Live in America

Live in America, too, requires listeners to sit through filler: stage patter that might have been fun if you were there; slight '70s pop-funk ("What Did He Say," "Hormones in the Headphones"); disco ("Yinin' and Yangin'"); Hendrix and Ozzy quotes in order to get to instrumentals like "Sacred Silence/The Jam Man" and "Miller Time" (featuring Marcus Miller), which offer the kind of soulful, mind-altering bass guitar work that the man does best. Wooten is a willful eclectic and, as his work with Bela Fleck proves, that can be fine. Still, though the musicians do a workmanlike job here, it takes a band of equal virtuosos like the Flecktones and some serious editing to make this kind of genre-hopping truly work. His bandmates refer to him as "The Teacher" in his introduction, and Live in America should inspire bass students to practice, as well as teach them the dangers of self-indulgence. --Michael Ross