Most people don’t think a professional keyboard player was once a kid randomly tapping keys with an index finger. The assumption is worse if the player is from a musician family. Like legacy politicians they must only be part of the family machine. Their accomplishments can be discounted. They’ve gotten all the breaks.
Don’t worry about Ohio born Joseph Wooten, aka Hands of Soul. He once sat practicing scales. After nearly three decades as keyboardist / vocalist in Steve Miller’s touring band and contributor to brother Victor’s celebrated funk freak-out The Victor Wooten Band, years as Band-leader to famed producer and Arista artist Kashif, Joseph Wooten has his own thing.
Joseph Wooten and his band serve the two main functions any listener expects from great music: stimulation and amazement. One quick listen to “Mouth to Mouth” from his 2003 album Hands of Soul style, and your feet will involuntarily keep the beat. His showmanship wows concert-goers as his fingers slide from a Nord to a Yamaha to the Theremin during solos and immerse you right into smooth vocals.
Joseph’s writing and flexible playing will be on display Friday, February 12th at the Beachland Tavern. He’ll certainly bring the funk. But he’ll also show the Bill Evans style of “Heidi’s Waltz” and his vocal skills on the touring musician’s credo “When No One Noticed Me”, which could make sense as an outtake from Billy Joel’s The Stranger. The song is Joel’s “Everybody Has a Dream” narrated by the guy who has made it around the world numerous times(touring with Steve Miller Band, The Victor Wooten Band, and others), been nominated for multiple Grammy (co-writer 1984 Best Rhythm and Blues Instrumental Performance ; 2000 Contemporary Jazz Performance, co-writer on Victor Wooten’s Grammy nominated Yin Yang), can hang with chops heavy musicians like drummer and Steely Dan alum Dennis Chambers then comfortably transition into a session pro (keys on Whitney Houston’s “Thinking About You”).
We already know that he is the funkiest keyboard player this side of Herbie Hancock. As a part of the Wooten Brothers Band, Joseph Wooten truly lives up to his nickname “Hands of Soul” and as such he has been taking the citizens of the United States to FUNK SKOOL for many years in both small and large venues. BOB DAVIS, SOUL PATROL
Who: Joseph Wooten, aka Hands of Soul
www.myspace.com/handsofsoul
When: February 12, 2010
8:00 Doors 9:00 Show
Where: Beachland Tavern
Cost: $15.00 All Ages Show
www.beachlandballroom.com
http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=929305
