Miroslav Vitous -- Magical Shepard

http://www.binkie.net/wrdisc/Sweetnighter.html

In order to realize his musical vision, Zawinul had to bring in a different bass player and drummer. "Miroslav, being a great bass player in one way, was not the bass player for other things we wanted to do. I had written a few pieces like 'Boogie Woogie Waltz' and '125th Street Congress' for the third album [Sweetnighter] which required a little more versatility.

Miroslav Vitous summed it up this way: "Improvisation was the mark of the band, but Joe Zawinul wanted to get more commercial, in a sense. It's a questions of money in the U.S., and what the music business is doing to music. The band had to change--it was in a bad financial situation. It moved into a steady rhythm section, black funk type of thing."

The interesting thing is that after I heard this Vitous record with Herbie Hancock, I don't get why it wouldn't have worked. It probably had more to do with ego and control of the band than musical ability.

"Magical Shepard" is a good find, if you like this kind of jazz. Vitous' first album "Infinite Search" is another good but kind of obscure jazz fusion album with a band that has John McLaughlin, Hancock, DeJohnette and Joe Henderson. Vitous did another one in 1970 called "Purple" that has McLaughlin, Zawinul and Billy Cobham that I would like to hear, but it hasn't been in print for a long time. It was a session along with Wayne Shorter's Supernova and Bitches Brew that led to Vitous, Shorter and Zawinul forming Weather Report in the first place.

I mostly know Miro from 'Now He Sings, Now He Sobs' and "Space (Infinite)" (just the track, from a comp) with John McLaughlin, Cobham, and Larry Coryell. Both are brilliant.

I have a mini-LP CP version of Infinite Search, which sounds pretty cool, though I should really give it the more careful listen it deserves...

Also have a cool CD he did in the 70s with Francois "Faton" Cahen (Magma's first keyboardist) under Cahen's name called Great Winds, with Jackie DeJohnette guesting on one track.

I've never heard "Purple" or "Magical Shepherd" but have always kept my eye open for them. I would gladly take directions to them if any one knew where they could be found.

Magical Shepherd available on CD at Dusty Groove.

basic laws, wow

fuckin love this guy

i want to own all things he has made

He played in a quartet with Steve Marcus and Sonny Sharrock on an album called Green Line. The album is OOP!! RARE!! LOOK!!, but if you can track down mp3s, it has a track called 'Mr Sheets at Night' (a standard??) which is absolutely gorgeous.

lol @ "OOP!! RARE!! LOOK!!"

emergence is a long solo bass record that i have been known to pair with tangerine dream

atmos is a great late-period smoothish record

Dude is awesome. I have not heard this album. Want.

Miroslav >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Jaco

Thanks for the link to the thread earlnash. Finally picked this up on vinyl - tremendous line up and obviously one of the greatest covers of all time.

cool album. “New York city” is a jam.

Yeah! Tim Lawrence included it in the second listening companion to his amazing dance culture chronicles:
https://reappearingrecords.bandcamp.com/album/love-saves-the-day-a-history-of-american-dance-music-culture-1970-1979-part-2

basic laws, wow

― ǝɟɟɐzǝɟ (☪), Thursday, 27 November 2008 14:02 (twelve years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yes!!! Thanks ILM, I would never have come across this otherwise .