Seven years in the making, with Vitous now 78, Mountain Call reflects a lifetime’s immersion in classical music alongside jazz, and the balance of spontaneity, nuance and cinematic atmospherics that offered him. Across multiple improv dialogues and two suites (all short, Vitous being no fan of loquacity), the set prominently features DeJohnette, who died in October, with Esperanza Spalding, saxophonist Bob Mintzer and the phenomenal French clarinettist Michel Portal, who died in February. Eight duo tracks for Vitous and Portal (mostly all-improvised) are worth the album alone, for their ever-shifting mix of mellow lyricism and challenging curiosity. In four improvisations on a standard clarinet, Portal segues graceful swoops, plaintive queries and staccato punctuation against Vitous’s turbulent undercurrent of muscular plucked runs and percussive accents. […] ‘Mountain Call’ could hardly be a more personal contemporary music chronicle from an unflinching one-off.
John Fordham, The Guardian
‘Mountain Call’, his first ECM album as a leader in a decade, feels like a reflective summation of the many musical paths he has explored. Recorded intermittently between 2003 and 2010 in Vitous’s Prague studio, the album unfolds as something of an artistic self-portrait. It moves fluidly between free improvisation, chamber-like ensemble writing, orchestral textures, and subtle studio manipulation. Vitous has long been interested in blending acoustic performance with technological possibilities – an interest that intensified during the years he spent developing orchestral sampling software – and here those tools are used not as gimmicks but as compositional extensions. The album’s most striking moments arrive in the duets with French clarinet virtuoso Michel Portal, whose passing in early 2026 adds a bittersweet resonance to these performances. Portal’s bass clarinet lines weave with Vitous’s bass in brief, sharply etched improvisations that open and punctuate the record. Tracks such as ‘New Energy’, ‘Second Touch’, and the haunting closing title piece reveal a telepathic musical dialogue. Vitous’s dramatic arco playing on ‘Mountain Call’ itself, set against Portal’s dark, expressive tone, becomes one of the album’s defining highlights. Elsewhere, Vitous revisits a long-standing musical partnership with drummer Jack DeJohnette. Their collaboration dates back decades, including early ECM recordings with guitarist Terje Rypdal. Here, the two musicians rekindle that chemistry with vigorous rhythmic interplay. […] DeJohnette also contributes a carefully textured solo passage within the three-part suite ‘Evolution,’ joined by clarinettist Bob Mintzer. A different mood emerges in the five-part suite ‘Rhapsody,’ where vocalist and bassist Esperanza Spalding appears in her first ECM outing. Singing Vitous’s lyrics and occasionally blending her voice into the instrumental textures, Spalding adds warmth and lyricism to the album’s otherwise exploratory palette. Her exchanges with soprano saxophonist Gary Campbell and drummer Gerald Cleaver give the suite a playful, conversational energy. Despite its many collaborators, ‘Mountain Call’ never loses sight of its central voice. Vitous’s bass – sometimes melodic, sometimes orchestral in weight – guides the music through its shifting formats.
Mike Gates, UK Vibe
All the music presented here is unlike Vitous’s earliest recordings under his own name or with Weather Report. At times it is nearer to the contemporary classical output of say, Bartok or Ligeti, but fused with much intriguing and frequently captivating improvisation.
Roger Farbey, Jazz Journal
‘Mountain Call’ showcases Vitous’s talents as an improviser, composer, and arranger. But it also highlights his place as a pioneer of creative sampling technology, blending live performance with orchestral samples and layered textures. Eight of the relatively brief eighteen tracks are improvised duo renderings between Vitous and Portal. […] ‘Mountain Call’ could easily be entitled ‘The Many Sides of Miroslav Vitous’ as it encompasses his breadth of improvisation, composition, and orchestral sampling. It is reassuring to hear his voice again.
Jim Hynes, Post Genre
‘Mountain Call’ is Miroslav Vitous' return to ECM after a decade-long absence. This set offers poignant recordings made by the bassist with recently deceased jazz drummer Jack DeJohnette and French reedist Michel Portal. The set's 18 short selections were recorded between 2003 and 2010 at the bassist's Prague studio. Eight selections are duos with Portal, a musician whose decades of experience include periods with classical composers including Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Luciano Berio in addition to jazz greats avant and straight ahead. DeJohnette, with whom Vitous first played in Terje Rypdal's 1970 trio, plays on five cuts including one duet and four ensemble pieces. The album's latter half contains guest contributions from Esperanza Spalding, Bob Mintzer, Gary Campbell, Gerald Cleaver, and members of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. […] ‘Mountain Call’ may initially seem a loose compendium of tracks, but it becomes obvious after only a few selections that this is a multivalent overview of Vitous' considerable gifts as composer, instrumentalist, and improviser.
Thom Jurek, All Music
He’s been a leader on his own albums for ECM since the late seventies, and he’s never rested on any laurels in doing it. Thus ‘Mountain Call’, which combines three different sets of players into a remarkable program that threads the needle between jazz and classical musics. Vitous opens the album with a four-song mini-set featuring duets with late clarinetist Michel Portal that sound like two old friends having a truly interesting conversation – interesting enough that more of its appear throughout the record, including at the very end. The bassist also pairs with another sadly passed old pal – his Corea rhythm partner Jack DeJohnette […] The record’s highlight may be ‘Rhapsody,’ a five-parter with its composer backed by drummer Gerald Cleaver, saxophonist Gary Campbell, and, singing the leader’s own libretto, Esperanza Spalding. It’s the most overtly jazzy piece on the album, and draws us in with melody, energy, and enthusiasm. […] Despite the different sessions, ‘Mountain Call’ is a well-rounded, thoughtfully-conceived, and just plain enjoyable listen that’s a highlight of its creator’s diverse catalog.
Michael Toland, Big Takeover
In allen acht musikalischen Zwiegesprächen sowie im ‘Tribal Dance’ mit dem Schlagzeuger Jack DeJohnette tanzen die Töne so heiter aus den Instrumenten, dass das Zuhören eine Freude ist. Das macht sie zur schönen Erinnerung an Jack DeJohnette (1942-2025) und Michel Portal (1935-2026), die zwischen den Aufnahmedaten und der Veröffentlichung gestorben sind.
Werner Stiefele, Rondo
Die LP beginnt mit vier spannenden Duetten von Miroslav Vitous und dem französischen Klarinettisten Michel Portal - auch im weiteren Verlauf hören wir dieses Zusammenspiel noch einmal, insbesondere beim herausragenden Titelstück ‘Mountain Call’ am Schluss der Platte. Diese intimen wie sensibel vorgetragenen Dialoge lassen den Zuhörer wie gebannt lauschen, das sind magische Momente! Dazwischen entfalten sich ebenso reizvolle Konstellationen, wie etwa die rhythmisch ausgeprägte Begegnung mit der Drummer-Legende Jack DeJohnette in ‘Tribal Dance’ oder der dynamische Austausch dieses Duos in ‘Epilog’, bereichert durch das Czech National Symphony Orchestra. Auf der zweiten Plattenseite erleben wir zwei exquisite Suiten: Zunächst das dreiteilige ‘Evolution’ mit Vitous, DeJohnette und dem CNSO sowie insbesondere Bob Mintzer, der mit seiner eindrucksvollen Bassklarinette begeistert. Danach folgt die ’Rhapsody’, bestehend aus fünf kurzen Teilen, in denen die Stimme von Esperanza Spalding, der Saxofonist Gary Campbell, Vitous am Bass und Gerald Cleaver am Schlagzeug zu hören sind. Spalding verwendet ihre Stimme wie ein Instrument, während die Textfragmente lediglich den Rahmen bilden. In ‘Fun & Games’ interagiert sie im Call-and-Response-Prinzip mit Campbell und Vitous, während Orchester-Samples die vielschichtige Atmosphäre bereichern. […] Musikalisch ist ‘Mountain Call’ jedenfalls ein Meisterwerk von Miroslav Vitous
Manfred Krug, Vinyl Fan
