Good funk is rare these days. Fortunately fusion bassist Victor Wooten came up with this too and decided to make a powerful funk CD with Soul Circus where the groove is paramount and the usual musicians-for-musicians freak has been put on the back burner. Modesty is strange to him, because he immediately uses the opening track Victa to make it clear to the listener what a great musician he is. He
… receives vocal assistance from none other than Bootsy Collins. Yet he is not an ego tripper, because with the subsequent Bass Tribute he makes clear who his greatest sources of inspiration are: Bootsy Collins, Stanley Clarke, Jaco Pastorius and Larry Graham. At the very end of Soul Circus the lesser bass gods are featured in this song's reprise. Natives in particular are thriving, when Wooten gives a demonstration of plucking bass in optima forma. With the Creative Source cover You Can't Hide Love he hits the emotional chord perfectly. It is to be hoped that Wooten will inspire many musicians to follow with Soul Circus, because in the context of the funk revival there is an enormous need for CDs like Soul Circus. (AD)more