IndiePulse Reviews: BLUE BASSOU – New Album by THE CHARLIE WOOTON PROJECT

BLUE BASSO by The Charlie Wooton Project establishes the New Orleans bassist as a master of his craft. Fans of Royal Southern Brotherhood and the New Orleans Suspects already recognize Wooton as a world class instrumentalist, but BLUE BASSO shows that Wooton has much more to offer.

Wild Heart Records will be releasing the latest album by The Charlie Wooton Project on August 23rd, but BLUE BASSO is more than “just a new album”, it is a milestone, a pivot point where Charlie Wooton pays homage to his influences and makes the path for himself in music even broader, and richer than ever before.

In Review: BLUE BASSO by the Charlie Wooton Project is everything you would expect in an album rich in the culture of the rhythmic and high energy sound of New Orleans, which is the true “Melting Pot” of the southern music scene, from rich creole inspired tones to the high pop “jump and jive” dance moves, we find ourselves reeling in the soul of the moment. With his weapon of choice, he takes creativity to new levels while adhering to the tried and true, making each string sing and the composition, the tonal choreography of each song carries you through the album in delight.

Rather than do a track by track, which I feel would lessen the impact of this rich musical offering, I will say that in its entirety, BLUE BASSO is a triumph of the modern music scene while also being a trip down the road of the regional music history that is the New Orleans roots of The Charlie Wooton Project.

Charlie Wooton, the Lafayette, Louisiana native grew up in one of the richest musical environments on earth, surrounded on all sides by Cajun, Zydeco, rockabilly, swamp pop, blues, gospel music. His four older brothers, all exceptional musicians, laid the foundation for Charlie’s life.  At the age of 15, his work became influenced by acts Spyro Gyra and the contemporaries of the time.

Charlie’s talent took him everywhere, and after some time in L.A. Charlie moved to Atlanta and formed the progressive dance band Zydefunk while maintaining 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 variety of musicians including Count M’Butu, Oliver Wood, Donny McCormick, Sean Costello, Grant Green Jr., Jeff Sipe, Dick Smith, Rev. Jeff Moser, Doug Belote and Willie Green.

In 2010 Charlie moved back to Louisiana where he has become a sought-after sideman with some of the best musical aggregations to emerge 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 many more. As the bassist for Royal Southern Brotherhood over a four-year period

Charlie recorded four CDs and wrote several of RSB’s songs, most notably “Fired Up.” Though the band had two world world-class guitarists in Devon Allman and Mike Zito, it was Wooton’s bass that often took the lion’s share of the solo space during the band’s live performances.

In commentary, Wooton says-“The Charlie Wooton Project, I didn’t really just want to use my name because my band members are incredible. This record is not about me. To be honest with you this record ended up being about Arsine Delay’s voice. Keiko probably plays the least on it but in my opinion she’s the best musician. Jamal sounds wonderful, Daniel is incredible. I like to highlight the people I’m with. Without them I’ve got nothing, there ain’t nobody gonna come just to see a bass player.”

BLUE BOSSO also features several outstanding special guests — Doug Wimbish joins the fray for the two bass attack on “Jaceaux” while guitarists Sonny Landreth, Anders Osborne, Damon Fowler and Eric McFadden all make outstanding contributions.

“Music evolves,” Wooton says of BLUE BASSO. “And here’s an example of how it evolves from the heart of blues. I grew up in Lafayette Louisiana playing Cajun/Zydeco music. Cajun/Zydeco music is blues with accordion and a French accent. New Orleans music is rooted in blues other than the influences that came from the Caribbean and Europe. They play blues where I come from different than they do in Mississippi. They play it different in Chicago and they play it different in Texas. So, this record is a blues record that in my career, this is what I got out of the blues and where it took me.”

(Article research contributed to and credited to John Swenson (Rolling Stone, Cream, and Offbeat Magazine, who provided background information for this review.) 

Visit His Website http://www.charliewooton.com 

More at: http://www.facebook.com/charlie.wooton/ 

BLUE BASSOU has a Worldwide Release Date of August 23- Get it here first on July 12^th by pre order!

Get The Album : Wild Heart Records