Charlie Wooton and I go back a ways now. I have covered many of his projects over the years and when you get that kind of longevity, the feeling of pride gets shared when something really truly special happens. With the latest release, “Blue Basso”, I believe that moment is here. When I first met up with Charlie, he was based out of Atlanta and formed the progressive dance band Zydefunk while maintaining his ‘The Charlie Wooton Project’ for his more experimental cross-generic work combining jazz,rock, blues and world music. During this period he played with a diverse group of musicians including Count M’Butu, Oliver Wood, Donny McCormick, Sean Costello, Grant Green Jr., Jeff Sipe, Rev. Jeff Moser and Willie Green. Home called and Charlie headed back to Louisiana where he has become a sought after sideman with some of the best ear-opening talent from the area, including Bonerama, Sonny Landreth, Zigaboo Modeliste, Johnny Vidacovich, Cyril Neville, Chief Monk Boudreaux, New Orleans Suspects, Big Sam’s Funky Nation and so many more. As the bassist for Royal Southern Brotherhood over a four year period Charlie recorded four CDs and wrote several of their tunes. I covered Charlie’s ZabaDuo project with percussionist Rafael Pereira, which explored the world of Brazilian music, and led to the Charlie Wooton Project’s Zabadodat. Around 2015 Charlie joined the New Orleans Suspects, replacing founding member and friend of the proGram, Mr. Reggie Scanlan. All along, Charlie’s desire to honor one of the gods of bass, Mr. Jaco Pastorious. I think with Blue Basso, he has started to stretch his fingers and abilities to write and create into the same language that Jaco was speaking.
I had the pleasure of chatting with Charlie about the creation of Blue Basso from the ideas to the sound stories I get to share with the listeners. Charlie gives major props to the many people who helped make this vision into a musical reality. From, Doug Wimbish to Eric McFadden….Arsene DeLay to Daniel Groover, the list of contributors is as relevant as the music. It’s my belief that these songs could not have been made so brilliantly without the right pieces. Charlie and I discuss what role friend of the proGram, Samantha Fish had in the process as this new release is put out on her Wild Heart Records label.
