Not only did Miroslav Vitous have the groovy heart of the bass-playing jazz musician, but in his early years he was also touted as an Olympic freestyle swimming contender and a classically trained exceptional scholar. Originally attending school at the Prague Conservatory, Vitous won a scholarship to the Berklee School of Music and then moved to the United States. Vitous won the scholarship as first prize in a jazz competition in Vienna, 1966. Almost immediately becoming unhappy in what he felt to be remedial studies at Berklee (compared to that of the high conservatory), Vitous dropped out and practiced jazz techniques eight hours daily on his own for a year. He studiously enhanced his skills playing bass, diligently perfecting his craft to a record player and a tape recorder, energetically finessing his playing ability and improvising to the music.
Shortly after musical stints with the likes of the Bob Brookmeyer-Clark Terry quintet, Art Farmer and Freddie Hubbard, he was hired by Miles Davis to play bass. Landing a gig with Miles Davis paved the way to break his career wide open as a respected and serious jazz musician. Miroslav Vitous combined elements of his native Czechoslovakia's folk music with the ever-evolving jazz canon. Vitous started playing in a recurring trio with Chick Corea and Roy Haynes on Corea’s 1968 album Now He Sings, Now He Sobs. 25 years later, after many successful hit records, Miroslav Vitous went back to his classical roots and became chairman of the New England Conservatory (a highly respected classical school with a jazz department), contributing to the development of future musicians.
During a time when he was tired of playing, Miroslav Vitous expanded his classical creative vision for the benefit of all musicians. Ultimately he sought the larger musical vision of an orchestra, an environment where all of the greatest musical pieces have emotional elements embedded into them. Miroslav Vitous was able to capture this emotion when he recorded his highly acclaimed orchestral library at the Dvorak Symphony hall in Prague. Here in this interview, he explains his motivation for the orchestral recording project.
“I was very much fascinated with the technology we had that we could edit in the computer our compositions, but all the sounds that were available on the market were crap.”
“After waiting and waiting for a couple of years, I thought somebody would come out with something and when nobody did, I was in Germany, at the time, and I decided to go to Prague, where most of my classmates were in the Czech Philharmonic and so I went there and I was able to get the Czech Philharmonic to record whatever I wanted to record for quite a lot of money. But I had the money and I did it. I did extensive, extensive recordings and made a classical CD-ROM set, which is still on the market. For ten years, it was by itself as the cream of the crop of samples.”
“I did that for myself and then when I realized that I was spending too much money, I had to release it. It was good because I made it not for business, but purely for music. That is a huge difference when you do something for that reason then when you do something for the other reason. I had a vision how it should sound and I put all my knowledge into this product and it is a fantastic product. People still tell me that I have the best musical thing there. I recorded music. The rest of the companies recorded sounds. ‘Give me G.’ I said, ‘Give me G like Beethoven or Wagner.‘ I recorded music. They recorded notes.”
Miroslav Vitous
Interview by Fred Jung
Discography:
2003 Universal Syncopations
2001 Infinite Search [Collectables]
1992 Atmos
1985 Emergence
1982 Journey's End
1980 Miroslav Vitous Group
1979 First Meeting
1978 Guardian Angels
1977 Terje Rypdal - Miroslav Vitous - Jack DeJohnette
1977 Majesty Music
1976 Miroslav
1976 Magical Shepherd
1970 Purple
1969 Infinite Search [Embryo]
1969 Mountain in the Clouds
Also Appears On:
1999 Tones for Joan's Bones/Mountain in the Clouds
1998 Bireli Lagrene and Special Guests
1997 Woodstock Jazz Festival, Vol. 1
1997 Woodstock Jazz Festival, Vol. 2
1996 Impressions of Paris
1995 The Rainbow Colored Lotus: A Big Hand for Hanshin
1995 Tom McKinley/Miroslav Vitous
1993 Polygram Classics & Jazz: May 93
1991 Star
1991 The Tomato Sampler
1990 Atlantic Jazz: 12 Volume Box Set
1989 Oceans in the Sky
1984 Trio Music: Live in Europe
1981 Trio Music
1978 Rypdal, Vitous, DeJohnette
1977 Big City
1971 Works
1969 Atlantic Jazz: Fusion
With Weather Report:
1975 Tale Spinnin'
1974 Mysterious Traveller
1973 Sweetnighter
1972 Live in Tokyo
1971 I Sing the Body Electric
1971 Weather Report [1971]
...and about 50 other records with many different musicians.
Awards
• Down Beat (U.S.A.), Swing Journal (Japan), and Jazz Forum (Europe)
• #1 bass player in the world, at different times
• “Musician of the Year” Jazz Forum for Infinite Search album
• Nominated for two Grammy awards (with Chick Corea)
• Every year since 1968, he has consistently been ranked in the top 3 for “Best Bass Players in the World”