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Victor talks .

#2
Does he say anything? I love the man's playing, but over the years whenever I've tried to watch his interviews, it seems like he rambles and rambles and rambles without ever coming to a point, expressing a fully formed idea, or sharing any meaningful information.

He used to have this joke (or a very similar one) posted on his website:

A man is driving down the road and breaks down near a monastery. He goes to the monastery, knocks on the door, and says, “My car broke down. Do you think I could stay the night?” The monk graciously accepts him, feeds him dinner, and even fixes his car. As the man tries to fall asleep, he hears a strange sound. The next morning, he asks the monks what the sound was, but they say, “We can’t tell you. You’re not a monk.” The man is disappointed but thanks them anyway and goes about his merry way.



Some years later, the same man breaks down in front of the same monastery. The monk accepts him, feeds him, and even fixes his car. That night, he hears the same strange noise that he had heard years earlier. The next morning, he asks what it is, but the monks reply, “We can’t tell you. You’re not a monk.” The man says, “All right, all right. I’m dying to know. If the only way I can find out what that sound was is to become a monk, how do I become a monk?” The monk reply, “You must travel the earth and tell us how many blades of grass there are and the exact number of sand pebbles. When you find these numbers, you will become a monk.” The man sets about his task.



Forty-five years later, he returns and knocks on the door of the monastery. He says, “I have traveled the earth and have found what you have asked for. There are 145,236,284,232 blades of grass and 231,281,219,999,129,382 sand pebbles on the earth.” The monk reply, “Congratulations. You are now a monk. We shall now show you the way to the sound.”



The monk leads the man to a wooden door, where the head monk says, “The sound is right behind that door.” The man reaches for the knob, but the door is locked. He says, “Real funny. May I have the key?” The monks give him the key, and he opens the door. Behind the wooden door is another door made of stone. The man demands the key to the stone door. The monks give him the key, and he opens it, only to find a door made of ruby. He demands another key from the monks, who provide it. Behind that door is another door, this one made of sapphire. So it went until the man had gone through doors of emerald, silver, topaz, and amethyst.



Finally, the monks say, “This is the last key to the last door.” The man is relieved to no end. He unlocks the door, turns the knob, and behind that door he is amazed to find the source of that strange sound. But I can’t tell you what it is because you’re not a monk
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And yeah, that's 100% the vibe I get from him.
 
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#3
Gopherbassist said:
Does he say anything? I love the man's playing, but over the years whenever I've tried to watch his interviews, it seems like he rambles and rambles and rambles without ever coming to a point, expressing a fully formed idea, or sharing any meaningful information.
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Did you actually watch the interview? He is pretty straightforward in telling stories about his gear and how he came to have it or why it's important to him.
 
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#6
JonathanPDX said:
Sounds like you already made up your mind that you cannot appreciate what he has to say, so why bother?
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No, it sounds like the opposite of that. If I had made up my mind about what the interview contained, I would have said something like "Victor Wooten is not worth listening to, don't waste your time on this." But what I actually did was ask about the quality of the interview, provide context for why I was asking what I was asking, plus an example of the kind of thing that made me ask the question.
 
#7
Gopherbassist said:
No, it sounds like the opposite of that. If I had made up my mind about what the interview contained, I would have said something like "Victor Wooten is not worth listening to, don't waste your time on this." But what I actually did was ask about the quality of the interview, provide context for why I was asking what I was asking, plus an example of the kind of thing that made me ask the question.
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Just silly
 
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#9
Gopherbassist said:
No, it sounds like the opposite of that. If I had made up my mind about what the interview contained, I would have said something like "Victor Wooten is not worth listening to, don't waste your time on this." But what I actually did was ask about the quality of the interview, provide context for why I was asking what I was asking, plus an example of the kind of thing that made me ask the question.
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You could have just watched some of the video instead of talking a bunch of trash about him.
 
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#10
JonathanPDX said:
You could have just watched some of the video instead of talking a bunch of trash about him.
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Sorry if sharing my experience about listening to his interviews upset you, but I don't think I talked trash. I could have started watching the video, sure. But my experience has been that that hasn't been worthwhile before, and that's why I chose to ask if this one was different. This is a discussion forum, and I think it's fair to share ideas even if they're less than positive to compare notes with others.
 
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#12
LadyLoveStingRay5 said:
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I appreciate you sharing this - I had seen this or clips or something, but hadn't taken the bait. But this one got me in - it's an awesome video so far! Just got to the end of his Alembic story. I've been fortunate to see Victor Wooten a bunch of times- I especially like seeing him with the Wooten Brothers, those shows are always fun!
 
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#18
Having meet him before he was a world famous musician and have talked with him several times after he's the same genuine humble person I meet at the Hollywood Bowl the 1st time. 20 years of Playboy Jazz Festival's his bass solo when Bela Felck and the Flecktones who won a contest to be the opening act on the Saturday show. Is by far my favorite live musical moment. Watching Herbie Hancock screaming who hell is this dude and why the blankity blank isn't he in my band. The list of the great musicians who was completely in awe and mind was blown was unbelievable. Nathan East telling Marcus Miller I guess we better go home and practice harder. Let alone 20K people screaming, cheering, & applauding. Was the strongest reaction to a bass Solo I've ever witnessed.
 
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#19
I just found this and was going to post it myself, when I saw I was beaten to the punch. Interesting interview and I like his approach.

7:38 - that looks familiar...

8:38 - "and then I feel this bass that feels like me..."

He says he's basically had 3 basses in his whole career (even if a couple were basically the same Fodera Monarchs). He'd never fit in here.

13:58 - where he talks about positioning and tone, reminds me of when I had one bass and one simple head and cab and played just about everything on it.
 
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