Billy Wooten’s band, The Wooden Glass, qualifies as one of the great “lost” artists of Indianapolis.  They released one album and one 45 as The Wooden Glass; both on their Interim Records label, and each is scarce and in demand. The band’s instrumental soul-jazz groove has proved to be timeless and enduring.  Wooten is far more appreciated among jazz and soul aficionados worldwide than he is in Indiana.

\The LP, recorded live at Indianapolis jazz club The 19th Whole, has been reissued by Japanese label P-Vine.  The 45 includes the songs “Monkey Hips and Rice/We’ve Only Just Begun”. P-Vine also issued a single in 2013 with two versions of “In The Rain”.

Most of the band, including Wooten, Riggins and Caldwell, performed with jazz legend Grant Green’s touring band in the early 1970’s, and are featured on album releases.

Another LP was released with a somewhat different lineup on Eastbound Records in 1972 as The Nineteenth Whole, and Wooten remained active in the Indianapolis jazz scene until his death in 2016.  Wooten issued another album, In This World, in 1979 as Billy Wooten and Special Friends, Featuring Steve Weakley, and also played on the LP released by Naptown Afro-Jazz Quintet, released in 1980.  Wooten’s relationship with P-Vine Records led to several archival albums being released under his name.