Infinite Search
| Infinite Search | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Miroslav Vitouš | ||||
|
Publication |
1970 |
|||
| Label (s) | Embryo Records, Atlantic Records , Hörzu Black Label -Atlantic | |||
|
Format (s) |
LP, CD |
|||
|
Title (number) |
6/7 |
|||
|
running time |
47:20 (CD) |
|||
| occupation |
|
|||
|
Studio (s) |
A&R Studios, New York City |
|||
|
||||
Infinite Search is a jazz album by Miroslav Vitouš , which was recorded in the New York A&R Studios on October 8, 1969 and released in 1970 on Herbie Mann's label Embryo Records . The recordings were re-released under the titles Mountain in the Clouds and The Bass .
The album
Infinite Search was the debut album of the Czech bassist who had previously worked with Donald Byrd ( The Creeper ) and with Chick Corea and Roy Haynes ( Now He Sings, Now He Sobs 1968) and at the time with Herbie Mann ( Stone Flute and Muscle Shoals Nitty Gritty ) was busy. At that time, Mann had founded Embryo Records as a sub-label of Atlantic Records and produced albums there by former and current sidemen such as Attila Zoller , Ron Carter and Vitouš.
The musicians on Infinite Search included some protagonists of the fusion movement around Miles Davis , such as guitarist John McLaughlin , pianist Herbie Hancock , drummer Jack DeJohnette ; added saxophonist Joe Henderson , who was working with Hancock and DeJohnette ( Power to the People ) and the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra around this time . During these sessions, Vitous broke with the traditional role of the double bass as an accompanying instrument and "used it as a vehicle to propel the compositions forward". In addition, "he encouraged the players to leave musical conventions and to go into unsubscribed, improvisational terrain".
In the epic I Will Tell Him On You , Vitous does not act as an accompanist in the traditional role of bassist; as a kind of second drummer played with syncopated patterns . DeJohnette uses polyrhythmic drum fills. The cover version of Eddie Harris ' Freedom Jazz Dance is free group improvisation . Mountain in the Clouds is a feature for Vitous in which he plays bass percussively , only accompanied by Jack DeJohnette. Miroslav Vitous later said:
- " I didn't play the bass in a traditional way. I wasn't playing with the drums' time going “boom, boom, boom” all the time, with the piano playing harmony and the horn or guitar soloing on top of it. I would come up with motifs and come in with a second voice and tune down the bass. Nobody was used to playing in any other way before that. You have to remember that when jazz started, most of the bass players could not play their instruments well. Most of them were ex-trombone players, so jazz was created with a condition in mind that the bass player is not a good instrumentalist. "
When the piano solo begins in When Face Gets Pale Hancock, he “takes the lead, but guitar and bass don't just accompany him; sue begin a dialogue that has probably only been possible since the instruments have come closer to each other in terms of sound character through electronics , “and musicians can interact on an equal footing with one another without any communication problems.
When Face Gets Pale , Vitous re-recorded with Kenny Kirkland , Jon Christensen and John Surman on the album Miroslav Vitous Group ( ECM , 1980); Mountain in the Clouds on his ECM album To Be Continued (1981, with DeJohnette and Terje Rypdal ).
Track list
- Miroslav Vitouš: Infinite Search (Embryo Records SD 524)
- Freedom Jazz Dance ( Eddie Harris ) - 10:54
- Mountain in the Clouds - 1:51
- When Face Gets Pale - 7:38
- Infinite Search - 6:49
- I Will Tell Him on You - 11:00
- Epilogue - 6:57
- All other compositions are by Miroslav Vitouš. The editions Mountain in the Clouds and The Bass also contain the title Cérečka (2:42); the track recorded at the session, London Ride , remained unreleased.
Edition history
The album was first released in 1970 under the title Infinite Search in the United States on the Atlantic sub-label Embryo Records, in Italy under the same title on Atlantic (ATS ST 05520). In 1972 the album was edited there after a remix by Michael Cuscuna under the new title Mountain in the Clouds (Atlantic K 40551 / SD 1622), also in the USA (Atlantic SD 1622) and in Germany (Atlantic ATL 50 406). A version of the album was also released there in 1972 under the title The Bass on Hörzu Black Label / Atlantic (ATL 30 024, SD 1622); Werner Burkhardt wrote the liner notes for this issue . The LP was also marketed in France in 1974 under Mountain in the Clouds (Atlantic 30024, SD 1622). Mountain in the Clouds also contained the bonus track Cérečka . Again under the original title Infinite Search , an edition appeared as a compact disc (Atlantic 7567-80246-2) in Germany in 1988 , as well as on the reussue label Collectables (Col-CD-6176) in 2001 in the USA.
reception
Werner Burkhardt pointed out that despite and precisely because of the top-class cast, the musicians with their "individualities" achieve what is "perhaps only possible within the framework of this music": "Everyone has their freedom and listens to the other." It is a matter of one actual "fusion of jazz with rock music ."
Mark Allan gave the album 4½ (out of five) stars in Allmusic , indicating that Vitous' group competed with the best fusion bands of the era in the line-up of John McLaughlin, Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson and Jack DeJohnette. It must have been an intimidating challenge for the young Czech bassist to lead such a group for his debut album, especially since he had written five of six compositions himself. Reportedly recorded a year after the historic Bitches Brew and a year before Vitous himself played with the innovative band Weather Report , this was " trend- setting fusion".
Richard Cook and Brian Morton gave the album the second highest rating of 3½ stars in The Penguin Guide to Jazz and emphasized that the group sound benefited greatly from the energy of Miles Davis' Bitches Brew and Hancock's own crossover projects ( Kawaida ). Freedom Jazz Dance is the most familiar and accessible piece, but not the most characteristic; the rest of the album was "more of an atmospheric experiment than a blowing session ." Vitous was excellent in the long I Will Tell Him On You , where his bass playing managed to convince Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter of Miroslav Vitous as a future fixture of Weather Report .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Atlantic label discography
- ↑ a b Joe Henderson discography at Jazzdiscography
- ↑ a b interviews
- ↑ Jazzbo Notes ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Werner Burkhardt [Liner Notes] The Bass
- ↑ Miroslav Vitous - Infinite Search at Discogs
- ↑ Review of Mark Allan's album at Allmusic (English)
- ↑ Cook & Morton The Penguin Guide to Jazz London 2006 (8th edition), p. 1331 f.
