“He’s a maestro at the violin,” Anderson says. He lets me improvise on the violin, but he also interacts with it like we’re having a dialogue.”Īnderson has been a longtime admirer of Ponty's, having initially crossed paths when the violinist was a member of The Mahavishnu Orchestra when the band opened for Yes at the Houston Astrodome on December 2, 1974. We kept the original sections as is, and we added new sections to incorporate Jon’s vocals. “I love that Jon has added lyrics to some of my classic tunes, because it respects the essence of the compositions while at the same time adds new dimensions to them. “We work together like family,” marvels Ponty, 73 (at left in the above photo, pointing his thumb at Anderson, at right). Their oh-so-apropos debut, Better Late Than Never (Liaison Music), mixes fine, edgy originals with rearranged and revamped covers of classic material like Yes's “Roundabout” and Ponty's “Mirage” - renamed here as “Infinite Mirage,” as it now features Anderson singing new lyrics he wrote just for the song. But that's exactly what happened when two progressive titans, vocalist Jon Anderson and violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, came together to form the Anderson Ponty Band, a.k.a. Creative sparks don't always fly when veteran musicians get together to collaborate.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |