I personally enjoyed this cd alot. Everything has a bright optimistic feel to it that just makes you feel good. Yes, some of the stage chatter could be editted out, thats why I gave it 4 stars. But Victor Wooten is a master at the bass, and he proves it many times on this cd (gotta love the St. Thomas quote in the middle of Imagine This). Enjoy

If you are a musician, you will get bored with this CD real quick. There is very little here musically. I'm a bassist - and I admit that Victor is a virtuoso on the bass - but how long can you listen to someone slapping at 100 miles per hour? It gets boring real quick. One bright spot is Marcus Miller. He joins Victor on one track and he still has it all in my opinion - funk, substance, intelligent musical expression. This CD is chock-full-o simple chords, corney crowd chatter, and moronic dialogue between musicians. No lie, one song repeats "What did he say" over and over for 5 minutes while they hang on one chord. Come on Victor! I'll make sure I stay home next time you're in my town.

Upon recommendation from Bob Davis of soul-patrol.com, I purchased this cd and was ranting and raving to everyone. Then I heard they were coming to Chgo. I saw them, met them and their crew backstage. I'd have to say they are not only incredible musicians, but as the song says 'Good People' as well. BTW...'The Groove Regulator', JD Blair is also Shania Twain's drummer. I was so impressed with them, I grabbed a friend to drive with me to Indianapolis the next night to see them again. After letting a major Prince fan hear the cd, they went to see them at Prince's 'Celebration' and then again with me (again) back in Chgo. All I can say is....they hit HARD...they hit GOOD...they hit LONG and you'll want some more. BTW...Regi Wooten does things on guitar that I've never seen EVH do. Regi is THE TEACHER. Check out Victor's Website for photos, too.

This has got to be one the best musical experiences I've ever had...the cd and the show. You WILL become a fan.

Victor Wooten smokes on a Bass&is up there amongest Living Bass Players as among the Best in the Business.but this Double-Set tends to stretch a bit to long&the extra Guests&whatnot tend to make this Set last far longer than it should.with a touch up&Edit down on a few Parts this would have been a Really Good Concert.Victor makes His Bass Talk backwards&Sideways&the Playing is tight but another disc seems to loose it's steam.I dug that Bootsy,Marcus Miller got down with Victor&Crew.also the James Brown,Sly&The Family Stone Jimi Hendrix&Ozzy Osbourne Tributes were Cool.

Victor Wooten is a superb bassist, and his playing is excellent on this disc. The bass playing is strong enough for five stars, and that includes the guest spots (Marcus Miller shines!).

I have a few problems with the disc, though. It needs editing, for one. While it's fine to be at a show and listen to the stage patter, we don't need all of it on the discs. Some of the songs frankly sound dated and corny. The track selection on the discs are funny, sometimes it'll go from track 8 to track 9 in the middle of a song, sometimes the same track will be a medley of three songs with definite starts and stops between them. The keyboard sounds are cheap.

Despite it's flaws, if you like awesome bass playing, this is a good disc to buy. It's fun too, if you can overlook the corniness of a few of the songs.

I'm a big fan of the Flecktones, and Victor Wootens bass skills especially, but this CD just doesn't cut it for me. I thought there'd be some major jam sessions, there are, but at the cost of some very cheesy and poorly written lyrics. There is way to many special guest at times, and all of the chatter on stage during sounds gets very annoying. I expected only Victor and a bass guitar, true, there are a few songs where it's just him, but then the rest of the group ruins it. Maybe my expectations were to high after hearing his work on the Flecktones.......

I am a fan and a bass player. to me a live performance without stage patter is not live. Its muscians sitting on stage and recreating studio renditions. Live shows are supposed to give you that personal experience that studio albums cannot give. I dissagree whole heartedly with the critics of this album!! Live in America ROCKED! When it was all over I felt as if I knew a little about the man WOOTEN, and his family! thanks for the lesson from the whole Wooten Crew!

Micahel, unfortunately your unfamiliarity with Victor Wooten and his band members shows. Victor is not "The Teacher"... that's Regi Wooten, his older brother who is referred to as "The Teacher". Maybe you should actually go to one of the live shows. You would have a greater appreciation of what they are about on this live CD. You might be surprised.

The sleeper cut on this albumn is "I Dream in Color" The words and music are beautiful providing inspiration and an optimism that is rare and suprising in today's world.

"I Dream In Color"

Some say we're living in the last days
We're entering the last phase
On this planet called Earth
But when I close my eyes
I see the brightness of a new dawn
A barrier to go beyond
I feel hopeful for what it's worth
But still
Some say, boy,
You're just too optimistic
Don't you know the world's going to end
We're just going to be statistics
I don't know
I see a rainbow as the product of a storm
As the sun shines down to keep us warm
And the winds of change blow
You might call it a dream
But when I dream
I dream in color

This show had the most energy and funk I've ever seen!!! Victor & his brothers played for 3 1/2 straight & put more love & soul into their music than most could ever believe. The cd is a great representation of what they do live. Get it - you'll love it too!!!

Maybe I'm wrong but when I palyed this CD for the first time (and I am not a bass player or musician), I thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't find it eclectic, or wierd and sage patter can be a good thing (Hendrix?) after all this is a live CD, what do you expect?

In any event, I really dug his rendition of Iron Man and the intro track with Bootsie was fun. That is really what is important about an albumb, right? That you be able to put it in your CD player and enjoy it on some level, even if you are a novice. I certainly did this and more credit to VW. (...)

I like Victor Wooten, but this cd is almost a total waste of money. If it were not for Teen Town, it would be a total waste of money. Michael Ross was right on target with his review. VW's other stuff is great, but this cd really bites. Not enough bass playing and too much talking. Just cut the chatter and it could possibly make it to 2 stars. Probably the worst live cd I have ever heard. Victor Wooten is great, but this cd is not.

I'm slightly bothered by the reviews on this page. This C.D is a must for anyone. Having lived in Nashville for 5 years and having seen the Wooten brothers at 3rd and Lindsey Bar and Grill every Wenesday night, I know how important that family was in Victors development as an amazing bass player. The Wooten brothers were playing shows when Victor was 5 years old and it was Regi Wooten, the guitar playing brother that taught Victor how to play and how to thump.
Among the thing not mentioned on this review page is the amazingly tight playing that Regi, Joseph, Victor and J.D Blair achieve whenever they play funky music. J.D Blair is the funkiest drummer I have ever seen, or heard. He is the backbone. Joseph, who plays keys, also has a few nice slow tunes including track 4 on disc 2. Jospeh is a quality musician and adds nice backups and a great solo in Hormones in the Headphones. Regi(who is THE TEACHER), who some refer to as not as talented as Vic, plays the hell out of the Wooten brother thump off found in Pretty Little Lady, track 8 on disc 2. His guitar playing on funk jams is also quite extraordinary as he plays guitar in a way most have never heard, He thumps the guitar like a bass.
The Wooten brothers, and not just Victor, should be recognized as amazing musicians. They make 70's funk tunes sound like you have never heard before, and on such tunes as What did he say, James Brown, Me and My Bass Guitar and Thank You(falletme be mice elf agin), they groove in a way that takes funk to the highest level. The talents of Joseph and Regi have been hidden for too long, and this disc is more musically fulfilling and more indicative as to what the Wootens are really about, than any of Vics solo albums. I love the grooves, I love the funk and I love the fact that brothers Regi and Jospeh get a platform to show off. Coupled with J.D Blair, the three guys can groove and play funk better than any musicians I have heard. My only complaint was too much Divinity, but anything involving the brothers and J.D was great.

um..., Reggie is Vic's brother and HE is who is referred to as "the teacher." please, do your homework before you make a comment about something you obviously were careless about. it is just better that way. it lends more credibility to what you write. thank you. BTW this is an excellent recording and i think Vic has done a great job with it!

I agree with everything written on this page. It is simply IMPOSSIBLE to give a prodigy a bad rating. However, from a production standpoint, this CD needs help. I love how they captured the spirit of the live show, I like stage chatter. However, there's too much of it for a CD. It's like they needed filler time or something. Victor is the best hands down, but I agree with the statement; I wanted to hear Victor more as well. I don't dig rap so for me that's the part to fast forward, but of course, that's what Vic is all about, various genres packed into one show. Anyone who calls his brothers anything but prodigy's doesn't know anything about music. "Hormones In The Headphones" has one of the most TASTEFUL piano solos I have ever heard. I would have loved to hear more call and answer between him and the band. I wouldn't mind hearing jamming, passing around solos, but the rap and the talking, it just gets in the way and takes away from the intense feeling this music gives you. It takes me off of the high Victor's music gives me. Whomever was expecting to hear what the Flecktones do, pick up a Flecktones CD...this is Victor live, plain and simple. It's different, but AMAZING!! I just think he could have gotten away with a little less of some things and a little more of others.

Based on a few listens, I cannot give this CD five stars. Like the person who did the review titled "just being selfish..", I am a little disappointed.

I am willing to conceed that I may have set expectations that were too high, but I am a huge Victor Wooten fan, and I know what he is capable of.

I love his bass playing, and I can't seem to get enough of it. These discs certainly represent what you will get at a Victor show--great improvization, some surprises, etc. However, for the album to have staying power, I think it needs to highlight his greatest strength--his incredible playing.

This album is a little short on that. For example, instead of listening to Divinity rap about how she does not have a record deal, I would like to hear Victor playing more.

I understand the direction that Victor is going, and I respect it, but for my money I would rather hear more bass playing.

But I wanted more Victor!! I can't believe I'm giving this 2-disc set (for the price of one) only four stars, but I wanted to hear more Victor on the bass and less of everybody else. I have heard Mr. Wooten live in concert several times on tour with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, and I should have known better than to expect anything--part of the fun is the spontaneity and unpredictability of it all. Unfortunately I expected a lot of bass playing, soloing, and improvising from Victor. What the first disc contains is some really adventurous jamming, with some really cool spots, time/rhythm changes, and undercurrents. The first six tracks, though, are vocals. Victor's brother Regi and MC Divinity are both good, but they're not Victor. . . . Track 7, "Sacred Silence/The Jam Man," is more what I had in mind for the whole thing--I could listen to that one track over and over agian. He continues the more solo work in the beginning of Track 8, "Tappin' and Thumpin'," switches to a couple of vocal segments, and concludes Track 9 with a very cool spin of "Iron Man." Disc One: three stars.
Disc Two opens with a dream match: Victor Wooten and Marcus Miller fight for supremacy on two tunes, MM's "Panther" & Pastorius' "Teen Town." Great track, all eleven minutes, and probably worth the price of the whole set! Track Four, "I Dream in Color," is a very cool vocal tune sung by Regi. A couple of familiar tunes follow: "My Life," "U Can't Hold No Groove," & "Me and My Bass Guitar." He concludes the sessions with "Pretty Little Lady," vocals by Victor, Regi, and company, and "If You Want Me To Stay/Thank You," both with some vocals added. Disc Two: five stars.
Don't get me wrong, Victor is playing some serious bass lines underneath anything else that is going on and doing it better than anyone I've ever heard. I simply would have liked to hear less of his brother and Divinity and more of him. What this live disc does, though, is chronicle Victor's solo career quite nicely. His first CD is primarily instrumental, his second added a number of vocal tunes, and his last set has an entire CD of vocal arrangements by Victor. Knowing what it is, I will really love this CD in the future, but my initial reaction was a bit of disappointment. I'm not sure even he could have met my expectataions, but he came darned close in moments.
If you have been a fan of Victor throughout his solo career, this disc is very representative of what he has done over the last few years and discs. If you are just expecting a huge instrumental/bass jam-fest, it doesn't happen all the way through. Out of loyalty, I feel like I should give it five stars, but out of honesty I have to give it only four. Overall, well worth the price for the two-disc set! Next time, Victor, just play!!!