Infinite Search - Miroslav Vitous

Mar

28

Infinite Search - Miroslav Vitous

≡ Category: 1970s, Essential, Free Jazz, Fusion, Post Bop, Reviews |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING

Rating:

Infinite Search (AKA Mountain In The Clouds) may not be one of the most influential fusion albums ever made, but it is one of the best.

It says something about the strength of Vitous’ vision that his is the dominant voice in a band that consists of guitarist John McLaughlin, right after his work in Bitches Brew, keyboardist Herbie Hancock, either Jack DeJohnette or Joe Chambers on drums, and Joe Henderson on tenor, at the peak of his creativity.

Vitous brings to the party a huge tone, a thorough understanding of the jazz venacular, but most of all, a unique sensibility that makes the most of his Eastern European roots.

The highlight of Infinite Search is easily the epic I Will Tell Him On You, with it’s wholely original melody and rhythmic thrust. The threatening, insinuating nature of the music clearly inspired McLaughlin, whose solo sets the speakers on fire with it’s machine gun riffs. Herbie Hancock is almost as miraculous, whether he’s interpolating quicksilver comps that increasing the urgency of the tune exponentially or sprinkling mysterioso chord clusters that heighten the lyricism of the track. Joe Henderson is superb, too, somehow managing to fashion compelling melodies and formal coherency out of the structured chaos of the piece. Miroslav himself doesn’t play the traditional role of a bassist here. He’s almost like a second drummer with his syncopated patterns. When he does accentuate the bottom, he does so in unpredictable ways, choosing notes that are unexpected and sometimes only tangentially related to the chords that Hancock is playing. DeJohnette maintains the intensity with polyrythmic drum fills and thrumming high hat work. All of this makes I Will Tell Him On You one of the greatest fusion tracks ever recorded. Infinite Search is worth picking up for this track alone.

As if that weren’t enough, the group’s cover of Eddie Henderson’s Freedom Jazz Dance is the definitive one. As promised by the title, after the head, the music is free, but with a group as extraordinary and in tune with each other as this one, Freedom Jazz Dance is a model of coherency, yet bursting with ideas.

The remainder of the tracks on Infinite Search couldn’t hope to live up to these standards, but they’re still pretty great.

Mountain In The Clouds is a feature for Vitous, highlighting his percussive style on bass. He doubletracks himself, accompanied only by Jack DeJohnette.

Epilogue is ruminative, but not quite a ballad — there’s too much energy in the composition and performance for that. It is wholly Vitous’ conception, but the superb musicians around him bring it to life.

It is such a tragedy that Miroslav only made one album this great, and so early in his career. He had the chops, he had a unique vision, he had access to some of the greatest jazz players this world has ever seen. What the hell happened? I don’t know.

I saw Miroslav live in 1976, and he was just as great as he was on Infinite Search, but somehow, he never managed to capture that greatness on wax again. My advice? Buy this release and treasure it.