Customer Reviews

Very Best of Jean-Luc Ponty

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
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But I tend to think that the typical customer for this kind of retrospective is someone who listened to Ponty in the past and is looking to rebuild a collection. That being the case, I would suggest that instead of settling for this CD sampler, you buy the first five albums: "Upon The Wings Of Music," "Aurora," "Imaginary Voyage," "Enigmatic Ocean," and "Cosmic Messenger." Having followed Ponty over the years, I find that that is still the best stuff. If you're not sure about spending so much, go ahead and get this. It's a pretty good deal. But I bet you'll wind up doing what I do, which is mostly just to listen to the first half of the CD.

My prog-rock past allowed me to experience Jean Luc Ponty's awesome prowess on violin when I was a teenager in Montreal. It seemed natural to hear "New Country" on FM radio airwaves right alongside songs from Genesis, The Strawbs, E.L.P and Gentle Giant. Sure, Ponty was considered a "jazz" artist. Yep, he recorded "fusion" albums, which many jazz critics will tell you weren't jazz enough to be jazz or rock enough to be rock. And though he's a violinist, he isn't anything like the jazz violin heroes of the fifties (like, say, Stuff Smith). At the core of his albums lay inventiveness, expansive use of sound and technology, improvisation and - dare I say it - a certain degree of commercial professionalism that transcended the usual jazz-guys noodling-with-synthesizers [stuff] so common of the form. Here, Rhino's superb anthology does two things: 1) it sets up casual listeners with the VERY best of Ponty from his VERY best albums (recorded for Atlantic in the mid-1970s). 2) It sets up those who love this stuff to seek out LE VOYAGE, Rhino's 2-disc retrospective of the man's career. You'll love VERY BEST OF so much, you'll want more. More than just jazz, more than just a violin player with chops, this is intricate yet rewarding music. Played with brio and with passion. An essential collection.

I had a good friend, Paul, back in the day who had several Jean-Luc Ponty albums but at the time my tastes were more limited in scope. But over time as I found myself growing weary of rock and roll I remembered my friend and I seeing this artist in concert with the group Renaissance (circa 1979). So earlier this year I downloaded Ponty's song "Renaissance" to refresh my memory. Ah, what a wonderful re-discovery!

That single download encouraged me to purchase this "Very Best of Jean-Luc Ponty", a 16 track compilation that has turned out to be satisfying from start to finish.

My only regret is that I didn't get the 2CD, 32 track, "Jean-Luc Ponty Anthology - Le Voyage" instead. This was simply due to ignorance of its existence. However, I notice that Amazon has priced that mp3 album at 9.99 just like this collection, and it contains every track that this single disk overview contains. I will let others expound upon the performer's artistry and talent; I would simply encourage you to start with the larger collection at the same price and I hope you enjoy this music as much as I've been enjoying it.

It is rare when a Rock and roll talent can perform both live and in the studio and give you the impression they have mastered their instriment to the point where they can paint pictures, create hard driving moods and infuse this music with classical flavors that usually don't work well together.

But THIS performer can... and when I say this guy rocks... well, he takes it to the top and keeps on going.

After all, the guys playing a violin... and he makes is sound like a strato-caster....

Pick ANY selection and you will find yourself playing air guitar, doing knee slides and wishing to see how this guy is doing what he's doing.

If you've never heard his work, all I can say is... YOU ARE IN FOR A REAL TREAT.

You know that feeling you get when you go to a movie that has eye popping special effects?

That is what this guys music SOUNDS like.

You know he's playing a violin, but the notes are so flawless and precise it makes you listen closer... and you can get lost in it.

A master performer who is in total command of his instriment.

One word "AWESOME" my son plays the violin and just started playing with a jazz band. He's 16 and appreciates all types of music. But, now that he's focusing on jazz violin... he really likes Jean-Luc Ponty. I bought a couple more for his Christmas stocking!

I don't have too much to say but that "Forms of Life" shouldn't be on here. It's the worst song on CIVILIZED EVIL because it only has the violin and keyboards playing and nothing else and it just repeats the same thing throughout the track. I think about everything else deserves to be on here so I have just removed 1/2 a star because the track "Forms of Life" is subpar to the rest of the material.

I loved this album because it had the best of Jean-Luc. however, it has three songs from Cosmic Messanger, and I don't think that's right. Plus, it had no songs from Open Mind, and no songs after Fables. That's not fair. There should have been more songs on it (less from Cosmic Messanger and more from Enigmatic Ocean which I feel is his best album), and there should be more from his albums after 1985.

Ponty has been always great of greatest since the very beginning and the biggest proof of all, is this cd not to mention all the rest, but the hits, this is the best of the best. In my personal opinion this cd show go straight to my Ponty coleccion, It's just something I cannot express with words, in my name and of all of Jean Luc Ponty's fan definetly deserves a 5 stars rate and maybe much more...