JEAN-LUC PONTY IN CONCERT

This DVD is a registration from a concert on the Jazz Jamboree 1999 in the Polish capital Warsaw with Jean Luc Ponty on electric violin, supported by William Lecomte on keyboards, Guy Nsangué on bass, Thierry Arpino on drums and Moustapha Cissé on percussion. During the concert you will be delighted about these musicians, what an incredible skillful and creative band!

1. Rhythms of Hope (7:57) : Enjoy JL Ponty his flowing and dynamic jazzy-inspired style. The long violin solo has a great build-up and an exciting finale, supported by splendid play on the piano, drums, bass and percussion, very rhythmic!

2. Jig (8:07) : A very swinging track featuring propulsive bass work, a Latin- American percussive undertone, swirling violinplay and an outstanding piano solo, virtuosic and varied (from jazz to Caribbean).

3. No Absolute Time (10:38) : This long composition is mainly based upon strong soli from violin and piano, the atmosphere is mellow.

4. Pastoral Harmony (8:25) : First a dreamy climate with sensitive violin and tender piano, then the piano culminates into swinging. The violin solo is very intense with those typical fast runs from monsieur Ponty.

5. Caracas (8:36) : The intro contains a swinging and pleasant bass and percussion, then a cheerful sounding violin. Halfway an exciting percussion solo on conga's and bongo's which goes into a duet with the drummer, the big smiling faces reveal the pleasure from the musicians, including JL Ponty himself!

6. Memories of California (5:41) : This is an electronic inspired piece delivering synthesizer sounds from Ponty his electric violin and soaring keyboards. Halfway a wonderful, very sensitive violin solo with a classical undertone.

7. Mouna Bowa (8:59) : A catchy rhythm and swinging violin work, then a strong and enthousiastic bass solo, supported by South-American-oriented piano play. Again lots of joy on stage, goose bumps from me while watching this!

8. Enigmatic Ocean, Pt. 2 (7:16) : A splendid rendition from one of his best compositions featuring swirling and dynamic violin work, including an exciting duel between the piano and violin. The rhythm- section is great delivering a short but propulsive drum solo.

9. Open Mind (5:14)1 Rhythms of Hope (7:57) : The final song contains a catchy rhythm with swinging piano and magnificent interplay between all the musicians, a perfect grand finale!

IF YOU ARE UP TO JAZZY/FUSION/JAZZROCK INSPIRED PROG, THIS EXCELLENT DVD IS YOURS!!

The previous review written by Erik Neuteboom is very good, so I`m not going to write a detailed review of the playing of each piece of music included in this DVD.

I had the curiosity to buy this DVD years after I bought Pont`s "Live at Chene Park" CD, which is very good, in my opinion. So I bought this DVD, hoping to see a great concert similar to the released in the "Live at Chene Park" CD. I was disappointed a bit. This 1999 concert is good, but lacks some of the "intensity" which I found in the "Live at Chene Park" CD. All the musicians are vey good, of course, particularly bassist Guy Nsangué who plays some very good bass guitar solos, and keyboard player William Lecomte, who most of the time plays the electric piano doing some very good solos. The lack of a guitarist is one of the things which I don`t like fom this concert. For example, the acoustic guitar solo in "Pastoral Harmony" was replaced by a piano solo. I think that the inclusion of the "power" of a guitarist could have been very good. Ponty looks tired sometimes. He speaks to the audience in English, and sometimes he leaves the stage to let the other members of the band play sections of the musical pieces where the electric violin is not included.

Among the good things in this concert is the interaction between Ponty and the other musicians. They smile to each other and they seem to enjoy playing together. The quality of the images and of the sound in this DVD is very good.

In conclusion, this is a good concert, but not similar to the concert released in the "Live at Chene Park" CD.