At a certain point in our conversation, Victor Wooten, considered by many one of the greatest bass players of all time, said he'd probably still would have been a musician, playing for free, even if hadn't a very successful career.
He was born into a musical family, the youngest of five brothers, and they told him from the start he'd be playing bass in the family band. But talk about making the most of it - winner of five Grammys, a guest faculty member at Berklee College of Music, founder of Bela Fleck and The Flecktones, running a nature camp for budding musicians and guest starring with a cavalcade of jazz stars.
"I'm thankful that my brothers chose the bass for me," he says. "Of course, I'm standing on the shoulders of a lot of my heroes, many heroes. Larry Graham, people before him, during his age, Marcus Miller, Stanley Clarke, people that I'm standing on the shoulders of... to be able to rise to my heights.
"The cool thing about the bass - the electric bass is still an instrument, the only instrument that can surprise. We're used to seeing guitar players do all this crazy stuff, we're used to seeing drummers having four limbs flying through the air, but the bass is still thought of by the general public as that person who stands in the background and plays one note at a time.
"So when I play a simple song, like Chopsticks on the piano, if someone played Chopsticks on the piano they'd get laughed out of the room. But if played it on the bass, people freak out. So I kind of like that the bass is kind of underdog, because it works in my favour."
Victor Wooten and his three surviving brothers (Joseph, Ray and Regi) are coming to Australia for the first time as a band, the Wooten Brothers, next month. One of their stops is Newcastle, with a show at Lizotte's that was booked out long ago. He's sold out two shows in Melbourne and a third has been added.
Victor Wooten's only bringing one guitar to Australia. That's all he needs.
"I want people to get what they came for, and more," he says of what to expect at a Wooten Brothers show.
"I want them to be shocked at what they see, but pure enjoyment.
"Playing good music is not enough, people can hear good music at home. But to get the live experience, to get the full live experience, it's gonna be more than music, you're gonna see things you've never people do with instruments, you're going to hear things you've never heard before, you're going to see a connection between four brothers that's wonderful to see."
For all of the accolades you can read about Victor Wooten, it's not hard to find a myriad of examples on social media that demonstrate a rare talent.
How about giving a university commencement address, bass in hand, playing the instrument the whole time while passing on some life wisdom.
Or performing a full body twirl with a bass around your neck that's not moving and not losing a note.
And the jams, like with fellow legendary bass player Steve Bailey (head of bass at Berklee College).
He is part of bass legend, part of the story. And he knows the stories.
We go off on a tangent about Larry Graham, the bass player for Sly and the Family Stone for five prime years (1967-1972). Our conversation is about the song, Everyday People, from 1966.
Victor, I ask, you said Larry Graham only plays one note the entire song. Is that true?
Wooten says: "Yes. One note, the whole song. It's kind of proof people aren't listening to individual instruments. The general public just takes in the whole picture, the whole sonic read, as a whole. And even bass player friends of mine, some of them don't realise, 'What, Larry Graham only played one note the whole song?'. It's true.
"But there was so much music in that one note, that the one note didn't matter that it was one note because everything was in that one note. The groove, the feel, the dynamics. That to me is testament to how music is, people get the whole picture, it's like a puzzle piece.
"The puzzle piece only has one part on it, but when you put it all together, you can see the whole picture, they're not looking at the individual piece."
Wooten says the technology of today is enabling a new generation of musicians to learn skills at a very young age. But there's more to it than that.
"What they don't have, and you can't buy, you can't download the app for it on your phone, you can't look it up on YouTube: you can't borrow our experience."
And yes, that's what he teaches.
