..:: audio-music dot info ::..


Main Page      The Desert Island      Copyright Notice
 Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz


Victor Wooten: Sword & Stone

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Vanguard Records
Released: 2012
Time:
 61:05
Category: Jazz Fusion
Producer(s): Victor Wooten
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.victorwooten.com
Appears with: Béla Fleck and the Flecktones
Purchase date: 2012
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Sword and Stone (Victor Wooten) - 5:01
[2] Love is My Favorite Word (Jen Hoeft / Victor Wooten) - 4:07
[3 ] Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior) - 3:31
[4] Get it Right (Divinity Roxx / Victor Wooten) - 4:55
[5] A Woman's Strength (Krystal Peterson / Victor Wooten) - 4:22
[6] It's All Right (Saundra Williams / Victor Wooten) - 4:01
[7] Love to Hear U Laugh (Saundra Williams / Victor Wooten) - 5:27
[8] Say Word (Divinity Roxx / Victor Wooten) - 4:06
[9] Be What U Are (I Love U More) (Victor Wooten) - 3:55
[10] H.O.P.E. (Victor Wooten) - 1:44
[11] Brooklyn (Saundra Williams / Victor Wooten) - 6:26
[12] Still Your Baby (Victor Wooten) - 3:40
[13] Merlin (Victor Wooten) - 3:54
[14] Keep it Low (Victor Wooten) - 6:51

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Victor Wooten - Electric & Upright Bass, Cello, Drum Loop, Drum Programming, Engineer, Fretless Bass, Horn Arrangements, Keyboards, Mixing, Percussion, Producer, Slide Bass, Tenor Bass, Viola, Vocals, Wah Wah Bass

Anthony Wellington - Bass, Soloist
Steve Bailey - Engineer, Fretless Bass, Horn Arrangements, Mixing, Technical Support, Trombone
J.D. Blair - Drums, Percussion
JD Blair - Drums
Oteil Burbridge - Bass
Bill Dickens - Bass
Kai Eckhardt - Bass
Kelly Ellis - Cello, Violin
Riley Ellis - Bass
Vinny Fodera - Guitar, Soloist
Bob Franceschini - Flute
Gary Grainger - Bass
Kelly Gravely - Drums
David Haynes - Drums
Bob Hemenger - Tenor Saxophone
Jacques Jones - Bass
Joe Lauricella - Bass
Pedro Martinez - Congas
Rod McGaha - Trumpet
Mike Montgomery - Bass
Meshell Ndegeocello - Bass
Adam Nitti - Bass
Paul Peterson - Bass
Giovanni Rodriguez - Percussion
Marcus Rojas - Tuba
Claudette Sierra - Background Vocals
Ryan Sweeney  - Bass
Karlton Taylor - Piano
Darrell Tibbs - Percussion
Theonita Valentine - Whistle
Derico Watson - Drums
Dave Welsch - Acoustic Bass, Trumpet
Adam Wooten - Drums
Jesse Wooten - Drums
Joseph Wooten - Keyboards
Justice Wooten - Guitar
Kaila Wooten - Vocals, Background Vocals
Roy Wooten - Cajon, Drums
Max ZT - Dulcimer

Kurt Storey - Engineer, Mixing
Jeff Cook - Engineer
Eric Wolf - Mastering
Danette Albetta - Production Coordination
Steve Parke - Design, Photography
Alexander Lauterwasser - Images

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


One of the most skillful, inventive bassists on the planet but a heck of a diversified songwriter and bandleader, too.

All Music Guide



In many ways, Wooten picked up where Jaco Pastorius left off when he died in 1987. When Wooten busts out a solo at a concert every jaw in the audience drops to the ground.

Rolling Stone



Legendary bassist and five time GRAMMY winner Victor Wooten returns to the Compass Records family via his Vix Records label. Vix Records bows with a simultaneous, two album release, including SWORD AND STONE, an all instrumental affair, and WORDS AND TONES, featuring female vocalists in collaboration with Wooten, with both albums showcasing Wooten’s multi-faceted approach to music, performance and songwriting. The albums were produced, engineered and mixed by Wooten and feature him on a variety of fretless, electric and acoustic bass guitars, cello, keyboards, percussion and strings, as well as vocals, with plenty of jaw-dropping bass solos to satisfy those who thrive on Wooten’s amazing technical skills.

The dual release concept is a window into Wooten’s unique perspective on music and the interconnectivity between all things and all of us. The word play in the titles of the two albums hints at this underlying message (move the ‘s’ from the end of both WORDS AND TONES and place it in front of each to get SWORD AND STONE.) Wooten elaborates on that theme by including both vocal and instrumental renditions of many of the same songs on the albums, giving the listener at least two ways to experience the compositions. Wooten comments, “There’s something for everyone—music and messages for every age. I wrote about what was on my mind and in my heart. If the listener wants to learn, be entertained, or just casually listen, it’s all available on these two CDs. Just figuring out the significance behind the two titles may be enough to make one smile.”

© 2003-2015 Compass Records



Victor Wooten’s pair of new albums, the vocal-oriented Words and Tones, and the mostly instrumental Sword and Stone, are an interesting case study for what happens when a musician who is known mostly for his musicianship tries his hand at songwriting. Wooten has been a world class bass player for years as a founding member of the Flecktones and elsewhere. Words and Tones features a stable of excellent female vocalists and impeccable musicianship from Wooten and his band members. However, the album’s intriguing mix of R&B, jazz, funk and rock often ends up being undermined by the ridiculous cheesiness of the lyrics. Wooten seems overly concerned with grade-school level wordplay (“to be funky, fun is the key”) throughout the album, and even the best vocalist would have trouble selling lines such as “To evolve you must have love / It’s right there in the word.” This happens again and again, from the pleasant Caribbean feel of “Love is My Favorite Word” to the late-night R&B of “When U Grow Up”. No matter how effective the groove of the song or the skill of the singer is, the awful lyrics are difficult to get past.

This, naturally, would seem to indicate that Sword and Stone is the better album, and it is, at least marginally. Wooten wisely avoided replicating every track from the vocal album here, so there are about five jams that are unique to the instrumental album. Some of these tracks really pay off, like the acoustic “H.O.P.E.” or the album-ending “Keep It Low”, which features some truly great bass grooves as well as some jamming from Wooten and the band. The problem with the instrumental versions of the Words and Tones songs, though, is that by transferring the vocal melodies largely to guitars and saxophones, Wooten often ends up trading one form of musical cheese for another. Instead of strong vocal performances of terrible lyrics, Sword and Stone contains instrumental versions of songs that mix R&B, jazz, funk and rock. This particular mixture translates most often into music that is indistinguishable from smooth jazz. Yes, on Sword and Stone Wooten (hopefully) inadvertently made his decent songs with cheesy lyrics into elevator music. So while it’s not as cringe-inducing as Words and Tones, the tracks on the instrumental album often just fade into the background as if one was waiting at the dentist’s office. The end result is that both albums are a mess, for entirely different reasons.

[ 4 / 10 ]

Chris Conaton - 24 May 2013
© 1999-2015 PopMatters.com
 

 L y r i c s


Currently no Lyrics available!

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


Currently no Samples available!