*** TOM McKINLEY/MIROSLAV VITOUS
(MMC)
Three electrifying musical
snapshots of two movers and shakers who were on New England Conservatory's
faculty from 1980 to '83.
Miroslav Vitous,
Czech bassist extraordinaire and
founding member of Weather Report, teamed with the protean
pianist/teacher/composer
Tom McKinley.
Vitous's bold linear imagination and
Homeric sound give and take grandly with McKinley's exploratory playing and
ambitious writing. In a studio set with drummer Tim Horner, "Sunday Sun"
extends
Bill Evans/Scott LaFaro-like
depth and sensitivity. A memorable
quarter-hour's duetting at Jordan Hall pushes the envelopes of both ESP and
sonority. Gershwin's
"My Man's Gone Now," introduced with solo improvisations
and taken at a light waltz
clip, peaks with Vitous's sweet and heady bowing as
McKinley limns bell-like arpeggios. A trio with drummer Rodger Ryan, taped at
the now-defunct Michael's Pub, relives their small-club jam mode -- tinny
piano, audience whoops, and all. A pensive "Softly As in a Morning Sunrise"
gives way to a Vitous showcase of bravura harmonics and arco derring-do, and a
stretch on "Minority," an exuberant Evans classic.
-- Fred Bouchard
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