The next couple of performances on Victor Wooten’s schedule will be a bit of a departure from his typical concert appearances.
Wooten, a five-time Grammy Award-winning bassist and composer known more for jazz, rhythm and blues, will perform with the Chicago Sinfonietta for the area premiere of “The Bass Whisperer,” a concerto for electric bass and orchestra written by Wooten and violinist and composer Conni Ellisor.
“Doing the symphony is totally different than my world, where I live in an improvised music world, where I get to improvise my parts a lot. Where this one has to be memorized, and a lot of it has to be played verbatim,” he said. “It’s a different challenge for me, and I’m enjoying it.”
The concerto, which will be performed for just the third time live, is part of the Sinfonietta’s annual Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. concerts Sunday and Monday. The concert will be performed at 3 p.m. Sunday at Wentz Concert Hall in Naperville, and again at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center in Chicago.
Among the other pieces to be performed at the concerts are Richard Smallwood’s “Anthem of Praise,” a special arrangement of John Legend’s “Glory” featuring spoken word by performed by Tony Briscoe, and various Gospel selections performed by the Apostolic Church of God Sanctuary Choir.
The tribute will also feature the Chicago premiere of “Fourth Chickasaw Variations.” Written by Michael Gandolfi, the piece was based on “I’ve Been Buked and I’ve Been Scorned,” which was sung by Mahalia Jackson before King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
Before the concert and during intermission, audiences at both venues will be able to view never-before-seen images of King in Chicago from the archives of the Chicago History Museum. At the Monday concert at Symphony Center, students from Perspectives Charter School will help lead audience members in a peace rally, which will include the opportunity for audience members to make a personal commitment to peace and nonviolence.
Wooten said he was happy to learn the performance of “The Bass Whisperer” would be part of the tribute to King.
“That really got me excited to be a part of that, and to actually be able to create something that I think I’m going to be able to do as an extra piece apart from the concerto in celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King,” he said.
The extra piece, which he said he will likely perform at the Monday concert, was inspired by King’s work and life.
“On my very first record that I recorded as a solo artist, I had a song on my record called ‘Words of Wisdom,'” said Wooten, who is also bassist for Béla Fleck and the Flecktones. “In that piece I had Dr. Martin Luther King’s voice, as well as Malcolm X, my mom’s voice and another friend just speaking wisdom over some solo bass music that I created.”
Last year Wooten started touring again with a drummer he toured with in the 90s. Together, they created another piece similar to the “Words of Wisdom.”
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“I’m going to play something similar to that in Chicago, using different voices and things like that,” he said.
When Ellisor first approached Wooten, who lives in Nashville, about creating “The Bass Whisperer,” he hesitated.
“At first I said no, I didn’t want to do it, because I wasn’t quite ready to do a concerto. But then I figured, well, why not? I had an opportunity staring me in the face, so I finally agreed, but only in the circumstances that I could help write,” he said. “I did not want the whole thing written for me, I wanted to help write it.”
The piece, he said, is written pretty standard as far as concertos go.
“There are three movements, and there are cadenzas in some of the movements,” he said. “I do improvise my cadenzas.”
Wooten said he is hoping to record “The Bass Whisperer” at some point, although no date has been set yet. He is also trying to find time to start recording his own next record, and is working on the sequel to his 2008 book, “The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music.”
Wooten said it’s been fun rehearsing “The Bass Whisperer,” and is looking forward to playing it with the Sinfonietta.
“For my current fans, this will be an opportunity to see me in a totally different light, in a different atmosphere, in a different type of musical situation. And I look forward to that. The goal of writing the piece was to be able to stretch the imagination of two audiences. The classical world is going to hear something new and different with a different instrument,” Wooten said.
Kathy Cichon is a freelance writer.
Chicago Sinfonietta: Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. concert
When: Sunday
Where: Wentz Hall at North Central College, 171 E. Chicago Ave., Naperville
Tickets: $10-$60
Information: chicagosinfonietta.com