palmystery is the fifth studio album from American Jazz bassist Victor Wooten.

Personnel

*Victor Wooten – Bass, Cora, Slide Bass, Fretless Bass, Hand Claps, Vocals, Production

*Derico Watson – Drums

*J.D. Blair – Drums

*Joseph Wooten – Keyboards, Piano, Organ, Vocals

*Rod McGaha – Trumpet

*Eric Silver – Violin, Mandolin

*Anthony Wellington – Bass

*Regi Wooten – Guitar, Bass

*Amir Ali – Violin, Lute, Darbouka, Vocals

*Saundra Williams – Vocals

*Steve Bailey – Fretless Bass

*Richard Bona – Percussion, Vocals

*Roy Wooten – Cajon, Shakers, Hand Claps

*Rudy Wooten – Alto Saxophone

*John Billings – Bass

*Raymond Massey – Drums

*Chuck Rainey – Vocals

*Dennis Chambers – Drums

*Will Kennedy – Drums

*Mike Stern – Guitar

*Neal Evans – Organ

*Shawn "Thunder" Wallace – Alto Saxophone

*Dane Bryant – Keyboards

*Darrell Tibbs – Percussion

*James Jackson – Congas

*Alvin “Lil’ Al” Cordy – Bass

*Earl “Big E” Walker – Drums

*Roosevelt “The Doctor” Collier – Pedal Steel Guitar

*Alvin Chea – Vocals

*Derrick Lee – Vocals

*Keith Lee – Vocals

*Adam Wooten – Vocals

*Holly Wooten – Vocals

*Kaila Wooten – Vocals

*Daniel Hunt – Vocals

*Sifu Brian Edwards – Vocals

*Alvin Lee – Guitar

*Keb' Mo' – Slide Guitar

*Barry Green – Trombone

*Dorothy Wooten – Vocals

*Doug Woodard – Vocals

*The Woodard Family – Vocals

*Howard Levy – Harmonica

*Jeff Coffin – Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone

*Karl Denson – Alto Saxophone

Artist/Band Information

Victor Lemonte Wooten (born September 11, 1964) is an American bassist, composer, author, and producer, and has been the recipient of five Grammy Awards.

Wooten has won the "Bass Player of the Year" award from Bass Player magazine three times in a row, and was the first person to win the award more than once. In addition to a solo career and collaborations with various artists, Wooten has been the bassist for Béla Fleck and the Flecktones since the group's formation in 1988.

In 2008, Wooten joined Stanley Clarke and Marcus Miller to record an album. The trio of bassists, under the name SMV, released Thunder in August 2008 and began a supporting tour the same month.

Early life

Born to Dorothy and Pete Wooten, Victor is the youngest of the five Wooten Brothers, the other four being Regi, Roy, Rudy Wooten and Joseph Wooten, all of whom are highly regarded musicians. At age three, brother Regi began to teach Victor to play bass, and by the age of six, Victor was playing in front of crowds with his brothers in their family band, The Wooten Brothers Band, and toured supporting Curtis Mayfield, among others.

When his family moved east, they continued to hone their skills. His brothers began a residency at Busch Gardens. When his brother Roy asked if Victor could learn the fiddle to play with them on quick notice, he complied, adding another instrument to his repertoire.

Instruments

Victor Wooten.jpgthumb200pxleftWooten playing his Steinberger headless bass guitar at the Belly Up in 2006.

Wooten is most often seen playing Fodera basses, of which he has a signature model.Fodera Guitars , Fodera Guitars website, Retrieved on January 10, 2007. His most famous Fodera, a 1983 Monarch Deluxe which he refers to as "number 1", sports a Kahler Tremolo System model 2400 bridge. Fodera's "Yin Yang" basses (designed/created for Wooten) incorporate the Yin Yang symbol - which Wooten often uses in various media - as a main focal point of the top's design and construction. It is often mistakenly thought that the Yin Yang symbol is painted onto the bass, but in reality, the symbol is created from two pieces of naturally finished wood (Ebony and Holly, for example), seamlessly fitted together to create the Yin-Yang pattern.Fodera Guitars , Fodera Guitars website, Retrieved on January 10, 2007.

Though Wooten's basses receive much attention, his most frequent and consistent response when asked by his fans about his equipment (or equipment in general) is that "the instrument doesn't make the music ... you do". He'll often go on to state that the most important features to look for in a bass are comfort and playability. During a question and answer session at a 1998 concert, Wooten stated that "If you take a newborn baby and put them on the instrument, they're going to get sounds out of it that I can't get out of it, so we're all the best."Victor Wooten. (1999). Victor Wooten Live at Bass Day 1998 . Hudson Music. This philosophy seems closely related to Wooten's approach to music in general, which is that music is a language. According to Wooten, while speaking or listening, one doesn't focus on the mouth as it is forming words; similarly, when a musician is playing or performing the focus shouldn't be on the instrument.

As well as playing electric bass (both fretted and fretless) and the double bass, Victor also played the cello in high school. He still plays cello occasionally with the Flecktones. This is the instrument to which he attributes his musical training.

Discography

;Solo

* A Show of Hands (1996)

* What Did He Say? (1997)

* Yin-Yang (1999)

* Live in America (2001)

* Soul Circus (2005)

* Palmystery (2008)

;With Bass Extremes

* Cookbook (1998)

* Just Add Water (2000)

;With Vital Tech Tones

* Vital Tech Tones (1998)

* Vital Tech Tones 2 (2000)

;With Greg Howe

* Extraction (2003)

;With SMV

* Thunder (2008) (with Stanley Clarke and Marcus Miller, as SMV)

;With Béla Fleck and the Flecktones

* Béla Fleck and the Flecktones (1990)

* Flight of the Cosmic Hippo (1991)

* UFO Tofu (1992)

* Three Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1993)

* Live Art (1996)

* Left of Cool (1998)

* Greatest Hits of the 20th Century (1999)

* Outbound (2000)

* Live at the Quick (2002)

* Little Worlds (2003)

* Ten From Little Worlds (2003)

* The Hidden Land (2006)

* Jingle All the Way (2008)

Bibliography

* The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music, ISBN 978-0-425-22093-1, Penguin Group, 2008

References