Wooten learned music early. By age 3, he was being taught bass by his oldest brother, Regi, and at age 5 he was performing professionally with the Wooten Brothers Band. Working their way east from Sacramento, the band played countless clubs and eventually opened concerts for Curtis Mayfield and War. Wooten was influenced by bass mentors Stanley Clarke, Larry Graham, and Bootsy Collins, while learning about the music business. By the early ’80s, the brothers became mainstays at Busch Gardens theme park in Williamsburg, Virginia, making numerous connections with musicians in Nashville and New York.
In 1988, Wooten moved to Nashville, where he worked with singer Jonell Mosser and met newgrass revival banjo ace Béla Fleck. A year later, Fleck enlisted Wooten, his brother Roy (a.k.a. Future Man), and harmonica-playing keyboardist Howard Levy to perform with him, and the Flecktones were born. After three highly successful albums, Levy departed in 1993, and the band’s new trio format enabled Wooten to develop and display a staggering array of fingerboard skills that turned him into a bass hero of Pastorian-proportions and helped earn the band a Grammy. With the Flecktones in full flight, Wooten set his sights on a solo career, first forming Bass Extremes with fellow low-end lord Steve Bailey (leading to an instructional book/CD and two CDs, to date), and finally releasing his critically-acclaimed solo debut, A Show of Hands, in 1996.
Wooten, now a five-time Grammy winner, also won two Nashville Music Awards for Bassist of the Year and is the only three-time winner of Bass Player magazine’s Bass Player of the Year. With the honors came sideman calls, leading to recordings and performances with artists like Branford Marsalis, Mike Stern, Bruce Hornsby, Chick Corea, Dave Matthews, Prince, Gov’t Mule, Susan Tedeschi, Vital Tech Tones (with Scott Henderson and Steve Smith), and the Jaco Pastorius Word of Mouth Big Band.
Musicians wanting to learn Wooten's unique style and elusive techniques began seeking him out for lessons and seminars at music stores and schools around the world. These workshops became the training ground that lead to the formation of his acclaimed bass/nature camp in 2000, which eventually expanded into Victor Wooten’s Center for Music and Nature. Wooten continues to grow and is always willing to share his gifts with all who desire to learn.
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