Time & Perspective Quote by Miroslav Vitous

There is a quiet flex buried in Vitous's modesty: the ability to stop playing. In a world where virtuosity often gets measured in density - more notes, more chops, more presence - he frames restraint as a higher order skill. "One of those bass players who can do something" sounds almost self-effacing, but the subtext is clear: he is distinguishing himself from time-keepers and root-note laborers. He is a bassist with agency, a melodic voice, someone whose choices shape the music rather than merely support it.

The real pivot is "I am not playing all the time anymore". That's not confession; it's philosophy. Jazz and fusion history is full of bass heroes who claimed space through speed or volume, especially in the electric era when the instrument fought to be heard and seen. Vitous, coming out of the Weather Report lineage and the 70s moment when the bass could be an engine and a soloist, signals a late-career recalibration: maturity as subtraction. Silence becomes orchestration; absence becomes tension; the band gets oxygen.

"Back then and now it is even more" suggests a long arc: he always had the capacity for musical action, but age has refined the instinct to choose the right moment. It's also a subtle statement about authorship. By not filling every bar, he lets the composition, the ensemble, and the listener's imagination do more work. That's confidence, not retreat - a musician insisting that impact isn't proportional to occupancy.