Victor Wooten

Known primarily for his role as bassist in Béla Fleck's Grammy-winning New Grass Revival band the Flecktones, Victor Wooten is a phenomenal composer and bandleader in his own right. Widely respected by fellow musicians and acclaimed by the bass cognoscenti (he's the only three-time winner of Bass Player magazine's Bass Player of the Year award), Wooten has supplied the bottom end for a slew of superstars, from Dave Matthews to Chick Corea to Prince. On his own, he goes beyond the liquid jazz-grass of the Flecktones and ventures into some ridiculously innovative territory. His new album, Soul Circus, moves from radio-ready stadium funk to acoustic jazz, and it sports guest appearances from his multi-instrumentalist brother Future Man, Speech of Arrested Development, and bass masters like Bootsy Collins and Christian McBride. Wooten is easily one of the most virtuosic, versatile musicians on the planet, taking the bass to rarefied heights like nobody else.