Here is Ponty's radical break with his past, one that further tightened his control over his craft while ironically liberating his muse.
In laying out his attractive new music on synthesizers and sequencers, emphasizing revolving ostinato patterns, Ponty rejuvenated his melodic gift, and as a result, even in this controlled setting, his violin solos take on a new freshness and exuberance.
Except for two tracks, Ponty does without a formal rhythm section -- and on two other tracks, he goes it completely alone.
Indeed, he does best of all when he has no one but himself to play with on "Computer Incantations for World Peace" and the lovely mood piece "Eulogy to Oscar Romero." Guest interloper George Duke (a fellow refugee from Frank Zappa's band) contributes a Minimoog solo to ""In Spiritual Love," where Ponty provides his own percussive backing on rhythm computer.
Even if one grumbles on principle about the reduction of spontaneity in Ponty's music over the Atlantic years, the musical end here absolutely justifies the means.
Don't miss it.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Computer Incantations for World PeaceJean-Luc Ponty | Jean-Luc Ponty | Play | 05:41 | 13 MB | 0 MB |
| 2 | Far from the Beaten PathsJean-Luc Ponty | Jean-Luc Ponty | Play | 06:02 | 13 MB | 0 MB |
| 3 | In Spiritual LoveJean-Luc Ponty | Jean-Luc Ponty | Play | 07:02 | 16 MB | 0 MB |
| 4 | Eulogy to Oscar RomeroJean-Luc Ponty | Jean-Luc Ponty | Play | 02:35 | 5 MB | 0 MB |
| 5 | NostalgiaJean-Luc Ponty | Jean-Luc Ponty | Play | 05:03 | 11 MB | 0 MB |
| 6 | Individual ChoiceJean-Luc Ponty | Jean-Luc Ponty | Play | 04:56 | 11 MB | 0 MB |
| 7 | In Spite of AllJean-Luc Ponty | Jean-Luc Ponty | Play | 05:55 | 13 MB | 0 MB |
| 37 mins | 85 MB | |||||
| 0 mins | 0 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bob Defrin | Art Direction |
| 2 | George Duke | Mini Moog, Soloist, Synthesizer |
| 3 | Stuart Graham | Assistant Engineer, Engineer |
| 4 | Ray Griffin | Drums, Percussion |
| 5 | Rayford Griffin | Drums, Percussion |
| 6 | Steve Hall | Engineer, Mastering |
| 7 | Mark Hanauer | Photography |
| 8 | Allan Holdsworth | Guitar, Guitar (Electric) |
| 9 | Randy Jackson | Bass, Guitar (Bass) |
| 10 | Peter R. Kelsey | Engineer, Mixing |
| 11 | Jean-Luc Ponty | Composer, Keyboard Bass, Keyboards, Orchestration, Organ, Primary Artist, Producer, Rhythm Programming, Synthesizer, Violin, Vocals |
| 12 | Gary Skardina | Drum Recordings |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |