RDK Posted August 12, 2009 Report Share Posted August 12, 2009 I couldn't find this anywhere on-line or else I'd link to it, but this was in the All About Jazz "newspaper" edition of July 2009 (at least as published in the Los Angeles area; don't know how widely available it is). It's a brief Q&A of Miroslav Vitous by Ollie Bivins and it contained quite a few statements by Vitous that I found quite shocking. I'm not that huge a Weather Report fan so maybe this is all old news by now, but among his choicer comments: Vitous claims that WR was initially his idea, proposed to Wayne Shorter, but after Wayne brought in Joe Zawinul they decided to "sell out" and go "towards the money," causing Vitous to quit - and now Vitous claims that Wayne and Joe "completely dismiss" his role in the creation of WR. Even more shockingly, Vitous claims that shortly after he quit, Wayne's wife "broke into my apartment and she took all the documents of my ownership of Weather Report," thereby screwing him out of any interest in the band. He also talks about Zawinul being "an incredible manipulator" who, though a great arranger, couldn't play that well and so manipulated others to make his own playing appear better. There's a lot more, with much sounding like sour grapes, and Vitous often comes close to sounding like paranoid nut. If anyone's interested I'll try to scan the interview, but I ain't typing it all up. Still, I found the claim about Wayne's wife stealing Vitous' legal documents both shocking and questionable. Anybody else read this and/or know more about it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregK Posted August 12, 2009 Report Share Posted August 12, 2009 too bad he's such a nut. I really like his new record on ECM, Remembering Weather Report. Sounds vaguely the Weather Report that he was a part of, with more of a late 60s Miles influence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Berger Posted August 12, 2009 Report Share Posted August 12, 2009 I'll call BS on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted August 12, 2009 Report Share Posted August 12, 2009 Truth is probably in the middle. Don't make him the only "bad guy". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted August 13, 2009 Report Share Posted August 13, 2009 wild...strange too. ouch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertrand Posted August 13, 2009 Report Share Posted August 13, 2009 The thing about the break-in seems a bit far-fetched... Bertrand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHILLYQ Posted August 13, 2009 Report Share Posted August 13, 2009 The breaking in thing is just nuts, but there may be some truth in some of the other things he said. Who knows how it went down as far as the musical direction of WR? It's possible that Zawinul & Shorter wanted to go a different way, but it's also possible that they weren't looking to make lots of $$$ and that they actually wanted to go the way they did for musical reasons. I wonder what Wayne Shorter would say? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez Posted August 13, 2009 Report Share Posted August 13, 2009 u guys dont know either way what happened, for all we know, its 50/50 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted August 13, 2009 Report Share Posted August 13, 2009 (edited) Ah well... hasn't Vitous been known for his huge ego for a while? That's certainly an issue he shared with Zawinul... as for Zawinul, much weirder and claims were once made on this board, which I won't repeat here, as I thought quite surely they were BS as well... edit - sorry, hope not many read this post yet... the person mentioned had nothing to do with that weird previous discussion of crazy Joe, apologies! Here's the thread, then - it's not nice to make allusions and not give a clearer hint. I won't comment and don't want it to spill in here as well, so go read there if you need. Edited August 13, 2009 by king ubu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDK Posted August 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2009 u guys dont know either way what happened, for all we know, its 50/50 Well of course I don't know what happened. I'm just reporting on statements that Vitous - one of the participants who would presumably know first hand - has said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted August 13, 2009 Report Share Posted August 13, 2009 u guys dont know either way what happened, for all we know, its 50/50 I agree. Discounting without facts doesn't seem to be that productive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted August 13, 2009 Report Share Posted August 13, 2009 edited my post above - sorry for the confusion! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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