Probably the worst thing that happened to Ponty was that he was once dubbed ‘the John Coltrane of the violin’. This and his admiration for horn players like Sonny Rollins and Ornette Coleman has tended to work against him. I have always felt that he was a better player before he tried to update himself. Fortunately, on this excellent album we hear what I feel is the real Ponty. The influence of Rollins and Coltrane is barely evident and there is none of the contrived, even false, emotion that we encountered at the Montreux Festival in 1972.
Like most men, Ponty is affected by the men he plays with and Dauner in 1967 was an orthodox pianist. Pedersen was a changes man, Humair a reliable drummer and also the provider of a subtle and constant pulse. This is the environment in which the violinist thrives and his lovely boppish solos on Cat Coach and Carole’s Garden tend to support this theory. Not all progress is good and this record can be recommended as an excellent example of Ponty’s work.
Discography
Sunday Walk; Carole’s Garden; Cat Coach (18 min) – You’ve Changed; Suite For Claudia (18 min)
Jean-Luc Ponty (vln); Wolfgang Dauner (pno); Niels-Henning Ørsted-Pedersen (bs); Daniel Humair. Villingen, June 1967.
(MPS BAP 5070 £2.50)
