LARRY CORYELL, MIROSLAV VITOUS QUARTET Dedicated to BILL EVANS and SCOTT LA FARO Amazon Larry Coryell guitar Miroslav Vitous bass Nardis Corcovado Some Day My Prince Will Come Solar Some Other Time Corcovado Autumn Leaves My Romance Stella by Starlight The Peacocks Total time: 48.03 "Quartet" is not exactly the most logical title for a duo album. But it is absolutely appropriate in this case because, in fact, four musicians contributed to the music - one played guitar, one played bass and two others supplied a great deal of the inspiration. As MIROSLAV VITOUS explains: "This album was inspired by, and is dedicated to, Bill Evans and Scott La Faro, for they are symbols of musical communication for us, and we are proud to keep this way of playing in existence". The rare understanding and high level of mutual inspiration that existed between Bill Evans and Scott La Faro in the three short years they worked together has become something of a legend in Jazz. And in taking this exceptional rapport as the inspirational source for an album, Coryell and Vitous were presenting themselves with a formidable challenge. But they are more than equal to that challenge, thanks to their deep commitment, their responsiveness to one another's playing and their sterling musicianship, Coryell, whose previous duo partners, live and on record, have included Philip Catherine, Emily Remler, Michael Uraniak and Airto, says he has always appreciated the value of playing with just one other musician. "In a way", he says, "it is the perfect Jazz ensemble, because you work to just one other voice and, if the vibrations are right, you can develop a most potent conversation and sound like a small group". LARRY CORYELL and MIROSLAV VITOUS were born thousand of miles apart - Larry in Galveston, Texas on April 2nd, 1943, and Miroslav in Prague, Czechoslovakia on December 6th, 1947 - but their musical personalities are very close. They first played together in the Herbie Mann band in 1967 and since then have worked together in groups led by Chick Corea, Billy Cobham and John McLaughlin.""n 1986", Larry recalls, "we toured with Bireli Lagrene and it was really then that we began to realise that we had a good enough understanding to be able to work as a duo". Most of the tunes on this album were featured on a European tour which the duo made with Dutch keybord player, Jasper van't Hof just prior to the record date. Two exceptions are "Some Other Time" and the opening track, Some Day My Prince Will Come. This was the last tune to be recorded and it was the first time that Coryell and Vitous had ever played it together. "We needed a waltz for the album", Larry says, "and this is such a good tune. We did just two takes. One the first, Miroslav played good - but I was tired. On the second take, he played even better - and I'd got some energy back". This song, originally from Walt Disney's "Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs", was first recorded by Bill Evans, Scott La Faro and Paul Motian for the December 1959 Portrait in Jazz album. On the out chorus here, as well as in some of the other selections, Larry uses the chorus device very effectively to bring new textures into the music. The duo's version of the Miles Davis composition Nardis, which was also done in two takes, includes a section taken from the original Bill Evans Trio version recorded in February 1961 for the Explorations album. Larry plays 12-string guitar on this track. "On the first take", he says, " I made too many mistakes - so I altered my part a little bit to make it work better, and we both came up with better solos. Miroslav really shows his respect for Scott on this tune". Solar is another Miles Davis theme which surfaced initially on his 1954 Walkin' album. It was first recorded by the Bill Evans Trio for the Sunday At The Village Vanguard album in June 1961. Here the theme is played in unison by Larry and Miroslav and later they play improvised lines of such intensity and intricacy against each other that they speak eloquently of the emarkable rapport which has developed between them since they first met 20 years ago.The fourth track comes from the Bill Evans Trio's Waltz For Debby album , recorded live at the Village Vanguard in June 1961. There are two compositions with the title, Some Other Time; this is the Camden-Green-Bernstein tune and one which Miroslav had never played before.Says Larry: " I had played the tune a little bit during the time when my former wife, Julie, was singing with me. And during a sound check for a concert in Sweden on the tour, I just happened to run through it. Miroslav loved the tune and he learned it in the studio". Corcovado, the Antonio Carlos Jobim song, has no special connection with Bill Evans or Scott La Faro, but it served admirably to provide a change of rhythmic pattern and to give Miroslav an opportunity to demonstrate his remarkable arco technique.The sixth track is the one which gave Larry the greatest satisfaction. "For me it is a little masterpice&uot;, he says. "We played it every night on the tour and we really built something on it. Miroslav shines all the way through and the creativity level is very high". A much-favoured vehicle for Jazz improvisation because of its beautifully logical construction, Autumn Leaves is another selection from the Bill Evans Trio's Portrait in Jazz album. Of all the compositions associated with Bill Evans, My Romance is one of the most memorable, because Bill really made the tune his own. The first of many recordings of the piece was a solo version in September 1956. Our price: 13,45 EUR incl. 19.0% MWSt. / VAT