With Mountain Call (ECM, 2026), Miroslav Vitous suddenly reemerges on Manfred Eicher’s label after a decade long absence. During the interim, he focused on orchestral sampling software and also released five albums on other labels, with the most recent coming out in 2018. While the bassist is no stranger to working with other labels; after all, he was in the original version of Weather Report, which recorded for Columbia and a trio member with Chick Corea and Roy Haynes in Now He Sings, Now He Sobs (Solid State, 1968). But from his trio with Jack DeJohnette and guitarist Terje Rypdal in the late ‘70s, he also has a special connection with ECM. Mountain Call finds Vitous in luminous company once again, joined primarily by DeJohnette and the French reedist Michel Portal, who plays clarinet and bass clarinet. Other contributors who appear on the back half of the record include esperanza spalding, Bob Mintzer, Gary Campbell, and Gerald Cleaver. Members of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra also appear on one track. While a new release, it is not a recent recording, with sessions taking place between 2003 and 2010.
Mountain Call showcases Vitous’s talents as an improviser, composer, and arranger. But it also highlights his place as a pioneer of creative sampling technology, blending live performance with orchestral samples and layered textures. Eight of the relatively brief eighteen tracks are improvised duo renderings between Vitous and Portal. Portal, hailing from a classical background, has worked with major composers such as Pierre Boulez, Luciano Berio, and Karlheinz Stockhausen and shares an adventurous spirit with the leader on the first four tracks: “New Energy,” “Second Touch,” “On the Way,” and “Unexpected Solutions.” Portal plays clarinet on all four, forging sterling, spontaneous interplay with Vitous’s double bass, producing a stark contrast between the high end and low end while pairing an airy instrument with a thick one. On the other hand, two low-end instruments engage in riveting dialogues on four other tracks where Portal plays bass clarinet. The highlight of these is the closing title track, full of drama and tension as Vitous plays the arco bass in response to Portal’s evocative lines.
As for his work with DeJohnette, Vitous collaborated with the drummer on five pieces for the album. “Tribal Dance” is a duet that spotlights their individual talents and natural intuitive sense of dialogue. As often noted, DeJohnette is also a pianist, and his sense for melody is evident on the drum kit here. “Epilog,” with Vitous on both pizzicato and arco, is also a duet augmented by his famed orchestral sampling. Finally, the leader composed the three-part “Evolution,” featuring the duo with Bob Mintzer, who previously collaborated with Vitous on Vitous’s Universal Syncopations II (ECM, 2007), on bass clarinet and members of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. DeJohnette takes a brief drum solo on the third piece, “Fulfillment Final.” Notable is the different expression in Mintzer’s bass clarinet compared to Portal’s.
Mountain Call’s remaining five pieces are entirely different from the rest of the album. “Rhapsody” features vocalist esperanza spalding’s mostly wordless vocals over an accompaniment of Gary Campbell on soprano and tenor saxophones,Vitous, and Gerald Cleaver on drums. Again, the piece is enhanced by orchestral sampling. The standout “Fun and Games,” finds spalding and Campbell’s soprano, engaging in call-and-response dialogues. Cleaver’s kit work on the varies from subtlety to vicious power. This suite is most representative of Vitous’s late career work, where his orchestral layering adds so many colors.
Mountain Call could easily be entitled “The Many Sides of Miroslav Vitous” as it encompasses his breadth of improvisation, composition, and orchestral sampling. It is reassuring to hear his voice again.
‘Mountain Call’ will be released on March 27, 2026 on ECM Records. It is available directly from the label.
Photo credit: Roberto Masotti, ECM Records
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