Future Man | |
|---|---|
 Future Man with theFlecktones at the Woodland Park Zoo in 2007. | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Roy Wilfred Wooten |
| Also known as | Futche |
| Born | (1957-10-13)October 13, 1957 (age 67) Hampton, Virginia, United States |
| Genres | Jazz,jazz fusion |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer, inventor |
| Instrument(s) | Drumitar,Zendrum,SynthAxe, drums, vocals |
| Labels | |
Roy Wilfred Wooten (born October 13, 1957), also known asRoyEl, best known by his stage nameFuture Man (also writtenFutureman and known to fans asFutche[1]), is an American musician, inventor and composer.
He is best known as a member ofjazz andbluegrass quartetBéla Fleck and the Flecktones, along with banjoistBéla Fleck, harmonicistHoward Levy, and Roy's brother, bassistVictor Wooten. His primary instrument is the SynthAxeDrumitar, aguitar synthesizer he customized to play drum and percussion, but he sometimes plays a standard drum kit and other conventional percussion.
Born inHampton, Virginia, Roy Wooten was raised in a military family and therefore traveled frequently. He is the second of five sons born to Dorothy and Elijah "Pete" Wooten. He graduated fromDenbigh High School inNewport News, Virginia in 1975. He briefly attended music classes atNorfolk State University upon graduating from high school, and then embarked on his professional music career. He and his brothers moved toNashville, Tennessee in the mid-1980s.
All of his brothers are musicians. The oldest, Regi, is a guitarist and teacher in Nashville. Roy Wooten, Regi, and his three younger brothers, Rudy (1959–2010) (saxophone),Joseph (keyboards), andVictor (bass guitar), performed as The Wooten Brothers in numerous musical venues in theHampton Roads area of southeast Virginia during the 1970s.
Wooten is a five-timeGrammy Award-winning performer withBéla Fleck and the Flecktones.[2] For the Flecktones, he plays theDrumitar, a novel electronic instrument of his own invention, and occasionally performs vocals as well.
More recently, Wooten has developed a new electronic instrument called the RoyEl,[3] which resembles a piano but plays notes not found in the traditional western music scales. This instrument is based on theperiodic table of elements[3] and thegolden ratio.
In 2005, Wooten pleaded guilty toincome tax evasion, after having been indicted on charges in 2001 that he had not filed or paid taxes between 1995 and 1998.[4] He was affiliated with theWashitaw Nation, and before his guilty plea had been judged possibly incapable of assisting in his own defense after filing incomprehensiblesovereign citizen paperwork with the court.[5]
Like the other members of the Flecktones, Wooten has worked on various solo projects during his time off from the band. On his own Wooten often dresses up as a pirate and uses the pseudonym "RoyEl", also the name he gave to the keyboard instrument he invented. Wooten's solo albums areexperimental and incorporate diverse musical genres and concepts. OnEvolution de la Musique, for example, he infusesclassical music with jazz elements, especiallyimprovisation, andspoken word.
Among extra-musical influences, Wooten describes Pythagoreannumerology andVedic mathematics as influencing his compositions.[6]
Wooten's solo works are:
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