Enigmatic Ocean - Jean Luc Ponty

May

9

Enigmatic Ocean - Jean Luc Ponty

≡ Category: 1970s, Fusion, Reviews |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING

Rating:

The knock on Enigmatic Ocean, as indeed on all of Jean Luc Ponty’s fusion releases, as that they’re kind of mindless. Basically, what you have here are endless R&B vamps, connected together with catchy little through composed themes, and lots of rock based blowing, either pentatonic or scalar, from Ponty and guitarists Daryl Stuermer and Allan Holdsworth. There is little of the thematic, harmonic or rhythmic complexity of John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra, from which Ponty came.

On the other hand, within those constraints, you couldn’t ask for better execution. Ponty’s arrangements are pretty and light, brought across with sparkling, slick production. The sound of the album hasn’t really aged because Allan Zavod’s synthesizer textures don’t suck. The rhythm section of Ralphe Armstrong on bass and drummer Steve Smith totally kicks ass, whether they’re playing funk or fusion. (I wonder how Jean Luc Ponty thought to hire Smith. He was fresh out of the Berklee School of Music at the time.)

And the solos are often excellent. They’d better be. There isn’t much else to hold your attention. Ponty is his usual dazzling self on violin. Back in the sixties, he played in a much grittier style. I would have preferred that his compositions and improvisations have more substance, but he does play this light fusion with unmatched virtuosity and taste. Daryl Stuermer tends to employ the usual arena rock cliches, but he’s not actually painful to listen to. His lines are actually pretty decent.

Possibly the most valuable aspect of Enigmatic Ocean is that it allows us a rare opportunity to hear Allan Holdsworth solo in the context of someone else’s compositions. Holdsworth is his usual creative self here. His tone is like liquid gold and he always comes up with something unexpected and cool. Whenever he plays, he lifts the project to a higher level.

Let’s face it. Enigmatic Ocean is not going to change your life, but it has it’s rewards. It’s pleasant to listen to, makes good background music, your girlfriend might not hate it, the solos are often excellent, and Ponty’s arrangements are clever and tasteful within the context of light fusion.

Enigmatic Ocean may be practically perfect for what it is, but it is so singularly unambitious that I have to subtract two stars on that basis alone. Jean Luc Ponty played with Frank Zappa and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. In his career previous to working with Zappa, Ponty showed himself to be a capable post-bop player. If he chose to concentrate on light fusion, that’s his business, but I don’t have to like it.