Victor Wooten

After extensively touring with a big band to promote his latest CD, Palmystery (Heads Up), ­Tennessee-based bassist Victor Wooten decided to go back to basics as the Two Minds duo with longtime friend and collaborator, drummer J.D. Blair. "I toured for quite a while with that exact same band that played a lot of that music on the record, but for this tour I went backwards," he says over the phone. "I'm doing a thing that I did ten years ago, kind of like a ten-year reunion.

"We're going backwards now in time and doing it again with more experience and musicianship," Wooten elaborates. "We're playing a lot of tunes from all of my records and also some unheard-of, brand-new things and a lot of improvisation." Wooten promises a few "surprises" during the show, but refused to elaborate. Last year, he participated in SMV, a three-bass project with Stanley Clarke and Marcus Miller, inspired by the guitar trio of John McLaughlin, Paco de Lucia and Al di Meola.

"I thought that if we could do that with basses, it would be the coolest thing," he says. "It came down about two and a half years ago, when Bass Player magazine asked Marcus (Miller) and me to present Stanley with a lifetime achievement award, and he asked us to play with him on his famous "School Days," and when we finally got up onstage together we said, "Okay, it's time to do this." The album and tour turned out to be highly successful, and the trio plans a follow-up in the near future.