Customer Reviews

What Did He Say

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This cd was my first Victor Wooten cd and I have to say: this stuff is heavy. Not only his bass-chops are pretty cool; the music on this disc is even better. 'Til now I have not heard something THIS funky. You do? Please tell me right away!

I don't care what you're doing. If you don't have it yet, stop whatever it is you're doing and go get this this CD. I'm a bass player and I love this album. But I don't just think that this is a CD for bass players; I think that it was the best overall CD released in 1997. Tunes like "My Life" and "The Loneliest Monk" will blow you away with how fun and funky the simplest line could be. And it doesn't get much funkier than "What Did He Say" and "A Little Buzz". How does he and J.D. Blair get away with those hits on "a little buzz"? ..."Hey, can we do it again?!"

This is a quality follow up CD to those of you who have not bought "A Show Of Hands". Victor is again at the top of his form, and shows a versatility rarely seen in bands across the country. He has continualy been voted "Best Bass Player of The Year" by his collegues, and it is a joy to hear him establishing his own following, in addition to us regular Flecktone fans. Get the CD, and if you can, hear him live. And to the music fan from Philly, you're intelligent enough to use the word "aplomb", but you're stupid enough not to know that Howard Levy stopped playing with the group in 1993. Nice try, poser. Flecktone fans, you've got to own this album!

delivery time was good price fair but the sound quality is low volume fo some reason

I am not an expert, I do know what I like. Personally I think Victor is the next best thing since Jaco and Stanley made the scene. Inventive and sometimes outrageous.
Well for this album it is a little of a cross between Frank Zappa and Stanley Clarke along with a slice of Victor Wootens Life scape in the little short pieces that he always seems to include on his albums.
It isn't my favourite album but it does have some very interesting cuts.

Bottom line, I'm luke warm on it, BUT, when I take what I like out of it , there is more than enough to make me smile.

Put simply, this is the best CD I've heard in a long time by the best musician. I find Vic's work to be moving, passionate an' just plain funky. I liked this CD more than "Show of Hands." On both of these CD's Victor seems to still be looking for exactly the "right feel" and so there is a great deal of variety and the CD comes off a little eclectic. Personally I find some of his best stuff is the funkier grooves ("What did he say?,"I Don't Wanna Cry" and "Buzz") Hopefully, Vic will continue to put out more solo CD's and we'll see where he goes next and what he decides on. Overall, a must for anyone that can appreciate good music (and gets so bored with pop).

Truely talente

Let me start this review by saying that I think Victor Wooten is an incredibly talented electric bass player and also an excellent musician. After seeing him perform the medley of jazz tunes from "a show of hands" live almost a decade ago, I was convinced that Wooten is capable of playing jazz tunes with as much soul as any of the greats. While his technique is phenomenal, I am more impressed by his ability to phrase a melody than anything else. His compositions on "Three flew over the cuckoos nest" are nothing short of brilliant, and the solos he takes over Fleck's compositions such as "a celtic medley" and "the longing" truly bring out the best in Wooten's ability to make music.

That said, "What did he say" seems to bring out the worst in Wooten's musical ability. I don't really mind the many, many, many, many, mnay bass overdubs ("Sometimes I laugh" and "Don't wanna cry" are actually some of the stronger tracks on this disc). The real problem, in my opinion, is that Wooten seems to be too anxious to use this album as a vehicle to promote his family members, JD Blair, and his ideas and concepts outside of what he is good at (which is making music on the electric bass). This leads to WAY too many filler tracks. "bro John" sounds like it was written in about five minutes and is only on the album to feature the mediocre singing/speaking abilities of Wooten's father. "A chance" is nothing more than a groove written by JD Blair that fills about three minutes. "My life" and "the loneliest Monk" both hammer home the point that Victor should stick to bass playing, not writing lyrics and definitely not singing (the same could be said for Future Man, who (although not on this album) manages to singlehandedly ruin the otherwise great Fleck tune "Sunset Road"). And "Heaven is Where the Heart is" proves that it just isn't a good idea to write a tune with the main concept being "lets see how many of my family members can fit in the studio with me".

I will say that the phenomenon of great bass players falling flat when leading their own groups is not unique to Wooten. John Patitucci and Christian Mcbride (post Number 2 Express) are both unbelievable as sidemen, but when it comes to leading their own projects, they often result in too many different ideas which go nowhere, leaving the listener longing for the albums which showcase these musicians' true talents: their abilities to play well-phrased, musical interpretations of well-written compositions. After listening to "What did he say" the first thing I did was throw in "three flew over" to remind myself of why I think Victor Wooten is an electric bass genius.

I love bass guitar playing as much as the next guy, but great bass playing without a great song can grow very tiresome. Don't get me wrong, there are a few gems and all of the tracks have some bouts of brilliance, I'll take a jaco pastorius album or a weather report album any day. If you are a diehard bass player and you really don't care about songs per se, then you will love this album. However, i would lean more towards any of victor's brilliant work with bela fleck and the flecktones.

My first Wooten CD after just having seen him live at Stern Grove, SF. Amazing ability and heart. There's nobody like this guy....