Jazz Bass Legend Victor Wooten Has Lent His Talents To A Prog-Metal Band

Look, it's safe to say that nobody was really expecting this, but we are so glad that it's happened: veteran jazz bassist and all-around four-string icon Victor Wooten is slinging the fat strings for a crazy fucking progressive metal band called Octavision — or, at least, he has done so for their debut single.

Wooten, a Grammy-winning bass player who is best known as a solo master of the instrument as well as being the long-time bassist for innovative bluegrass outfit Bela Fleck & The Flecktones, has historically not swum too deeply in these waters, but — if the sole single from the band so far is any indication — he seems to have had no trouble at all adapting to the kind of on-a-dime shifts and swells that permeate so much progressive heavy music, keeping pace with evident ease while his bandmates — dual keyboardists Steve Weingart and Ara Torosyan, drummer Roman Lomtadze and guitarist Hovak Alaverdyan — dash and dance around, over and under the bass lord's bountiful bottom-end licks. 

Understandably, Wooten's inclusion in this line-up has actually caused a bit of (enthusiastic) confusion among his fans, leading Alaverdyan to release a statement on his Facebook page clarifying the extent to which Wooten is involved in Octavision now and going forward.

"Obviously, Victor Wooten is a legend and a giant," he began. "He is also a friend of mine. Sentiments and questions of 'VW is in a prog metal band??' are fair and expected.

"However, and this is with Victor's and the other group members' suggestion, I'd like to again point out that this is my personal project that I have funded, organized, written, produced and arranged. No, this is not Victor Wooten's new band."

"While this first single has these specific members featured, for forthcoming releases and albums, there is no telling which different musicians and collaborative opportunities may be present," he continued. "Yes, my vision is a progressive metal/rock one, but there are many colors and textures within that landscape that may be explored and may contain various featured soloists and collaborators as well … So think about this more as a special project that I put together with a dream team of musicians that will encompass many elements of progressive rock and metal."

The first taste of Octavision, and their impending album, comes in the form of nine-and-a-half-minute epic Three Lives. As you can hear, the grooves and changes, and general aural aesthetics, are starkly different from the usual stomping grounds in which Wooten dwells, but he takes to the diversity like a duck to water, even getting a section to shine centre-stage from about the six-and-a-half-minute mark. Also throughout, kaval (a type of Turkish flute) and blul (an Armenian string instrument) get added to the mix and suddenly you're left wondering why he's not traversed this road before (if you weren't already thinking it), because, damn, it is batshit awesome and utterly exhausting — in the best way — to behold. Just don't ask him how to play it.

Check out the video for Octavision's totally nutso debut single, Three Lives, below.

The song is available on iTunes now; to keep on top of news from the band's camp, hit up their Facebook page.