Jean Luc Ponty

[JSngry]

Hard cider on draft and Ponty/Anderson all at once?

[Peter Friedman]

I was initially attracted to Jean-Luc Ponty when his first recording on MPS/SABA was released. I bought a number of his LPs that followed. Then Ponty seemed to go in a different direction that I thought to be fusion oriented and my interest in him waned. Over time I went back and visited his early albums and discovered that for some reason, his playing had lost his appeal to me.

After reading this thread I gave him another try with his first album. Found that after a couple of tracks I had enough and my later opinion was verified, Ponty's playing was not for me.

[JSngry]

He actually plays well on that new Return To Forever live record that Georghe was pimping here a month or so ago. But it all sounds like a well-rehearsed show instead of a truly inspired spontaneous interpretations.

Not meant as a dis, really. For those prices and with that lineup, anything else would be kind of dodgy, imo. You know, you pay those process for those people, you expect them to very much play very well, and you yourself can supply the inspiration, they've done their part, right?

[Rooster_Ties]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

Hard cider on draft and Ponty/Anderson all at once?

Yup! 

[JSngry]

Jazzy!

[mikeweil]

Got my copy of Live At Donte's today, in perfect condition. Ponty and Duke are excellent and adventurous.

The Lord Disco mistakenly identifies the bonus tracks as from the later session with Dick Berk, but this is incorrect. Al Cecchi is the drummer on all tracks. 

I will get me the new Sunday Walk reissue and the duets with Dauner. I love Ponty's violin tone. 

Edited March 4, 2022 by mikeweil

[felser]

23 hours ago, JSngry said:

 Turns out that a very young Duke actually debuted on MPS, I had not known that.

He did a lot of albums on MPS, and they're quite adventurous and pretty great overall.

[JSngry]

Yes, but his debut record was a really, uh...effusive traditional trio record on MPS on which he seemed to want to out Oscar Peterson Oscar Peterson.

This was, I think, even before his debit on Pacific Jazz.

[felser]

28 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Yes, but his debut record was a really, uh...effusive traditional trio record on MPS on which he seemed to want to out Oscar Peterson Oscar Peterson.

This was, I think, even before his debit on Pacific Jazz.

Have never heard that one - have seen it in discographies.

[JSngry]

Sorry, quartet, not trio.

https://www.discogs.com/master/482818-The-Georg e-Duke-Quartet-The-George-Duke-Quartet-Presented-By-The-Jazz-Workshop-1966-Of-San-Francisco 

[Ken Dryden]

Ponty's debut as a leader was recorded for Philips and released in 1964:

LP image:

CD image:

 

[Teasing the Korean]

When I was first teaching myself about jazz, I was also into sci-fi, so through the Columbia Record Club, I got Civilized Evil for the cover art alone.   The cover is the only thing I remember about the album, which was a victim of my first big vinyl purge in the early 1980s.

 

[JSngry]

2 hours ago, felser said:

Have never heard that one - have seen it in discographies.

For me, this gets old really quickly, but mileages will no doubt vary.

 

[mikeweil]

3 hours ago, felser said:

Have never heard that one - have seen it in discographies.

It swings hard, and the bass trumpet guy is great.