Grace Notes

…In music, a Grace Note is a note that is not necessary to the melody, but is added to give beauty or charm to the form, or the composition, of the movement to the artistic expression or to the composer’s original creation.

The life of Robert Eugene Wooten, Sr., is a classic example of “God’s Grace Notes” added to the melodic narrative of an awesome, unique and once-in-a-lifetime creation. Robert Wooten’s life was one of God’s finest “sermons in song.” The composition known to the world as “Professor Wooten” began on February 17, 1930, when Robert was born to John and Flora Wooten.

“Gene,” as he was affectionately called, was the fourth of five sons born to John and Flora - - a pentatonic preview of God’s unspeakable providence. God’s grace was evident in this masterpiece as Flora went home to be with the Lord and God provided “Papa Wooten” with a new life’s partner in Bessie Wooten, whom we all called “Nana.”

Nana, the quintessential helpmate, along with Pop Wooten, raised Robert, John, James, Ernest, Edward and Jean Bradford. Nana provided the home-training while Pop Wooten’s Morgan Park Prayer Band provided the Scriptural staff upon which was written a symphony of excellence that has changed the world.

The Shoop Elementary School and the Morgan Park High School provided the intellectual foundation upon which God began to build His Minister of Music. It was the prayers of the faithful, however, and the Grace of God that provided the spiritual mortar which would hold Robert’s life together “through many dangers, toils and snares.”

God’s grace transposed the key in which Robert’s life was written in three separate moves of God between 1945 and 1949. The first move was at the age of fifteen, God’s Grace Note gave Robert the inspiration to form a Choral group called “The Morgan Park Crusaders.”