The downside of declining CD-manufacturing costs is that artists feel free to put out even their most ephemeral musical musings. Victor Wooten's Live in America, though full of masterful moments, has chaff amongst the wheat. There's stage patter that might have been fun if you were there, slight 1970s pop-funk ("What Did He Say" and "Hormones in the Headphones"), disco ("Yinin' and Yangin'") and Hendrix and Ozzy quotes in order to get to instrumentals such as "Sacred Silence/The Jam Man" and "Miller Time" (featuring Marcus Miller), which offer the kind of soulful and mind-altering bass guitar work that the man does best. Wooten is a willful eclectic and, as his work with Bela Fleck proves, that can be fine. Still, though the musicians do a workmanlike job here, it takes a band of equal virtuosos such as the Flecktones, and some serious editing to make this kind of genre-hopping truly work. His bandmates refer to him as "The Teacher" in his introduction and Live in America should inspire bass students to practice. It is to be hoped it will teach them the dangers of self-indulgence too. --Michael Ross