Music of Weather Report Miroslav Vitous

• 1 Scarlet Woman Variations 05:58
• 2 Seventh Arrow 06:42
• 3 Multi Dimension Blues 2 01:30
• 4 Birdland Variations 09:58
• 5 Multi Dimension Blues 1 02:05
• 6 Pinocchio 06:34
• 7 Acrobat Issues 05:32
• 8 Scarlet Reflections 02:46
• 9 Multi Dimension Blues 3 04:55
• 10 Morning Lake 06:43
• Total Runtime 52:43

Info for Music of Weather Report

Der tschechische Bassist widmet sich einmal mehr der Musik von Weather Report – der Band, die er gemeinsam mit Joe Zawinul und Wayne Shorter im Jahr 1970 gründete. Dabei interessiert Vitous in erster Linie die improvisatorische Freiheit des frühen Weather Report, ein Grund weshalb er an dem alten Schlachtruf von Weather Report „Jeder und niemand soliert“ festhält. Altbekanntes Repertoire wie “Birdland”, “Seventh Arrow”, “Scarlet Woman”, “Pinocchio” und “Morning Lake” wird hier wiederbelebt, genauso wird jedoch mit “Juggler’s Issue” auch ein Stück wiederentdeckt, dass die erste Weather Report-Besetzung zwar live spielte, aber nie aufgenommen hat. Darüber hinaus beinhaltet das Album auch drei neue Blues-Kompositionen aus der Feder von Vitous. Angetrieben von der doppelten Schlagzeugbesetzung aus Gerald Cleaver und Nasheet Waits klingt die Band energetisch und frech und stellt schnelle Tempi freien Rhythmen gegenüber. Miroslavs Basspiel mutet vor diesem Hintergrund beinahe wie ein drittes Horn zwischen den beiden Saxophonen an.

Miroslav Vitous, Kontrabass, Keyboards
Gary Campbell, Sopran-, Tenorsaxophon
Roberto Bonisolo, Soprano-, Tenorsaxophon
Aydin Esen, Keyboards
Gerald Cleaver, Schlagzeug
Nasheet Waits, Schlagzeug

Miroslav Vitous
Miroslav Vitous’s artistic path has been a singular one. Born 1947 in Prague, he had his first musical successes while in his early teens, playing in trio with Jan Hammer (piano) and Alan Vitous (drums). A scholarship to study at the Berklee College of Music brought him to the US, and by 1967 he was a central figure on the US scene playing with – amongst others – Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Stan Getz and Herbie Mann.

He was first heard on ECM in the 1970s leading his own band with John Surman, Jon Christensen, and Kenny Kirkland. In the 1980s he recorded for the label as a member of Chick Corea’s trio with Roy Haynes (“Trio Music”, “Live in Europe”) and issued a dazzling solo bass album (1985’s “Emergence”). 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 and marketing his highly successful symphonic orchestra samples software, he returned to ECM for two volumes of “Universal Syncopations” (2003 and 2007) – both of which were critical and popular successes. “Universal Syncopations II” won the ‘Großer Deutscher Schallplattenpreis’, the Album of the Year Award of the German Record Critics.

From 1982 to 1988 Vitous also taught at the New England Conservatory in Boston and was for three years chairman of its jazz department, before coming back to Europe as the 1990s beckoned. Based for some years in Northern Italy, where he ran his own studio near Turin (where both Music of Weather Report and its predecessor Remembering Weather Report were recorded), Miroslav Vitous has since returned to the Czech Republic.

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