Victor Wooten on Conan O'Brien Tonght

[BassSlave]

I just watched the performance online and although some Christmas music may seem "gimmicky" it really isn't by my standards. This was a promo tool for the band's Christmas CD and if you've heard it you would have recognized that from Bela's opening intro of "Christmastime Is Here" and I appreciate that as he showed me insight on how he got his harmonics to slide. When I listened to that tune and learned from the CD I he was using a fretless banjo and changeing tunings, but looking at the show it was just a simple twist of the tuning peg which yields the slides and the new harmonics on that string. I also appreciate this obvious jazz tune in that it swung hard as hell and Victor plays some interesting walking lines on the rhythm changes. I detected 4 quotes from Vic on his solo and nothing is wrong with that as that helped reel the audience in right before they would have gotten bored with my or your typical bass solo. You can tell from the crowd's reaction that they appreciated it. Everybody in the band sounded good on this tune and it was what it was meaning that many people here are comparing this with solo cds and other works and not appreciating it for what it is. Its just a musical performance, that's all, a good one. To me there are only two kinds and it was no where near bad.

 

[tfmbass]

Isnt this the discussion forum for bassists, or are we to only talk about how "good" the flecktones were on Conan?

Just because I dont enjoy most of vic's solo music doesnt mean that I hate everything that vic does or dont appreciate Flecktones performances.

In fact I bet there are alot of people who dont like the Flecktones, but enjoy Vic's solo work. That just proves how creative Vic is as a bassist. He can lay down the thickest of grooves to support a band or be the leading voice.

I enjoyed watching the Flecktones on mainstream tv and I can only hope they get more airtime!

 

[McHaven]

He was no slouch last time he was on.

Is that a Peavey Firebass 700 head Vic is using? I don't think I've ever seen him with anything like that, but it looks just like one I used to have. He seems to have the logo covered up though.

 

[rarbass]

Yuck. That was just a whole bunch of pointless noise and wanking to me, no heart or soul.

I prefer this Flecktones performance much more.

I have to agree, I mean I LOVE the Flecktones, but this performance just didn't strike me as all that terrific. It just seemed like a big mess of notes that didn't really fit together all that well, unlike the performance of Big Counry linked in the above quote, OR Hoedown if any of you feel like checking that one out.

 

[T-MOST]

saw the Flecktones a few weeks back at the Blue Note in NYC... they were insane! Vic has to be the most influencial bassist since Jaco! hands down!

 

[rezin]

personally,

i don't like his solo stuff, or the flecktones stuff. i just think he's really talented and seems like a really cool person