Mountain Call

ミロスラフ・ヴィトウスの音楽における頂点であり、名高いフランス人クラリネット奏者ミシェル・ポータルや故アメリカ人ドラマー、ジャック・ディジョンネットらを筆頭に、様々なアンサンブル編成で卓越したベーシストの技を披露している作品。

ヴィトウスの作品に見られる複数の傾向や潮流を説得力を持って統合した本作は、ダイナミックな即興演奏家、ジャズ作曲家、編曲家、そして創造的なサンプリングの先駆者としての彼の多彩な才能を証明している。驚異的な才能を持つチェコのベーシストであり、ウェザー・リポートの創設メンバーであるヴィトウスがECMに初めて参加したのは1970年代後半、テリエ・リピダルとジャック・ディジョネットとのトリオでの共演だった。ヴィトウスのプラハのスタジオで2003-2010年の7年間にわたり複数回のセッションを経て録音された。アルバムのプロデュースはミロスラフ・ヴィトウスとマンフレッド・アイヒャーが担当。
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＜パーソネル＞Miroslav Vitous(double-b) Michel Portal(cla) Jack DeJohnette(ds) Esperanza Spalding(voice) Bob Mintzer(cla) Gary Campbell(ss) Gerald Cleaver(ds) CSNO Orchestra

Mountain Call is Miroslav Vitous return to ECM after a decade-long absence. This set offers poignant recordings made by the bassist with recently deceased jazz drummer Jack DeJohnette and French reedist Michel Portal. The sets 18 short selections were recorded between 2003 and 2010 at the bassists Prague studio. Eight selections are duos with Portal, a musician whose decades of experience include periods with classical composers including Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Luciano Berio in addition to jazz greats avant and straight ahead. DeJohnette, with whom Vitous first played in Terje Rypdals 1970 trio, plays on five cuts including one duet and four ensemble pieces. The albums latter half contains guest contributions from Esperanza Spalding, Bob Mintzer, Gary Campbell, Gerald Cleaver, and members of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. The set is introduced by four duos with Portal. First, the brief "New Energy," commences with the duo in full conversant motion; the clarinet melody is returned by the bassist in a minor-key vamp. "Second Touch" is articulated as an improvised but carefully considered dance. The players entwine individual lines, switch places once, and continue breeding ideas in this short journey. DeJohnette joins Vitous on "Tribal Dance." Its intro is classic call-and-response before the bassists vamp enters with DeJohnettes consummate syncopated swing. "Rehearsal in Theater," between bass and clarinet, is nearly spectral with Portals bass clarinet quoting Gershwin before finding the bassists blue lines. "Epilogue" includes DeJohnette and CNSO. Its opening is foreboding before orchestra members underscore it with sad yet pastoral elegance. On "Delusion," the level of subtle in-the-moment lyricism shared between bass clarinet and bass is as resonant as it is canny. Saxophonist Mintzer and the CNSO join Vitous and DeJohnette on the three-part Evolution suite. "Path Begins" is introduced by a lilting theme expanded by brass, reeds, tom-toms, and strings, while "Nature Opening" offers a droning trombone before bass, rumbling drums, and deep blue tenor saxophone state a melodic outline. The five-part "Rhapsody" suite includes saxophone by Campbell, drums by Cleaver, vocals by Spalding and the CNSO. Opening movement "In You" finds Spaldings vocal above a lush orchestral lilt, accented by Vitous. "Fun and Games" includes a bluesy duet between Campbell and Vitous. Dissonance from strings, reeds, winds, and brass are brought into submission by Spalding. Campbell introduces the fifth and final section as Spalding sings with blue swing atop tempered winds, muted drums, and Vitouss lyrical bass. The closing title track is a duet between bassist and clarinetist. Its introduced by an exchange of complementary lines before Vitous picks up his bow and improvises arco, crisscrossing layers of tango, flamenco, and modal jazz before Portals distorted bass clarinet adds a detailed foundation, then encourages and undertakes flight. Mountain Call may initially seem a loose compendium of tracks, but it becomes obvious after only a few selections that this is a multivalent overview of Vitous considerable gifts as composer, instrumentalist, and improviser. ~ Thom Jurek