01	New Country						03:08
	02	The Gardens Of Babylon						05:07
	03	Wandering On The Milky Way						01:49
	04	Once Upon A Dream						04:07
	05	Tarantula						04:08
	06	Imaginary Voyage Part I						02:22
	07	Imaginary Voyage Part II						04:04
	08	Imaginary Voyage Part III						05:26
	09	Imaginary Voyage Part IV						08:01

Imaginary Voyage
Date of Release Jul 1976 - Aug 1976

As of 1976, Jean-Luc Ponty's variations on the Mahavishnu Orchestra theme were still fresh and imaginative, cast in a distinctively different, more lyrical, more controlled framework. Ponty's instrumental lineup is identical to that of Mahavishnu - electric violin, guitar, keyboards, bass, drums - but he turns the emphasis on its head, with all commands coming directly from the violin (his) and less competitive crossplay emanating from his colleagues. For starters, "New Country" is a lively jazz-rock hoedown, one of those periodic C&W sidetrips that some fusioneers attempted for a lark, and "The Gardens of Babylon" is a wonderfully memorable tune, the beginnings of which grow out of 'New Country." The last half of the CD is taken up by the title composition, a strong four-part suite that hangs together with barely a sag in interest over its 20-minute span. - Richard S. Ginell


Jean-Luc Ponty - Organ, Synthesizer, Violin, Keyboards, Vocals, Producer, Electric Violin
Daryl Stuermer - Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar, Guitar (Electric)
Tom Fowler - Bass, Bass (Electric)
Mark Craney - Percussion
Bill Harvey - Artwork, Design
Larry Hirsch - Engineer
George Piros - Mastering
Burt Szerlip - Engineer, Assistant Engineer
Allan Zavod - Piano, Keyboards

CD Atlantic 19136-2
1976 LP Atlantic 18195
CS Atlantic CS-19136
CD Atlantic 19136
1990 CS Atlantic 19136



Jean-Luc Ponty
Born Sep 29, 1942 in Avranches, France

Genres Jazz
Styles Crossover Jazz, Post-Bop, Fusion
Instruments Violin

by Richard S. Ginell

It has been a long, fascinating odyssey for Jean-Luc Ponty, who started out as a straight jazz violinist only to become a pioneer of the electric violin in jazz-rock in the '70s and an inspired manipulator of sequencers and synthesizers in the '80s. At first merely amplifying his violin in order to be heard, he switched over to electric violin and augmented it with devices that were associated with electric guitarists and keyboardists, like Echoplex machines, distortion boxes, phase shifters, and wah-wah pedals. Classically trained, with an unquenchable ability to swing when he wants to, and consumed by a passion for tight structures and repeating ostinatos, Ponty has been able to handle styles as diverse as swing, bop, free and modal jazz, jazz-rock, world music and even country, mixing them up at will. Starting in 1977, he also pioneered the use of a five-string electric violin with a low C string. Undoubtedly, he rivals Stephane Grappelli for the title of the most prominent and influential European jazz violinist.
Ponty's father - the director of the school of music in Avranches and a violin teacher as well - got Jean-Luc started on violin at the age of five, and his mother tutored him on piano. He left school at 13 in order to practice six hours a day in the hope of becoming a concert violinist. At 15, he was accepted into the Paris Conservatoire, ultimately winning the premier prix at age 17. He played with the Concerts Lamoureux Orchestra for three years, during which time, thanks to the influence of Grappelli and Stuff Smith, he became interested in jazz. Oddly enough, Ponty began playing jazz first on the clarinet and tenor sax, waiting until 1962 to apply it to the violin. After a hitch in the French Army (1962-64), Ponty went completely over to the jazz camp, leading quartets and trios in Europe, recording with Grappelli, Smith and Svrend Asmussen on Violin Summit, and visiting the U.S. for the first time in 1967 at a Monterey Jazz Festival workshop. Enriching himself with diverse American experiences in 1969, Ponty recorded with Frank Zappa, joined the George Duke Trio, and upon his return to France, formed the free-jazz Jean-Luc Ponty Experience (1970-72) before settling in the U.S. and rejoining Zappa's Mothers of Invention. He toured and recorded with the Mahavishnu Orchestra in 1974-75 and then set out on his own, compiling a long series of solo albums on Atlantic that pulled away from the more volcanic aspects of fusion toward a more lyrical, European, yet still exciting extension of Mahavishnu's idioms.

In 1983, after his records began to sound increasingly formulaic, Ponty switched gears and recharged his creative batteries on the synthesizer. Starting with the Individual Choice album, he began constructing attractive revolving patterns of electronic sounds with the help of sequencers, producing backdrops for his violin that were elegantly indebted to Europop influences. He took this direction with him when he signed with Columbia in 1987, but on 1991's Tchokola album, Ponty was on the move again, throwing out the sequencers and recording with West African musicians who provided him with new ostinato patterns to play with.


1962 Oeil Vision Club de
1964 Jazz Long Playing Philips
1964 Les Grands Violinistes des Jazz Phillips
1967 Sunday Walk BASF
1969 Electric Connection One Way
1969 King Kong: Jean-Luc Ponty Plays the Music of... Blue Note
1969 Canteloupe Island Blue Note
1969 Live at Donte's Blue Note
1969 Experience Pausa
1969 More than Meets the Ear One Way
1969 Critic's Choice Prestige
1970 Astrorama Far East
1972 Live at Montreux 72 Pierre Cardin
1973 Jean Luc Ponty and Stephane Grappelli Verve
1973 Open Strings BASF
1975 Upon the Wings of Music Atlantic
1975 Aurora Atlantic
1976 Imaginary Voyage Atlantic
1977 Enigmatic Ocean Atlantic
1978 Cosmic Messenger Atlantic
1979 A Taste for Passion Atlantic
1979 Live Atlantic
1980 Civilized Evil Atlantic
1981 Mystical Adventures Atlantic
1983 Individual Choice Atlantic
1984 Open Mind Atlantic
1985 Fables Atlantic
1987 The Gift of Time Columbia
1989 California LRC
1989 Storytelling Columbia
1991 Jean-Luc Ponty Experience Pausa
1991 Tchokola Epic
1992 No Absolute Time Atlantic
1993 The Jean-Luc Ponty with the George Duke Trio One Way
1996 Live at Chene Park Atlantic
2001 Jean-Luc Ponty with Kurt Edelhagen & His... Vantage
2001 Life Enigma JLP
2002 Live at Semper Opera Jlp
2002 The That Whereby the Movement Begins Chilly Most
As Atlantic
Far from the Beaten Paths Atlantic

1975 Le Voyage: The Jean-Luc Ponty Anthology Rhino
1990 Compact Jazz: Jean-Luc Ponty MPS
1995 Jazz Portrait Tristar
1999 Jazz Violin Summit Legacy
2000 The Very Best of Jean-Luc Ponty Rhino
2001 The Best of the Pacific Jazz Years Blue Note
2002 The Best of Jean-Luc Ponty Columbia
Sonata Erotica Inner City