Miroslav Vitouš

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Miroslav Vitouš

Miroslav Vitouš (* 6. December 1947 in Prague , Czechoslovakia ) is a jazz - bassist and - Composer . He became known as a founding member of the legendary jazz rock formation Weather Report .

Life

Vitouš began playing the violin when he was six, the piano when he was ten, and he has been playing the bass since he was 14. In his youth he successfully took part in swimming competitions - this was enough for a nomination to the Czech Olympic team. One of his first music groups was the Junior Trio with his brother Alan on drums and his Czech friend Jan Hammer on keyboards. He enjoyed classical double bass training at the Prague Conservatory with František Pošta and won the Friedrich Gulda Competition in Vienna with his trio in 1967 , which earned him and Jan Hammer a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston .

Vitouš ' virtuoso jazz bass playing prompts critics to place him in a league with Scott LaFaro , Dave Holland , Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and Christian McBride . A characteristic example of Vitouš's double bass playing can be heard on the record Now He Sings, Now He Sobs (1968) with Chick Corea on piano and Roy Haynes on drums . This album shows his strong rhythmic feeling, an innovative walking bass as well as his strength and carefree improvisation .

His first album as a band leader, Infinite Search from 1969, later re-released as Mountain In The Clouds with minor changes , he played with key figures of the emerging rock jazz / fusion era, John McLaughlin , Herbie Hancock and Jack DeJohnette , but also with Joe Chambers and Joe Henderson . At the same time he was featured on Larry Coryell's album Spaces (1969).

He also worked with Jan Hammer, Herbie Mann , Freddie Hubbard , Charlie Mariano , Stan Getz , Bob Brookmeyer and Joe Zawinul .

In 1970 he was a founding member of the band Weather Report . In 1973 he was replaced by Alphonso Johnson and paid off as a founding member. Vitouš has given quite a few interviews on his ending on Weather Report . In 1976 he had an instrumental disco hit with New York City, a release from his album Magical Shepherd.

He later played again in a trio with Corea and Haynes, but also led his own groups with John Surman , Terje Rypdal and Jan Garbarek .

From 1984 he headed the jazz department of the New England Conservatory in Boston. In 1988 he came back to Europe and now concentrated on composing, but also plays at jazz festivals every now and then. For example at the Elbjazz Festival 2012 with Joachim Kühn , Rolf Kühn and Christian Lillinger . He has also recorded with the group Between the Times ( ACT , 2007).

Miroslav Vitouš (2014)

His album Universal Syncopations 2 received the 2007 German Record Critics' Prize .

Discography

  • Infinite Search (Mountain in the Clouds) ( Atlantic Records , 1969)
  • Purple ( Columbia Records , 1970)
  • Magical Shepherd (1976)
  • Miroslav ( Freedom , 1976)
  • Majesty Music (1979)
  • Guardian Angels (Evidence, 1978)
  • First Meeting ( ECM , 1979)
  • Miroslav Vitous Group (ECM, 1980)
  • Journey's End (ECM, 1982)
  • Emergence (ECM, 1985)
  • Miroslav Vitous & Larry Coryell (Dedicated to BILL EVANS and SCOTT LA FARO) (Jazzpoint, 1987)
  • Atmos (ECM, 1992)
  • Conviction: Thoughts of Bill Evans (Challenge, 2000)
  • Universal Syncopations (ECM, 2003)
  • Universal Syncopations 2 (ECM, 2007)
  • Remembering Weather Report (ECM, 2009)
  • Music of Weather Report (ECM, 2016), with Gary Campbell , Roberto Bonisolo , Aydin Esen , Gerald Cleaver , Nasheet Waits
  • Wings (For Tune, 2015), duet with Adam Pierończyk
  • Ad-lib Orbits (PAO Records, 2017), duet with Adam Pierończyk

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gunther Baumann: Zawinul - A life from Jazz , p. 115
  2. ↑ Miroslav Vitous Songs ••• Top Songs / Chart Singles Discography ••• Music VF, US & UK hits charts. Retrieved December 21, 2019 .

Web links

Commons : Miroslav Vitouš  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Vitouš, Miroslav
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czech jazz bassist and composer
DATE OF BIRTH December 6, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Prague