Billy Wooten

US vibraphonist and percussionist (b. New York - d. 2016). After starting on the piano, Wooten played several brass instruments—trumpet, trombone, and French horn—before focusing on the vibraphone and marimba. During his college years at Rutgers University, he left school around 1960-61 to travel as a sideman with a blues act called Dean and Jean. From around 1964 to 1968, he was on the road with his own group billed as Billy Wooten and the Invaders, which played jazz and R & B. With his group, he had the opportunity to back Smokey Robinson and Gladys Night. Although Billy had trouble convincing his booking agent to send him to Indianapolis, his initial visit there during some down time in 1968 led to frequent engagements playing soul jazz at the Hub-Bub Lounge on West 34th Street and then at the 19th Hole at 2901 Harding Street. While under contract with Janie Robinson at the 19th Hole, Wooten left to tour and record with guitarist Grant Green from 1969 to 1971. In fact, Wooten’s vibe playing contributes greatly to Green’s funky albums on Blue Note from that period—namely Visions and Shades of Green. Wooten also recorded as a sideman to singer Jerry Butler and Soulful Strings around the same time. Because of contract disputes, he and other members of Grant Green’s band—drummer Harold Cardwell and organist Emanuel Riggans—returned to Indy’s 19th Hole, where they played as the Wooden Glass as often as six nights and two matinees a week for about five years. Wooden Glass recorded a self-titled live album in 1972 on Interim (Wooten’s own label) and a studio album called 19th Hole on Eastbound Records. Although his group gradually faded away in the 1970s, Wooten still lives in Indianapolis and appeared along with over 100 jazz musicians in a recent photograph entitled A Great Day in Indy.

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