Customer Reviews

Live at Semper Opera

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album is fantastic! I had always wanted to know what enigmatic Ocean sounded like live! The opening track is a cracking good way to kick off a concert. This definetely is the best rendition of Infinite Pursuit (thanks to Guy) and is definetely much better than the original or Chene Park. Guy's playing through the entire album stays steady and smooth, playing great unison lines on tasty and lively closer, Caracas. Both precussionists add serious flavor while the keyboardist adds nice bits of flavor. Ponty as always stays steady, stays amazing, sounds great, and brings fabulous spontenaity to the entire collection. Particularly, his pizzicato on Forever Together was especially tasty. Critically, only two things here bother me. First, why no guitar? And second, the keyboardist basically sounds as if he never has played a ballade in his life? Choping and hammering on Forever together?
Fortunately, Ponty's playing keeps it together and carries it on through. Mirage and No Absolute time are as ever, catchy and grabbing, and come off particuarly well.
Well, its all around a great buy! Let's hope more live albums are to come! Especially Life Enigma!

I bought this album through one of the Amazon emails that gets sent to me based on past purchases. And am I ever glad I did! This album is definitely the best of the live JLP recordings, and one of his best all-time CDs yet! The version of Jig is out of this world. The energy is ecstatic! Listening to it is almost like being there.

Absolutely brilliant. As a longtime JLP fan who has all of his recordings and has seen him live numerous times, I was not disappointed. The sound quality is top notch. Highlights include blistering versions of "Jig" and "Enigmatic Ocean". A must own for any JLP fan as well as fans of "fusion-jazz".

One of Jean-Luc's "best" songs was ENIGMATIC OCEAN, Parts 1 and 2 ... so I got this CD based on that. I was disappointed by his last LIVE CD. This time I wasn't disappointed. The sound quality is excellent, too. Infinite Pursuit also sounds great. I found his last CD "Life Enigma" a little boring ... but the excitement is back with this one!

I was blown away when I first discovered the music of Jean Luc Ponty back in the seventies! There is no other artist alive who has done as much to stretch the boundaries of violin music as expertly and creatively as this man has! With his inovative use of synthesizers, Echoplex machines, sequencers and distortion boxes (devices normally associated with electric guitars), Ponty developed a signature sound that set him apart from all other violinists, regardless of genre.

Stylistically, his music ranges from jazz to jazz-rock fusion to African-influenced world music, with an occasional foray into country hoe-down, just to keep things from becoming predictable. He handles all these styles with equal ease and virtuosity, creating an overall sound that is both breathtakingly exhilarating, yet hauntingly beautiful at the same time.

Of the three JLP live albums that I am familiar with, 1979's Live is the most passionate and rock-fusion oriented. With stunning performances by a group of world-class musicians who were truly on fire, this recording surely ranks as one of the top fusion albums of all time! By comparison, Live at Chene Park, recorded in Detroit in 1996, was more mellow and subdued (some have deemed it uninspired). Although there was certainly some energetic playing, such as by JLP's long-time guitarist, Jamie Glaser, Jean Luc himself generally displayed a more reflective, almost dreamy approach to his music on the Chene Park outing.

Live at Semper Opera was recorded in May of 2001 in Dresden, Germany. Here Ponty performed with his current touring band, consisting of William Lecomte on keyboards, Guy Nsangue Akwa on bass, Thiery Arpino on drums, and Moustapha Cisse on percussion. This concert performance was the most musically refined and jazz-oriented of the three, and was the only one which did not include a guitarist in the line-up. While some may perceive this as a shortcoming, in my opinion Jean Luc and his band played so well together and produced such a rich sound that the guitar is not really missed. Indeed, the playing that night was incredibly tight, the performances were truly inspired, the musicianship was nothing short of astounding, and the overall sound was absolutely scintillating -- a veritable treasure chest of musical gems for the attentive listener!

As far as quality of production is concerned, few concerts have ever been so expertly recorded as this one at the Semper Opera. The result is a crystal clear, studio-quality recording with the exciting ambiance of a live event. If possible, listen to this CD on a high-end stereo system, turn up the volume, close your eyes, and in no time you will find yourself in front of the stage, enveloped in the most amazing and uplifting aural experience! With music of this caliber, recorded this well, who needs drugs to get high?

In summary, one does not need to be a hard-core Jean Luc Ponty fan to enjoy this CD; even the casual fan will find much to delight in. All around, this is one of the best albums Ponty has recorded in his lengthy career. A solid five-star effort -- highly recommended!

I have been a Ponty fan since the 70's.This new live album is great!The performances and sound quality are fantastic.The packaging is great too.This is a must have for every Ponty fan and music lover.

I found this little gem in a used record store, sorry Amazon, I usually buy everything from the site, honest! I figured that this lineup of songs would suffer from two things:
1. No guitar, neither electric nor acoustic.
2. No Cosmic Messenger, no Renaissance, no Aurora, no No Strings Attached.

Boy, was I wrong! From the opening beat, this CD documents what had to have been a smoking hot night in Dresden! The band slayed the opening medley of Imaginary Voyage and Infinite Pursuit, and things just sort of escalated from there. This rendition of Jig just floated along on top of the percussion and drums provided by Moustapha Cisse and Thierry Arpino. The basslines thrown down by Guy Nsangue Akwa were tremendous and reminiscent of those audcacious offerings of Ralphe Armstrong thirty years ago. Well played!

You'll enjoy the West African rhythms of Forever Together and No Absolute Time, the first which reminds one of a shuffle and the latter has a quirky groove that is intoxicating.

Mirage is amazingly powerful, even without the guitars of Stuermer and Holdsworth. I have to give this band a tip of the cap for making this song so very interesting, even sans the guitars, which on the studion version were incredibly potent and downright nasty. Ponty is a master at painting images with just the elements at hand. Truly wonderful!

Enigmatic Ocean Parts 1 & 2 were as dramatic as ever. Over the years, I've heard many versions of this tune, and this sparse arrangement is just as moving as they come.

Ponty closes the show out with two gems. First, the rich Mouna Bowa, which was co-written by his bass player, Nsangue Akwa. This is a brilliant composition! The encore is the delightful salsa number, Caracas.

This is a great show by a great artist who is an integral piece of a very well-integrated group of players who make a fantastic band. You will be pleased if you add this disk to your collection. I am very pleased that I did.

I am very glad that I ordered this album. The music on this CD is really wonderful to listen to. All of the songs are great, but my personal favorites are "Jig", No Absolute Time, and Enigmatic Ocean". Jean-luc Ponty and his band really put on a great show and the acoustics sound really nice. I am not a music expert, but Jean Luc is definitely a first class musician and performer. This CD really deserves 10 stars!!!

Gave me new appreciation for "No Absolute Time" cd.
Hearing oldies like Enigmatic Ocean and Imaginary Voyage stripped down and played with no guitar is a real treat.
Guy Nsangue's great bass playing is especially showcased in this excellently played yet too-short offering.
Here's hoping with his own label, Jean-Luc will record and release more old material with his new band.
Maybe even a "bootleg" boxed set a la Dylan!

When Ponty was with Zappa, he was at his peak. It seemed that with the full orchestration and, of course, arrangement collaboration with Frank, he many times fed off the other instruments. Additionally, there is no doubt that the other musicians were inspired when he took off on his own in one of those wonderful rambling and unpredictable pieces. I have read that the improvisation which resulted from these sessions was the heart of the music.
I would hope that a genius such as Ponty would include more complementary instrumentation in future recordings.