Apart from Corea, Ponty was my equal favorite musician. I loved his sense of melody and clarity of arrangements. I also loved the way his violin sounded. It was fatter and warmer sounding than anyone else's violin. I think guitar and violin blend beautifully.
I remember first hearing the album Aurora, which is still on of my favorite albums. That's where I also discovered young Patrice Rushen's piano playing ( I have been playing club gigs with her lately.. she's brilliant!). I also discovered Holdsworth listening to Enigmatic Ocean which is another classic Ponty album. Incidentally, the drummer on Enigmatic Ocean was Steve Smith (that was his first album ) who of course is the drummer in Vital Information a group I have played and recorded with for 13 years.
I worked with Ponty only for 3 months in the summer of 86. He was between record deals at the time. When the tour was over he said he wouldn't be working for at least a year......that's OK for him, but I said I would love to play when you do the next tour but in the meantime I need to work. It was during that year that I auditioned for Corea.
No comments:
Post a Comment