Search - Chick Corea, Miroslav Vitous :: Tones for Joan's Bones / Mountains in the Clouds

Timeless Classics in Jazz

06/21/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Both albums are a pinnacle of achievement for Chick Corea and Miroslav Vitous. They foreshadow the direction of both artists and also reflect their influences. "Tones For Joan's Bones" is straight ahead Jazz combined with occasional Latin rhythms, outrageous melodies typical of the period and style, Chick Corea's "Tyneresque" piano voicings and fluid, crystal clear solos. This is all augmented by Joe Farrell on reeds and Woody Shaw on trumpet-two of the best. Check out Chick Corea's solo on "Tones For Joan's Bones". Other recordings from this period featuring these artists are available on Chick Corea's "Inner Space" album. The compositions and musicians on Miroslav Vitous' "Mountain In The Clouds" are some of the most progressive and innovative ever recorded. The moods range from quiet, cerebral, and transcendental as in "Epilogue" and "Infinite Search", to unrelenting, up-tempo jams as in "Freedom Jazz Dance" and especially "I Will Tell Him On You". The latter featuring one of the best, most astonishing guitar solos by John McLaughlin, very much like his work on Tony Williams' "Emergency" cd. The rest of the musicians on the album are basically a "who's who" in the business: Joe Henderson on sax, Herbie Hancock on piano, Miroslav on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums all add their unique personalities to a timeless classic."

"Tones..."-very good. "Mountain..."-will blow you away!

Micah Newman | Fort Worth, TX United States | 05/16/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Tones for Joan's Bones", Chick Corea's first album as a leader, is a very assured debut indeed. Chick's playing is a bit more overtly Tyneresque than his subsequent trio offering "Now He Sings, Now He Sobs." Woody Shaw on trumpet and Joe Farrell on flute and tenor bring some very nice color and flavor to the band's sound. Steve Swallow and Joe Chambers (yesss!) do a bang-up job in the rhythm section. Mainly it is Corea's tunes that are jammed on here, and they are quite impressive. The highlight is "Straight Up and Down", on which Joe Chambers gets to light up the cymbals with one of his incredible solos. The sound quality of _Tones..._ is a bit flat, but it's a very good LP.Then you get to the mind-blowing crunchiness that is the opus magnum led by Miroslav Vitous, _Mountain in the Clouds_. This group is incredible. There's Miroslav's bass virtuosity, some tasty Rhodes tickling by Herbie Hancock, John McLaughlin's guitar churning and peppering the brew, Joe Henderson's sax ripping through the mix, and Jack DeJohnette's drums conjuring up the wickedest of Tony Williams and Joe Chambers! The set is bookended by the furious jams of the oft-revisited Eddie Harris tune "Freedom Jazz Dance", and Vitous's own "I Will Tell Him On You", between which are two more-contemplative numbers, "Epilogue" and "Infinite Search", and a couple of shortish interludes. One track from the original LP, "When Face Gets Pale," is missing from this twofer due to CD space constraints, which is too bad.Either LP is certainly worth the price of a CD (heck, _Mountain in the Clouds_ is worth at least TWO!), so both together is a terrific buy. Highly, highly recommended."

Great Pioneers of Fusion

FunkyBeats | Los Angeles | 06/24/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Vitous CD on this double album is a quintet with John McLaughlin, Herbie Hancock, Jack DeJohnette, and Joe Henderson on sax. The playing is very unified with strong compositions performed in a cohesive manner, it stands up to countless listens and is a seminal document in the creation of Jazz-Rock. Originally titled: "Infinite Search" and released on the ATCO label in 1969. This album is a rare find and is re-mastered to audiophile standards. The Corea album included on the CD is pretty good too, but this disc is worth the price for the classic Miroslav Vitous Quintet album alone."