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The Spirit of Music cover art

The Spirit of Music

By: Victor L. Wooten
Narrated by: Victor L. Wooten, full cast
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Summary

Grammy Award-winner Victor Wooten's inspiring parable of the importance of music and the threats that it faces in today's world.

We may not realize it as we listen to the soundtrack of our lives through tiny earbuds, but music and all that it encompasses is disappearing all around us. In this fable-like story three musicians from around the world are mysteriously summoned to Nashville, the Music City, to join together with Victor to do battle against the "Phasers", whose blinking "music-cancelling" headphones silence and destroy all musical sound. Only by coming together, connecting, and making the joyful sounds of immediate, "live" music can the world be restored to the power and spirit of music.

Read by the author, with:

  • Odelphis Davis as Mom
  • Keb' Mo' as Dad
  • Jonathan Chase as Jonathan
  • Cameron Wooten as the record-store owner and truck-stop employee
  • Sam Lutomia as Ali
  • Ryoko Suzuki as Seiko
  • India Arie as the music and Isis singing-voice
  • Brian Edwards as Sifu
  • Michael Kott as Michael
  • Chuck Rainey as Uncle Clyde
  • Radmila Bowers as Isis
  • Daniel J. Levitin as Phaser
  • Brandon Blake as Brandon
  • Dave Welsch as Larry
  • and Jeff Coffin as the saxophone player
©2020 Victor L. Wooten (P)2020 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“[A] bit like Carlos Castaneda’s shamanist tales, a bit like tween fiction, a bit like websites on, say, sonic healing through principles of sacred geometry and - at its best - an enactment of epiphanies told in the ping-pong dialogue.... It’s a book that stands happily against traditional music pedagogy and canned notions of achievement. This is to its great credit.” (Ben Ratliff, The Washington Post)

“Wooten, bassist for Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, delivers a remarkable fable in which music is dying.... This allegorical foray into the power of music is both heartfelt and wildly imaginative. Music lovers will adore this sparkling manifesto.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

“Part exhortation, part New Age-ish memoir, part philosophical treatise, Wooten’s book is full of surprising and illuminating lessons.... [An] always rewarding delight for music fans of a mystical bent.” (Kirkus Reviews)

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Excellent!!!

Really inspiring words, great story, makes for a wonderful walking meditation!!! Would definitely recommend. 🙏🙌👌👍

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Lovely!

This was another joy and inspiration to read, just like the music lesson! Deeply reccommend it.

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Amazing

Another amazing work from this genius! I love the narrative and insights this book uncovers and the strangest thing was was that after listening to it, I had a dream the next night where the teachers from the book taught me even more new things about life! Very cool, thanks!

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How to answer some of the great questions of life

I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed listening
Victor Wooten, you brought your book to life, and it answers so many important questions of life.
I love it so much I bought the paperback version as well, thisbook and "The Music Lesson" are books everyone should read.

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Great message. Loved it.

Beautiful book. Thank you music for talking to us through Victor! Love is the answer.

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Great cast and introduction but not very engaging

After reading and being inspired by the first book, The Lesson, I was expecting another thought provoking, inspirarional book. However, despite a strong jntro, the book itself was not very inspiring and so far-fetched, it was hard to get through.
if you Love Victor Wooten, check out The Lesson instead.
The cast and performance was great though and the incidental music by Victor was brilliant. It's a shame the story didn't live up to expectations.

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Sverely disapointed

I was blown away by The Music Lesson when it came out. Wootens briliant innsight in to the inner workings of music was life changing for me. The fact that there was a little «fairy dust talk» as Wooten puts it was tolerable because of the briliance of all of the other stuff, most of tye book. I was then super hyped to learn that Wooten had released a follow up to The Lesson. I have been severely disapointed. This book is all fairi dust talk. The musical insight from the lesson hardly makes an aperance and is replaced by new age mumbo jumbo. I felt compelled to lisent all the way through for the save of the first book, but it was hard. If you’re a musician or a person that is interested in music, read tye lesson. If you like half baked conspirasies about 432 hertz, music beeing threatened and hiw the solution to all our problems is «love each other man» this is the book for you.

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