Miroslav Vitous
The prodigiously gifted Czech bassist and founding member of Weather Report, who as been called “one of the heroes of the jazz bass” by Ben Ratliff in the New York Times, first came to ECM in the late 1970s, in a collaborative trio with Terje Rypdal and Jack DeJohnette. Back then, Miroslav and Jack made for an eruptive, powerful rhythm section (successfully revisited on Vitous’s Universal Syncopations album of 2003)
Vitous’s work on ECM covers a wide stylistic range. After the collaborative trio encounters with Terje Rypdal and Jack DeJohnette, he launched his own group with John Surman, Jon Christensen and Kenny Kirkland with the album First Meeting. On subsequent recordings Miroslav Vitous Group and Journey’s End, John Taylor was the featured pianist.
The 1980s saw the revival of the trio [...]
The prodigiously gifted Czech bassist and founding member of Weather Report, who as been called “one of the heroes of the jazz bass” by Ben Ratliff in the New York Times, first came to ECM in the late 1970s, in a collaborative trio with Terje Rypdal and Jack DeJohnette. Back then, Miroslav and Jack made for an eruptive, powerful rhythm section (successfully revisited on Vitous’s Universal Syncopations album of 2003)
Vitous’s work on ECM covers a wide stylistic range. After the collaborative trio encounters with Terje Rypdal and Jack DeJohnette, he launched his own group with John Surman, Jon Christensen and Kenny Kirkland with the album First Meeting. On subsequent recordings Miroslav Vitous Group and Journey’s End, John Taylor was the featured pianist.
The 1980s saw the revival of the trio of Chick Corea, Miroslav Vitous and Roy Haynes. This was the line-up that had recorded the modern jazz classic Now He Sings, Now He Sobs in 1968, a reference work for a generation of players. Reunited in 1981, Corea, Vitous and Haynes recorded the album Trio Music, with free improvisations plus tunes by Thelonious Monk. A concert recording, Trio Music Live In Europe widened the scope to include compositions by each of the trio.
Miroslav’s 1985 album Emergence was an important addition to ECM’s select series of solo bass recordings. In the 1990s he was heard with Jan Garbarek in duo and trio contexts (“Atmos”, “Star”). After a hiatus during which the bassist was developing his highly successful symphonic orchestra samples software, he returned to the studio for two volumes of “Universal Syncopations” (2003 and 2007) – both of which were critical and popular successes. The first volume featured what was perceived as an “all-star” line-up, with Jan Garbarek, John McLaughlin, Chick Corea and Jack DeJohnette (“a mysterious and beautiful album – slightly disembodied, and (…) stronger for being so – The New York Times). “Universal Syncopations II” won the Großer Deutscher Schallplattenpreis, the Album of the Year Award of the German Record Critics. Two further albums reflected upon the creative legacy of the innovative ensemble of which Vitous had been a founder member: Remembering Weather Report and Music of Weather Report (2009 and 2016). Of the latter, The Guardian wrote that “The set simmers with sharp responses to unforgettable material.”
Mountain Call (2026), his first ECM leader date in ten years, is a late peak achievement in Miroslav Vitous’s music, presenting the bassist in varying ensemble configurations that prominently include the late French clarinetist Michel Portal and American drummer Jack DeJohnette among other notable collaborators.
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