# New CD – 2026: Miroslav Vitous – Mountain Call: Review, Video, CD cover

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2026/03/31/new-cd-2026-miroslav-vitous-mountain-call-review-video-cd-cover/
- Published: 2026-03-31T21:43:28+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**There is something quietly monumental about _Mountain Call_, the new offering 
from Miroslav Vitouš—a work that does not announce itself with grandeur, but instead
unfolds like a landscape revealed through mist. **

It is an album that breathes, that listens, that seems less composed than discovered,
as though the music had always existed somewhere in the air and Vitouš simply traced
its contours.

From the opening moments, there is a sense of altitude—of space not just physical,
but emotional. The tones are spare, almost fragile at first, yet grounded by a profound
inner resonance. Vitouš, long revered for his ability to balance lyricism with structural
clarity, approaches the bass not merely as an instrument, but as a voice—one that
speaks in low, deliberate phrases, echoing across the sonic terrain like distant
calls between peaks.

The album’s pacing is essential to its power. Nothing is rushed; each note feels
placed with the patience of someone attuned to natural rhythms rather than human
urgency. Silences are not empty—they are charged, carrying the afterimage of what
has just been played and the anticipation of what might follow. In this way, _Mountain
Call_ resists the modern compulsion toward density, instead embracing openness as
its central philosophy.

There is also a remarkable sense of dialogue throughout the record. Whether through
subtle interplay or more pronounced exchanges, the music suggests conversation rather
than performance. Instruments drift toward and away from each other, sometimes converging
in moments of quiet intensity, sometimes standing apart like solitary figures on
a vast horizon. Vitouš remains the axis around which these interactions revolve,
his bass both anchor and guide.

Emotionally, the album operates in a space that feels both introspective and expansive.
There are passages that evoke solitude—not loneliness, but a chosen stillness, the
kind one might find standing alone in a high, silent place. Yet there are also currents
of warmth, even tenderness, woven into the fabric of the music. It is this duality—
of isolation and connection, of restraint and depth—that gives _Mountain Call_ its
enduring resonance.

What makes this work particularly compelling is its refusal to conform to expectation.
It does not seek to impress through virtuosity alone, though Vitouš’s technical 
mastery is unmistakable. Instead, it draws the listener inward, asking for attention,
for patience, for a willingness to inhabit its world. In return, it offers something
increasingly rare: a genuine sense of presence.

By the time the album reaches its final passages, there is a feeling not of conclusion,
but of continuation—as if the music extends beyond the recorded frame, echoing into
silence. _Mountain Call_ is less an endpoint than an invitation, a reminder that
the most profound artistic statements are often those that leave space for reflection.

In this work, Miroslav Vitouš does not simply create music; he shapes an environment.
One does not merely listen to _Mountain Call_—one enters it, moves through it, and,
perhaps, emerges changed.

Vitouš’s instinct for expansion—his lifelong refusal to let the bass remain confined
to its traditional role—finds one of its most compelling expressions in the five-
part suite “Rhapsody.” Here, his pioneering use of orchestral sampling becomes more
than a technical device; it becomes a form of memory, a way of layering time and
texture into something fluid and immediate. The sampled orchestral voices do not
sit behind the music as accompaniment—they breathe within it, shaping a shifting,
almost cinematic backdrop against which the suite unfolds.

What elevates “Rhapsody” even further is the presence of Esperanza Spalding, whose
vocal performance brings a rare sense of narrative intimacy to Vitouš’s writing.
Her delivery is poised yet emotionally agile, moving effortlessly between clarity
and abstraction, as though she too is navigating the same terrain of echoes and 
atmospheres that the instrumentation suggests. The fact that Vitouš himself penned
both the music and lyrics adds another layer of cohesion—the suite feels deeply 
personal, yet open-ended, as if inviting multiple interpretations at once.

If “Rhapsody” explores the possibilities of orchestral sound through technology 
and voice, “Evolution” turns decisively toward the physical, the tactile, the source
itself. Here, Vitouš assembles a remarkable ensemble that bridges classical precision
and jazz spontaneity, including members of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra,
alongside the unmistakable presence of Bob Mintzer, Jack DeJohnette, and Michel 
Portal. The result is not simply a meeting of disciplines, but a genuine synthesis—
one in which boundaries dissolve and the music seems to evolve organically in real
time.

The orchestral elements in “Evolution” carry a different weight than in “Rhapsody.”
No longer refracted through sampling, they possess a raw immediacy, a tactile resonance
that grounds the piece even as it reaches outward. Mintzer and Portal, both on bass
clarinet, add a dark, reedy depth that intertwines beautifully with Vitouš’s own
double bass, creating a low-register dialogue that feels almost subterranean in 
its intensity. Meanwhile, DeJohnette’s drumming provides a subtle yet vital propulsion—
never intrusive, always responsive, guiding the ensemble through its shifting contours
with a master’s intuition.

What emerges across these pieces is a portrait of an artist still searching, still
refining, still daring to reimagine his own language. Vitouš does not treat orchestration,
sampling, or collaboration as ends in themselves; rather, they are tools in service
of a broader vision—one that seeks to construct entirely new sonic environments.
In both “Rhapsody” and “Evolution,” he achieves precisely that: music that feels
at once composed and discovered, structured yet آزاد, rooted in tradition yet unmistakably
forward-looking.

It is this balance—between innovation and authenticity, between intellect and instinct—
that defines the unique sound world Vitouš continues to create.

[**Buy from here – New CD**](https://ecmrecords.com/product/mountain-call-miroslav-vitous-michel-portal-jack-dejohnette/)

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