers are obviously very kind and generous.
Victor Wooten and the Wooten brothers recently released the single, “Sweat” and the audience was awarded by seeing the band playing it live.
The official Sweat Tour has been announced with dates beginning in 2024 as this tour ends in November. If Victor Wooten comes to a city near you, I highly recommend seeing the talented musician share his passion with you.
See the Full Gallery of the Night Here!
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