But the sequencer excercise “Computer Incantations for World Peace” gets rescued by Ponty’s five string violin in the second half of the song.įollowing is the first appearance of the rhythm section and Rayford Griffin is a major force on the drums. The opener is probably the most New Age-ish of the whole album. The result is an album that isn’t quite as consistent as Mystical Adventures however, the peaks reach greater heights, because more often than not, the risk taking pays off. The result is an album that creates more mood than sponteniety, a kind of hybrid between fusion and new age.Īnd while I’m not a big new age guy, Ponty manages to add just enough improvision, clever arrangements and compositional skills to keep me interested. On 1983’s Individual Choice, Ponty begins to abandon the drum-keys-bass-guitar-violin formula that he’s used since Upon The Wings Of Music in favor of experimenting with differing configurations to fit the compositions. The title track was used for a revolutionary promotional video made of time lapse photography by Louis Schwartzberg. George Duke (synthesizer) and Allan Holdsworth also contribute their solos to two other pieces. Recorded in 1983 in Los Angeles, this is JLP's first recording where he plays all the violin, synthesizer and rhythm computer parts, using one of the very first sequencers, except for one piece which was recorded with Allan Holdsworth (guitars) Randy Jackson (bass) and Rayford Griffin (drums).

Even if one grumbles on principle about the reduction of spontaneity in Ponty's music over the Atlantic years, the musical end here absolutely justifies the means. Indeed, he does best of all when he has no one but himself to play with on 'Computer Incantations for World Peace' and the lovely mood piece 'Eulogy to Oscar Romero.' Guest interloper George Duke (a fellow refugee from Frank Zappa's band) contributes a Minimoog solo to ''In Spiritual Love,' where Ponty provides his own percussive backing on rhythm computer. Except for two tracks, Ponty does without a formal rhythm section - and on two other tracks, he goes it completely alone. In laying out his attractive new music on synthesizers and sequencers, emphasizing revolving ostinato patterns, Ponty rejuvenated his melodic gift, and as a result, even in this controlled setting, his violin solos take on a new freshness and exuberance. Here is Ponty's radical break with his past, one that further tightened his control over his craft while ironically liberating his muse. Individual Choice is an album by French jazz fusion violinist Jean-Luc Ponty that was released in 1983.

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