Yes Victor Wooten made the next post and also his Wooten brothers and they played at, can you believe it, the Harmonie German Club in the Zeppelin Room with its rows of benches of German beer hall tradition and drinks and dinners available. It was a huge pleasure to see a band of this loftiness in this casualness. But first up was the support act, Jaron Jay, guitarist singer from Melbourne, with keys/tenor sax, bass and drums offsiders and a capable voice and decent guitar solos and good offsiders and a Prince feel. That inviting rock of Prince was my impression, but he also did a track from Steely Dan Aja (was it Aja?), all odd counts and harmonies and musical fascination. So a very worthy support who is touring with the Wootens. Then, of course, the big names. Four brothers, ten Grammies and 26 nominations, with a fascination for all musics and an infectious joy to engage us all and hugely worthy of respect. We were a sedate audience, but they eventually got even us waving and whooping. Regi played guitar and started several of the brothers on the musical path. Quite stunning and still playful: tapping, fingers, two fret wraps moved up and down the neck, hand slaps and more. All manner of unconventional techniques and more and inventive and always playful. Perhaps a dance with Victor or swapping solos with keys brother Joseph. Joseph of the busy, patterned solos and plenty of vocals and a solo section as the Human Jukebox. Mosty behind the stack of keys, but he came out to rally the crowd towards the end and finally playing with odd timings on call, 11,10,9,8...coming to a final scalar passage on 1, or alternatively hits on calls, 1 [hit] on 2, 2 on 1, 2 3/4 !!? and the like. They had this stuff down. And a nice modern jazz tune and James Brown funk and a Coltrane dedication but mostly R&B-soul, I guess. Roy was behind drums until he came out front to play a Zendrum drum controller and sing. They all sang, powerful as that is, for harmonies and infectious involvement. Not least but the family youngster, Victor on bass, all slaps and taps and occasional finger solos and vocals and perhaps the most obvious focus of the band, jumpy and dancy and playful as he was. By the end it was all manic and ecstatic and laughter and involvement. The whole place was abuzz to end and then they hung out, for pics, signatures, merch, chats. Basically, a band with us rather than formally staged. So the night was wonderful and huge fun and the music throughout was great to exceptional and you could only leave with a grin. Fabulous. Watch a live video on YT to get a feel.
The Wooten Brothers performed at Harmonie German Club, Narrabundah. The brothers are Regi (guitar, vocals), Roy (drums, Zendrum, vocals), Joseph (keys, vocals) and Victor (bass, vocals) Wooten. Jaron Jay and band provided support.
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