i bought 2 classic 5 album sets on cd.man great sounding cds and amazing albums.Awesome Jazz Fusion.i love him and great back up band he has on each album.had some on vinyl but not all of the ones i got.anyone have a personal favorite album by him?
I like Enigmatic Ocean quite a bit because Allan Holdsworth appears on it. In addition, it has Steve Smith on the drums.
I just like Beach Girl, so my favorite album would be A Taste for Passion, although there are some other decent tracks on that album too.
I really enjoy "The Jean-Luc Ponty Experience with The George Duke Trio Recorded In Hollywood at Thee Experience" album. Also King Kong JLP Plays The Music of Frank Zappa. This one is also a favorite > >
I have a lot of Jean Luc’s albums. One of the most unique and pleasing album to me is Tchokola. I probably listen to that one the most.
Lately I have been playing the Mahavishnu albums he is on a lot plus the Live at Montreux material of the big John McLaughlin set that he plays on from '74.
At the Ponty/Clarke/Fleck show that I saw, they mentioned that they would be putting out a live DVD from the tour. 13 years, still waiting.
My absolute favorite is Civilized Evil. Those 5-disc sets are great, since it was difficult to find on CD for a while. Essentials you're missing are: Open mind Fables Storytelling Tcohola
Cosmic Messenger, Mystical Adventures and Enigmatic Ocean are top Ponty for me. Why none of the audiophile labels have licensed any of Jean-Luc's music for release on SACD and/or vinyl is a mystery to me.
My absolute favourite Ponty solo, is on The Idiot Bastard Son, From King Kong. It is just perfect. As good a solo as I have heard on any instrument.
A tremendous amount of good music released by Ponty. I have his entire catalog (and love most of it). My favorites: Imaginary Voyage (1976) Engmatic Ocean (1977) (one of my all-time top 5 albums by any artist) Cosmic Messenger (1978) Allan Holdsworth's playing on Enigmatic Ocean is stellar. His contributions to Individual Choice and Atacama Experience are also memorable.
Always great sidemen, too. Especially the guitarists. Besides Holdsworth were Jamie Glaser, Joaquin Lievano, Daryl Steurmer, and the awesome Scott Henderson on Fables.
Cosmic Messenger is just such an excellent sounding album - to me, it is very French sounding. I would think that Air, and Daft Punk were influenced by this recording.