Mountain Call from ECM – it consists of recordings made in Prague in very different contexts and settings between 2003 and 2010 – is a timely reminder of what a fearsomely irrepressible and unique musician Miroslav Vitouš is, both as instrumentalist and as composer. There is purpose, attitude and an almost daemonic challenge in everything he plays or writes.
His backstory is all about heft and serious chops. When Vitouš (b.1947) won first prize at the 1966 International Jazz Competition in Vienna, an event set up by Friedrich Gulda, the prize included a course of study at Berklee in Boston. So, abandoning his team position as a national level swimmer (sic) off he went to the US, where he was to spend most of the next two decades making music at the top level. He played with an incredible selection of top US musicians. He was briefly in a Miles Davis group, he was one of the co-founders of Weather Report, and was also in a classic trio with Chick Corea and Roy Haynes.
His association with Manfred Eicher and ECM has been significant and long-standing. The artist page on the label’s website lists a rich ECM catalogue of no fewer than twenty-two albums or collections either as leader or as collaborator. There are many gems in there, such as Journey’s End with John Taylor, John Surman and Jon Christensen. It is understandable that ECM should want to provide this sequel, some new and more recent chapters to be added to the Vitouš story.
The most accessible and engaging parts of the album are also the most improvised. About half of the album finds him in a duo with the great French clarinettist Michel Portal, who died just a few weeks before the release of this album. The two spark off each other brilliantly, whether they are in a short, friendly dialogue with something approaching a pulse (“Discussion”) or challenging each other more wildly with howls and wails (as in the title track). The scampering virtuosity of “Delusion” has them listening and responding to each other subliminally. The range of expression and the freedom of both players is stunning, and it breaks off far too soon. Both musicians have a lifetime of traversing the boundaries of jazz and contemporary classical music behind them, and this is a very sophisticated conversation of equals who know where this kind of complete freedom can take them.
The tracks involving the late great Jack DeJohnette (“Tribal Dance” for duo, and “Epilog” which also has a sampled orchestra) are fascinating in different ways: the duo shows both as masters of the free form in superb empathy with each other, and the orchestral track is wonderfully and darkly atmospheric. I found the five-movement suite with Esperanza Spalding singing, harder going, and, seriously, nobody is going to sleep through a "Lullaby" interjected by bass solos from Miroslav Vitouš.
It falls outside the scope of an album review, but since the accent of the album is on Vitouš’s breadth and versatility, and he himself talks about the freedom and “multidimensionality” of his vision of his own craft, there is another part of Vitouš’s recent musical life which should be more widely known: his duo work with pianist Emil Viklický. Viklický is a musician who has the canon of Czech classical music just as deep within him as Vitouš does, and their collaboration has led to some remarkable recordings. The album Moravian Romance (Venus, Japan, 2018) is a very special document, and best of all might be "Love, oh Love", recorded on video at Jazzfest Bonn 2019, and available on the festival’s YouTube channel.
Miroslav Vitouš is a unique force in music, and Mountain Call should provide an invitation to explore his astonishing back catalogue.
