Miroslav Vitous, who was born in Prague, ranks among the top double bassists of the world. He is a soloist who doesn’t reach deep down into his bag of tricks and that’s probably the reason why the quality label ECM wanted him as a leader. On his latest album Universal Syncopations he meets his old friends pianist Chick Corea, guitarist John McLaughlin, saxophonist Jan Garbarek and drummer Jack DeJohnette. The album continues where Infinite Search (1969), his first epoch-making album as a leader, left off - and it doesn’t sound outdated at all. There are beautiful compositions and rhythmic variations. Vitous first played in the bands of Chick Corea, Herbie Mann and Stan Getz before he established his name as a member of the super-group Weather Report. After that, he chose – apart from some reunions with Corea, his own way.
