THE VERY BEST OF

I enjoy prog fusion bands such as Gong and Brand X, and jazz keyboard players who tend to dabble in fusion, like Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea, but judging from this collection Mr. Jean-Luc Ponty is not for me.

I must admit Ponty is no mean fiddler, but I don't seen the point of most of this music, which does not excite or move me. Most of the pieces follow exactly the same pattern. Guitar or keyboards play pretty arpeggios, or the band as a whole lay down a nice little groove, and several instrumentalists (an average of two, I guess) get their chance to perform a solo. There's virtually no interaction between soloists, compositions never develop unexpectedly, and you never get the feeling the players are expressing things which cause some kind of pain. I don't wish to exaggerate my criticism, for this music is not quite as bland as smooth jazz; it just doesn't sound audacious or experimental.

Things might be a little better if you never got the impression Ponty had his fire stolen by fellow players. "Bowing-bowing", for example, is mainly noteworthy for its minimoog solo, and "A taste for passion" for its guitar solo. "Enigmatic Ocean, pt. 3" merely sounds gorgeous because Allan Holdsworth suddenly comes in, which gets you thinking: 'At last - a soloist of character!' And "Cosmic messenger" is mainly noteworthy for its haunting guitar arpeggios.

But I don't wish to sound completely negative. "Mirage", for example, is based on a supremely catchy riff. Towards the end, the collection starts getting better: "Rhythms of Hope", "Final Truth" and "Infinite Pursuit" are all fairly exciting - and this goes for Ponty's playing as well! Still, when it comes to contemporary jazz violin, I can't help preferring soloists which express themselves through music of a freer and more improvisatory nature, like Mat Maneri or Mark Feldman.

N.B. There is a two-disc set on Rhino, LE VOYAGE - THE JEAN-LUC PONTY ANTHOLOGY, which includes all the tracks from THE VERY BEST OF, together with another 60 minutes of similar material.