there is much to enjoy on this intriguing set.
ECM 2673 / 787 9042
Miroslav Vitous (double bass); Michel Portal (clarinet, bass clarinet); Jack DeJohnette (drums)
Esperanza Spalding (voice); Bob Mintzer (bass clarinet); Gary Campbell (soprano & tenor saxophones); Gerald Cleaver (drums)
Members of Czech National Symphony Orchestra
Recorded 2003 – 2010
This is the first release in a decade on ECM for the Czech bassist and collects together music recorded over a seven-year period with Vitous and producer Manfred Eicher in collage of freely improvised duets and pre-composed pieces alongside a couple of tantalising mini suites.
The duet pieces predominantly feature Vitous with clarinettist Michel Portal in six short improvisation and two longer compositions spread across the album. Portal is heard on both clarinet and bass clarinet, and the range of the instruments provides much colour and nuances when paired with Vitous’s rich sound on the double bass. The brief improvised pieces are all under the two-minute mark and offer little more than a glimpse of a developing rapport and it is the composed works ‘Unexpected Solutions’ and ‘Mountain Call’ that are the more clearly defined and satisfying.
The two duets with Jack DeJohnette follow the same pattern, although both are composed with the brief ‘Tribal Dance’ over before it really develops into something of interest and ‘Epilog’ bringing Vitous’s use of orchestral arrangements and sampling techniques to enhance the ensemble of bass and drums in a most effective manner.
Vitous’s pioneering use of orchestral sampling is featured on the five-part suite ‘Rhapsody’ for which the bassist wrote both music and lyrics with vocal duties being handled with aplomb by Esperanza Spalding. Voice and soprano saxophone played by Gary Campbell work together in perfect harmony on ‘In You’, as does Spalding’s wordless vocals, bass and sampling on ‘Fun Games’ with again soprano offering superb commentary and support along with drummer Gerald Cleaver.
Cleaver also makes his presence felt with his deep rumbling drums working the same register and Vitous’s bass on ‘Africa’ while ‘In Me’ Campbell switches to tenor saxophone finding place within the soundscape of voice, bass and drums to fire of a decisive and lyrical solo.
If the orchestral arrangements and sampling provide some interesting textures, Vitous turns to the source of these sounds for a ‘Evolution’ with members of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra alongside Bob Mintzer’s bass clarinet and Jack DeJohnette’s drums and his own double bass and once again provides a fascinating sound world all of his own making.
In what is perhaps a strange collage of disparate musical ideas and references, the most interesting and substantial music on the album can be heard in the suites ‘Evolution’ and ‘Rhapsody. Unusually for me I have not always listened to the recording through in the order laid out but listened to the duets with Michel Portal in one segment before listening the suites.
Why and how these improvisations and group performance were conceived and brought into existence is never made clear, or the sequence of the explained. How you choose to listen to the music is of course personal choice, and there is much to enjoy on this intriguing set.
