Wooten puts bass guitar out in front

Or that his other children, ages 8, 5 and 2, can speak either, for that matter.

"They are all at ages where they can verbalize," Wooten said in a recent phone interview from the road in California. "Three of them are old enough to say, 'Aw, you are going out again?' The littlest one just waves and says, 'Bye-bye.' That just grabs me. I miss them more and more every time."

Wooten, who plays a solo gig Tuesday at the Rialto Theatre, hates to leave his family behind but understands it in context. Touring allows him to support them comfortably and allows his wife to be a stay-at-home mom.

In turn, Wooten gets to kick out funky bass-laced rhythms to the masses — a passion of his since childhood.

The 41-year-old musician picked up his first bass guitar at age 3. By 5, he was performing professionally with his brothers — the Wootens — touring regularly and opening for national acts like War.

Major success didn't come, however, until the Nashville-based artist hooked up with banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck in the late '80s. Fleck, then a member of New Grass Revival, admired Wooten's fast fingers on the bass and invited him to join a new jazz group he was starting called the Flecktones. Wooten fit right in with the ensemble and has been a member since.

"I love playing with those guys," he said. "They are like family, so it's very easy."

While Flecktones touring has been steady over the past 17 years, Wooten has also taken time for a solo career.

Last year marked the release of his fifth solo album, "Soul Circus," an ample demonstration of why he was named "Bass Player of the Year" three times by Bass Player magazine.

Created over the span of a year, "Soul Circus" is a 16-track throwback to the music of Wooten's youth.

"I wanted to approach it from a '70s R&B or funk band perspective like Sly and the Family Stone or James Brown, where it was really all about the music," Wooten said. "It wasn't about an icon or a cool hook or something just to sell records. It was about cool music you could understand and listen to and get something out of. The lyrics were meaningful. The songs were like hot soup on a cold day. They stuck to your bones."

"Soul Circus" was a labor of love for the musician, who took the opportunity to create songs he had been thinking about for a long time.

Tracks like "Natives" gave him the chance to honor the indigenous cultures of the world.

"For the last 15 years I have been really studying up on the native philosophies of not just Native Americans, but people like the Kalahari bushmen and the aborigines of Australia," he said. "A lot of times, we don't listen to the elders in our country. In our culture these days, we just put them in a home. But in cultures like Native American culture, they respect their elders a lot more."

And the funked-out song, "Bass Tribute" allowed Wooten to hook up with some of his old bass-playing buddies. Many of them take center stage on the track, singing lyrics and praising bass legends of days past like Larry Graham, Marcus Miller and Jaco Pastorius.

"On two occasions while recording this song, they had big music conventions in Nashville," Wooten said. "I was kind of lucky in the fact that these musicians were in town. I'd run into someone at the convention and ask them if they would come over and play for the track. I'd cart them over and get them in there and have them add whatever."

Not surprisingly, Wooten's kids get center-stage attention on the album. Three of the four are featured on the intro and outro.

"That idea to include them just happened as I was recording," Wooten said. "They are always there in the studio when I am recording, and sometimes they make it onto the record on purpose. A lot of times, I am just sitting there playing and they burst in, so I just leave things rolling and see what comes out of it."

Quick Take

Victor Wooten in concert

When: 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 28

Where: Rialto Theatre

Tickets: $20 in advance, $21 the day of the show through the Rialto box office, 740-1000