Last night Victor Wooten [4] played a show at Diamonds Pub & Billiards on Barret Ave. with a new band consisting of Krystal Peterson, JD Blair, Steve Bailey, Anthony Wellington, Dave Welsch, and Derico Watson. All of the advertisements and listings said doors opened at 8 p.m. or that the show was at 8 p.m., but the show didn't actually start until 10 p.m. which was a two hour wait for a majority of the audience who arrived at 8 p.m. Wooten’s new ensemble has a new sound and edge. Their music has a great groove to dance to. The band puts the funk in funky with their strong rhythmic grooves in the bass and drums and yet still has some nice harmonies. All the musicians are talented, and I was most surprised and impressed with the vocalist. Peterson has a clean, sultry voice without any extra riff nonsense. That’s refreshing compared to a lot of singers now days who just want to belt out as many notes as possible. Victor’s vocals match up nicely with Peterson’s.
Victor’s playing is always inspiring to watch, especially when he starts out playing a cello. I had no idea he played the cello. Not that it is much different from a bass. He was rocking out playing some cool rhythmic riffs that would earn a nod of approval from rock-cellist, Rasputina. Then of course he was doing his crazy bass playing as if he had four hands. My favorite is his two handed finger crawl up the fingerboard. I heard someone call this ‘finger taps.’ Then he did his crazy fast tapping where he does his ‘down, up, pluck, pluck’ technique. Watch this YouTube video for instructions below. Then to top off the madness he pulled out his sing string fretless bass which he said, “A six string fretless bass is like riding a motorcycle on ice.” Wooten played Paint it Black on the six string and the audience and myself loved it. Overall despite the late start, the concert was awesome.
Photos: courtesy of Anna Blanton
Video: courtesy of YouTube