On Feb. 10, five-time Grammy award-winning jazz bassist Victor Wooten shared not only his astounding talent, but also his philosophical leanings during a captivating performance/lecture at UALR titled “Music, Creativity, and Learning.”

Wooten was a bass player for Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and also had his own successful solo career.

Wooten was joined by drummer J.D. Blair and fellow bassist Rod Taylor, a Tennessee State University English professor and protégé of Dr. George Jensen, chair of the UALR Department of Rhetoric and Writing.

All the musicians reminded the appreciative audience that one’s approach to music stands as the perfect metaphor for how one approaches life.

“A lot of times, as musicians, we’ll focus on how well we play,” Wooten said, to a packed audience at UALR’s Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall.

“But the musicians I gravitate towards are the ones who show us how good we are, the ones who make others sound good, and everyone wants to be around them. Life can be instantly gratifying when we use those same principles.”

The event, which featured plenty of audience participation, was peppered with pleasant surprises.

For example, Minnie Walker-Egger of the Office of Graduate Admissions received a free bass guitar after courageously performing onstage with the group, even after admitting that she had never played a musical instrument before.

Taylor said helping Walker-Egger succeed in her courageous moment was what happens every day in education.

“I want to make you sound better, look better, be better. Fundamentally, a university is the place to do that,” he said.

UALR Department of Music faculty Mike Carenbauer and Tom Richeson joined Wooten, Blair, and Taylor for a Jazz Master Class later that evening in which UALR students performed on vocals, flute, saxophone, piano, drums, guitar, bass, and violin.

Both events were free and open to the public.