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Futureman
Roy Wilfred Wooten (born October 13, 1957), also known as RoyEl, best known by his stage name Future Man (also written Futureman and known to fans as Futche), is an American musician, inventor and composer. He is best known as a member of jazz and bluegrass quartet Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, along with banjoist Béla Fleck, harmonicist Howard Levy, and Roy's brother, bassist Victor Wooten. His primary instrument is the SynthAxeDrumitar, a guitar synthesizer he customized to play drum and percussion, but he sometimes plays a standard drum kit and other conventional percussion. Life and career Born in Hampton, 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 from Denbigh High School in Newport News, Virginia in 1975. He briefly attended music classes at Norfolk State University upon graduating from high school, and then embarked on his professiona ...
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Drumitar
A Zendrum is a hand-crafted MIDI controller that is used as a percussion instrument. The Zendrum was influenced by the "Drumitar," invented by Future Man. There are several Zendrum models that are well-suited for live performances: the Z1, ZX, EXP, ZAP series, LT and the Mallet Pro series and Melodic Finger. The Zendrum ZX and Z1 can be worn like a guitar and consists of a triangular hardwood body with 24 touch-sensitive round MIDI triggers. The EXP has 29 triggers and additional controls. The Zendrum LT can also be worn with a guitar strap, and has 25 MIDI triggers in a symmetrical layout, which provides an ambidextrous playing surface. The ZAP series is designed more for table top use or on a drum stand, with the ZAP1 having 19 triggers, and the ZAP2 having 25 triggers. The triggers are played by tapping or slapping with the fingers or hands. As a controller, the Zendrum does not make any sound by itself. It uses an electronic interface called MIDI to control synthesizers, sampl ...
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SynthAxe
The SynthAxe is a fretted, guitar-like MIDI controller, created by Bill Aitken, Mike Dixon, and Tony Sedivy and manufactured in England in 1985. It is a musical instrument that uses electronic synthesizers to produce sound and is controlled through the use of an arm resembling the neck of a guitar in form and in use. Its name comes from the words ''synthesizer'' and ''axe'', a slang term meaning a guitar in rock music. The system was developed as a joint venture funded by Richard Branson's Virgin Group. The SynthAxe itself has no internal sound source; it is purely a controller and needs synthesizers to produce sound. The neck of the instrument is angled upwards from the body, and there are two independent sets of strings. The fretboard is continuously scanned and sends signals to synthesizers which produce the sound. The left set determine the pitch played, through contact with the frets on the neck and by sensing the side-to-side bending of the string. The right set of strings ...
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Joseph Wooten
Joseph Wooten (born December 15, 1961) is an American keyboardist, singer, songwriter, author and philanthropist. Since 1993 he has been a member of the Steve Miller Band. Early life Joseph was the fourth of five children born to Dorothy and Elijah Wooten. His brothers: Victor Wooten, Roy "Futureman" Wooten, Regi Wooten and Rudy Wooten (deceased) all are musicians. By the age of 11, Joseph was performing with his brothers in their family band, The Wooten Brothers. As a United States Air Force family, they moved around often, finally settling in the Warwick Lawns neighborhood of Newport News, Virginia in 1972. Joseph graduated from Denbigh High School in 1979. While in high school, Joseph and his brothers played in the country music venue at Busch Gardens theme park in Williamsburg, Virginia. Career Joseph has been keyboard player and background vocalist since 1993 for the Steve Miller Band. Wooten also has two solo albums, ''Soul of Freedom'' (2013) and ''Hands of Soul'' ...
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Jeff Coffin
Jeff Stanley Coffin (born August 5, 1965) is an American saxophonist, composer, and educator. He is a three-time Grammy Award winner as a member of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, with whom he performed from 1997 until 2010. In July 2008, Coffin began touring with Dave Matthews Band and joined the group in 2009 following the death of founding member LeRoi Moore. He also leads his group Jeff Coffin & the Mu'tet. Early years Born in Massachusetts and raised in Dexter, Maine, Coffin began playing alto sax in fifth grade under the tutelage of Arthur Lagassee, the band director for the district. For two summers during the 1980s he attended the Summer Youth Music School at the University of New Hampshire which he credits for his love for mentoring young musicians. In 1983, after graduating from Spaulding High School in Rochester, New Hampshire, he attended the University of New Hampshire for two years. He studied at the University of North Texas and graduated with a degree in Music ...
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Béla Fleck And The Flecktones
Béla Fleck and the Flecktones is an American jazz fusion band that is known for its eclectic style and instrumentation, combining jazz Musical improvisation, improvisation with progressive bluegrass, Rock music, rock, Classical music, classical, funk, and world music traditions. The Flecktones formed in 1988 when Béla Fleck was invited to perform on the PBS TV series ''The Lonesome Pine Specials''. The original members were Fleck on banjo, Victor Wooten on bass guitar, his brother Future Man, Roy Wooten on Drumitar, and Howard Levy on harmonica and keyboards. After Levy's departure in 1992 the group continued as a trio for several years until recruiting Jeff Coffin in 1997 on saxophones. Coffin quit the group in 2010, and Levy rejoined in 2011. History Formation Near the end of his time with the New Grass Revival band, Fleck was invited to play for the ''Lonesome Pine Special'' on PBS in 1988, and he gathered a group of musicians to assist him. He had met Howard Levy the ye ...
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Newport News, Virginia
Newport News () is an Independent city (United States), independent city in southeastern Virginia, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the List of cities in Virginia, fifth-most populous city in Virginia and List of United States cities by population, 140th-most populous city in the United States. The city is at the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula, on the northern shore of the James River (Virginia), James River to the river's mouth on the harbor of Hampton Roads. Most of the area now known as Newport News was once a part of Warwick County, Virginia, Warwick County, one of the eight original shires of Virginia formed in the British Colony of Virginia by order of Charles I of England in 1634. Newport News was a rural area of plantations and a small fishing village until after the American Civil War. In 1881, fifteen years of rapid development began under the leadership of Co ...
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Norfolk State University
Norfolk State University (NSU) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black university in Norfolk, Virginia. It is a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and Virginia High-Tech Partnership. History The institution was founded on September 18, 1935, as the Norfolk Unit of Virginia Union University. Eighty-five students attended the first classes held in 1935. Mr. Samuel Fischer Scott, an alumnus of Virginia Union and Portsmouth, Virginia, Portsmouth native, served as the first director with the primary focus of maintaining the solvency of the school. Dr. Lyman Beecher Brooks, a Virginia Union alumnus, succeeded Mr. Scott as director in 1938, and served as provost, 1963–1969, and the first president 1969–1975. In 1942, the school became independent of VUU and was named Norfolk Polytechnic College. Within two years, by an act of the Virginia Legislature, it became a part of Virginia State College (now Virginia State ...
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Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, located on the Cumberland River. Nashville had a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of United States cities by population, 21st-most populous city in the United States and the fourth-most populous city in Southeastern United States, the Southeast. The city is the center of the Nashville metropolitan area, home to 2.1 million people, and is among the fastest growing cities in the nation. Named for Francis Nash, a general of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, the city was founded in 1779 when this territory was still considered part of North Carolina. The city grew quickly due to its strategic location as a port on the Cumberland River and, in the 19th century, a railr ...
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Metro Silicon Valley
''Metro'', also known as ''Metro Silicon Valley'', is a free weekly newspaper published by the San Jose, California-based Weeklys media group for four decades, a period during which its readership area became known as Silicon Valley. Metro was one of the earliest publishers to enter the digital media revolution, adding voice messaging to its classified advertising in the 1980s and free online access in 1993. It was the first newspaper to offer a downloadable PDF edition, with the launch of MetroPDF.com in 2003. The newspaper has been published since 1985 and is one of the last remaining founder-operated publications in the alternative press. Its principal distribution area encompasses the cities of San Jose, Los Gatos, Campbell, Saratoga, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Milpitas, Mountain View, Los Altos and Palo Alto. The publication’s investigative journalism is responsible for the Santa Clara County’s only felony political corruption conviction. Its rep ...
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Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond, and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point near where the Chesapeake Bay flows into the Atlantic Ocean. It also gave its name to the surrounding metropolitan region located in the southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina portions of the Tidewater (region), Tidewater Region. Comprising the Virginia Beach–Norfolk–Newport News, VA–NC, metropolitan area and an extended combined statistical area that includes the Elizabeth City, North Carolina micropolitan area, Elizabeth City, North Carolina, micropolitan statistical area and Dare County, North Carolina, Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, micropolitan statistical area, Hampton Roads is known for its large military presence, ice-free harbor, shipyards, coal piers, and miles of waterfront property and beaches, all of which cont ...
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Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious and significant awards in the music industry in the United States, and thus the show is frequently called "music's biggest night". The trophy depicts a gilded gramophone, and the original idea was to call them the "Gramophone Awards". The Grammys are the first of the Big Three networks' major music awards held annually, and are considered one of the four major annual American entertainment awards with the Academy Awards (for films), the Emmy Awards (for television), and the Tony Awards (for theater). The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held on May 4, 1959, to honor the musical accomplishments of performers for the year 1958. After the 2011 ceremony, the Recording Academy overhauled many Grammy Award categories for 2012. The 67th Ann ...
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