Customer Reviews

Imaginary Voyage

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Jean-Luc Ponty presented the jazz world with three fabulous albums in the 1970s, and Imaginary Voyage is one of them. I hadn't heard this in years and what a treat it is indeed to hear it again.
The entire album is a tour-de-force. New Country is so good, Ponty's play puts most of Nashville to shame. My favorite cut is the aptly named Once Upon A Dream, a mesmerizing tune with a great deal of background musical tension that can induce a dream-like trance.
The title cut starts out part Yes, part Return to Forever and gives way to the mystical wanderings of Ponty's violin and organ before winding up with an inspired dose of harder-edged guitar driven jazz-fusion.
The only drawbacks to this CD are its relative brevity (under 40 minutes) and the almost non-existent liner notes. Otherwise, I recommend this musical dreamscape to any Ponty fan who has not yet heard it and to the musically adventurous who have not yet heard him.

If you are a considering buying a Luc Ponty CD and you're not sure where to begin....well the answer is, Imaginary Voyage. I own most of his music and this one stands out as being the most musical and beautiful compostion. (I might add that Egnimatic Ocean is another gem). Listen on all you progressive Jazz lovers :)

Gene

This 1976 album opens with the track New Country, which has somewhat of a country hoedown feel to it - complete with a "foot-stomping" bass drum/bass guitar pattern and the lightning fast picking of the acoustic guitar and Jean Luc Ponty's "country music on speed" fiddling style. An odd way to open this otherwise proggy jazz rock album perhaps, but the track is pretty neat. The rest of the album however, is really fantastic and blends elements of jazz with rock, along with an admixture of prog rock and a tiny pinch of psychedelic rock too (the spacey and heavily echoed/phased violin solo instrumental "Wandering on the Milky Way" is a good example of this). As a huge prog fan and a casual jazz rock fan I found the blend to be very listenable and extremely enjoyable.

The musicians on this album include virtuoso violinist and band leader Jean Luc Ponty (he played on Frank Zappa's Hot Rats album (1969) and a few mid-70s Mahavishnu Orchestra albums), bassist Tom Fowler (he played on Frank Zappa's One Size Fits All album (1975)), solid studio musician Daryl Stuermer on guitars, Billy Cobham inspired drummer Mark Craney, and keyboardist Allan Zavod (mini-moog, string synthesizer, acoustic piano). I should note that Jean Luc also played Hammond organ and synthesizers too. Come to think of it, synthesizers are featured pretty heavily on this album. All of the musicians are fantastic and although I generally like Daryl's approach and playing, he sometimes "overplays" on the electric guitar (he also did this with Genesis during their live shows). It is not distracting mind you; I just do not feel that his "fast" playing has the same organic feel that virtuoso guitarists John McLaughlin or Alan Holdsworth got when they were burning up and down the fretboard.

The griping aside, the music on this album is just fantastic. It is a perfect blend of jazz rock and prog with enough dynamic contrast, melodic development, and above all else, unchecked virtuosity to keep any proghead thoroughly entertained. My favorite piece of course is the 19'55" multi-movement "Imaginary Voyage" suite. This really is a great track that covers a range of moods and features some excellent playing by all of the band members along with extremely intricate ensemble work - I won't bother going into the numbers of meter shifts per measure but there are a lot.

All in all this is a great album of jazz-rock with an admixture of proggy elements that features the violin as a solo instrument and would make a fine addition to the jazz rock or prog rock album collection. Highly recommended along with the excellent follow-up album Enigmatic Ocean (1977) and other jazz rock albums such as Romantic Warrior (Return to Forever, 1976), Birds of Fire (Mahavishnu Orchestra, 1973), and Cross Collateral (Passport, 1975).

"Imaginary Voyage" is one of Ponty's best. This is saying a lot because many of Jean-Luc's recordings were great. The disc starts out with "New Country" which was one of Jean-Luc's first pieces to actually receive airplay. The country inspired piece has Jean-Luc putting most "Fiddlers" to shame. Not only is the melody great but the trading of licks between Ponty and guitarist Stuermer is awesome. "The Gardens of Bablylon" is an acoustic flavored piece and is mystifying/hypnotic in nature. Stuermer and Jean-Luc astonish the listener with their acoustic textured virtuosity. The highlight is the first of many Jean-Luc composed Jazz/Classical/Rock suites which is also the title of the disc. Based on the book of the same name this piece is a Ponty masterwork. Part I contains many intricate unison lines. In the next part Zavod plays a keyboard solo over the spacey theme. Part III is classically inspired beauty and brilliance. The main theme is contrapunctal in form and then Ponty, Zavod and Stuermer all play perfectly phrased solos over it and the result is musical awe. Part IV has Jean-Luc take us to Rock/Jazz fusion mode and both Stuermer and Ponty unleash a barrage of notes in their dizzying solo spots. The whole disc is eclectic in nature. The songs range from Country to ethereal as well as the unbelievable. Once again Ponty shows the world how fusion can be entertaining and mesmerizing at the same time.

Long ago, I got the LP "Imaginary Voyage," and played it until it was worn out. Then I got the cassette tape and played that until it was worn out. Right now, I'm working on the CD version of the album, and am far from tired of listening to it. This is, in my opinion, the best album that Jean-Luc Ponty has recorded: the best variety of music and the best that he has written. Starting with "New Country" and moving into the dreamy "Gardens of Babylon" and "Wandering On The Milky Way," into the urgencies of "Once Upon A Dream" and then into the sharp "Tarantula," Ponty displays a variety of emotions with his mastery of the electric violin. He then tops that with the epic 4-part "Imaginary Voyage," which culminates in the wonderful eight-minute "Part IV." Jean-Luc Ponty has been around a long time and has a lot of recordings, and if you haven't heard this album before, get it. It's definitely worth buying.

(As an aside, I had heard about this album from watching "Soundstage," an old PBS show from long ago, when they had an episode called "Fiddlers Three," featuring Doug Kershaw, Itzahk Perlman and Jean-Luc Ponty. A wonderful show, showing three different types of violin performances: Ponty, so smooth and even in using the bow, even in fast songs, it seemed like he wouldn't break a sweat. Perlman played classical music, his movements so precise, sharp and clean, carefully and exacting in his bow work. Kershaw played Cajun country music, all elbows and movement, the strings on his bow breaking from his sawing motions on the violin, it appeared so sloppy compared to the other two but sounded so good. At the end, all three combined on one song, playing various parts in their own style. A great show with great talent using the same instrument but playing diverse ways.)

Imaginary Voyage by Jean-Luc Ponty will change the way you will listen to the violin. It is not classical nor is it country (though the first track, New Country, pays homage to country with its beginning notes which develop into a rock/fusion blend and notes from the song get referred to back from time to time, such as in The Garden of Babylon)

If you like fusion/jazz/rock mixed together, with amazing musicianship, this CD is worth checking out. You will hear a violin in a new light, but do not expect to hear classicl or country.

Imaginery Voyage was my first jazz-rock album. Completely out of the beaten paths from my usual (at the time) Beatles/Police/Elton John cocoon.
A shock at first, then rapidly grew on me and it made me want to hear more, not just Ponty but Didier Lockwood and UZEB.
I still love the Beatles but I have expanded my horizon
Thank you Mr Ponty!

Most people choose to associate the violin as a slowly played, quiet pretty/romantic instrument. I however, choose to think of the violin as a blistering, absolutely breath-takingly colorful and intense instrument, as shown on Imaginary Voyage. I love this guys music, and I love every single moment of the album. That's all I really need to say.

Side 1
1. New Country
2. Gardens of Babylon
3. Wandering on the Milky Way
4. Once upon a Dream
5. Tarantula
Side Two
6. Imaginary Voyage, Part 1
7. Imaginary Voyage, Part 2
8. Imaginary Voyage, Part 3
9. Imaginary Voyage, Part 4

Well you could add another star in the evaluation, regarding of the technical skill by J.L. Ponty, sometimes reminding me of another music genius- even though more versatile- such as Eddie Jobson...that' s the point, in 1976 the jazz fusion-genre in the vein of McLoughlin (sometimes disturbed by a more commercial stream, like within the first track "New County") was already an old method to think of introducing a few elements of rock inside a solid basis of experimental jazz...but for instance only one year after that performance (often in the vein of Mahavishnu Orchestra), there was the birth of a new super band like "UK", with the support of A. Holdsworth and the melodic touch by J. Wetton, in order to create an original mix of symphonic music and fusion, but in a modern and intelligent mood...Why wasn't Mr Ponty able to create something like that?! I don't know, but nevertheless "Imaginary Voyage" is a stunning performance anyway! For example the track "The Gardens of Babylon" is a strong tune, where the violin is powerful; but above all the title track (the suite) is a splendid mix between a cool fusion genre in the vein of Return to Forever and a symphonic touch according to the style by Yes...the unique defect is the risk of becoming a little bit repetitive in his performance, but I don't think J.L. Ponty is boring within the present album...perhaps a different modern approach could be more exciting (before I was reminding you of the early "UK", but I could mention also the roots of classical music by Echolyn, inside a strong basis of symphonic fusion...), even though at the end it's a minor defect regarding such a clever French musician like Ponty anyway.

The present work is worth to buy!