{"id":9543,"date":"2015-11-18T05:30:21","date_gmt":"2015-11-18T05:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=9543"},"modified":"2015-11-19T13:36:41","modified_gmt":"2015-11-19T13:36:41","slug":"jean-luc-ponty-i-can-still-play-in-tune-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2015\/11\/18\/jean-luc-ponty-i-can-still-play-in-tune-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Jean-Luc Ponty: “I Can Still Play in Tune!” (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Jean-Luc Ponty<\/b> and Jon Anderson<\/b> have long and distinguished careers in music. Anderson is known first and foremost as founder and longtime member of Yes<\/b>, one of progressive rock’s most celebrated bands. And for many years \u2013 even before he parted ways with his longtime group \u2013 Anderson has worked outside of Yes on a number of solo and collaborative musical endeavors. His work with Vangelis Papathanassiou<\/b> (the Chariots of Fire<\/i> composer, and also a key member of late 60s Greek prog group Aphrodite\u2019s Child<\/b>) is Anderson’s most high-profile non-Yes work.<\/p>\n

Ponty’s career is even more varied: a virtuoso violinist born in Avranches, France, he was one of the first jazz artists to expand his career beyond that idiom. He’s played progressive rock, gypsy jazz (sometimes with his hero St\u00e9phane Grappelli<\/b>), fusion, world music and much more. Ponty plugged in his violin and added his unique skills to Frank Zappa<\/b>‘s music; he was an important part of Mahavishnu Orchestra<\/b>. His credits are extensive and formidable, to say the least.<\/p>\n

But even though they met many years ago, Anderson and Ponty had never collaborated on a musical project. Until now, that is. The Anderson-Ponty Band<\/b> formed last year and has just released Better Late Than Never<\/i>, an album of new material and re-arranged readings of material from both men’s back catalog.<\/p>\n

Ponty has an amply demonstrated facility for switching effortlessly between musical styles. He applies his signature sound to different projects. \u201cIn one way, it’s all music,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen I was younger, I approached whatever I was doing the same way. I tried to fit my jazz and classical playing [into whatever I was doing]. But with the years, since I’ve been adding up experiences, I’m a lot more able to adapt \u2013 to understand<\/i> \u2013 what really the music is about. In collaboration, I try to fit the best, but still retaining my own style. Because I’ve never wanted to be a chameleon.\u201d<\/p>\n

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That’s not always easy. \u201cSometimes it’s a challenge,\u201d Ponty admits with a chuckle. \u201cBut with Jon Anderson, doing prog rock\/pop, I have to be careful not to step in front of him! I listen to what he sings, and weave around that.\u201d The result is a dialogue of sorts, a musical conversation between Anderson’s high and expressive voice, and Ponty’s equally expressive violin.<\/p>\n

A collaborative approach was applied to The Anderson Ponty Band’s reworking of older material. \u201cTake ‘Mirage,’ one of my old tunes,\u201d Ponty offers. \u201cJon provides a new melody of his own. It fits so well; when I heard that, it convinced me that we had to do a project together. He really feels the essence of my music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd,\u201d he continues, \u201cI do the same. Of course there are differences, but there is a relationship \u2013 a common element \u2013 between progressive rock and jazz-rock. The thing that we [prog and fusion artists] did in the 1970s was to experiment with different structures. Not to stick with the traditional short song formats. The idea came from symphonies, from classical music: just go on a long adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe difference,\u201d Ponty points out, \u201cis that in jazz we push our brains to come out with the most inventive way to find new melodies, chords, and rhythms.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the new tunes on Better Late Than Never<\/i>, the pair collaborated, too. Ponty says, \u201cOn ‘Soul Eternal,’ for instance, Jon wrote the melody, and I came up with the bass line. I also brought to it a West African groove; the groove is called macosa<\/i>, from Cameroon. I first heard it when I did a musical project in the 90s, and it fit very well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Widely-known Yes songs including \u201cRoundabout\u201d and \u201cOwner of a Lonely Heart\u201d get recast by The Anderson Ponty band as well. The group makes the songs their own, while keeping those qualities that made the songs popular to begin with. Several members of the band are veterans of Ponty’s own group. \u201cThe reason it works \u2013 and why I chose these musicians in particular \u2013 is that I knew that they were the best ones to adapt, to play this music as well. They grew up listening to prog and jazz, and they can play all kinds of music. So they were very excited to do this collaboration, and they gave their best to serve Jon’s ideas. And that was essential; otherwise, it wouldn’t work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ponty continues. \u201cWhen we got to do the classics by Yes, songs co-written by Jon, we wanted to respect each piece; we didn’t just want to grab it and make it a jam. But we wanted to bring our own rhythm feel to it. And Jon insisted that I play a lot more! At the beginning, I was a little shy, maybe. But he insisted. So on the introduction of ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart,’ it has a lot more of my sound. And that makes it different than the original recording. Which it should be,\u201d he adds. \u201cbecause it’s silly to just reproduce a hit. You never achieve something as good as the original.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The pair settled easily on a working method for developing the new arrangements. \u201cIf we were doing a piece by Jon, he would be the one to really direct the arrangement, the band, the ideas,\u201d Ponty says. \u201cWhen it’s my composition, it would be me. The one who is responsible for a composition would know best what to achieve with it. And of course everyone gives his input; we exchange ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Anderson-Ponty Band launched a successful Kickstarter crowd funding initiative to create Better Late Than Never<\/i>. As is often the case with projects of this scope, the resulting album \u2013 which includes a DVD and an audio CD \u2013 took longer than planned to reach its release date. Did that delay give the album its title? \u201cNo, no,\u201d Ponty laughs. But he readily admits, \u201cIt could have been.\u201d The title refers instead to the way in which the project began.<\/p>\n

\u201cI crossed paths with Jon in the 70s,\u201d Ponty recalls. \u201c1974, exactly. I was playing in the Mahavishnu Orchestra with John McLaughlin<\/b>. We did two shows in Texas [on a bill] with Yes. That was the first time Jon and I met. And I loved their music for its frame and structure. We crossed paths again in the 80s in Los Angeles, when we were both with the same label, Atlantic Records. I was coming out of a meeting, and he was going in, and we talked for five minutes. He said he loved my playing, and we should do a project together some time. I said, ‘Yeah!’ because I loved his singing and songwriting, too.\u201d<\/p>\n