The Musical Box

In anticipation of Saturday’s performance by Jean-Luc Ponty at the Singletary Center for for the Arts, as well as a preface to a detailed interview we will feature here on Friday that was conducted recently with the jazz violin giant by phone from Paris, we offer this primer. Here we have, in chronological order, 10 albums spanning 40 years that detail the emotive depth, stylistic invention and sheer fun that make up the music of Jean-Luc Ponty.

+ Sunday Walk (1967) - Though not officially his debut recording, this expressive quartet session was widely viewed as Ponty’s international introduction. The band included pianist Wolfgang Dauner, who still performs duo concerts with Ponty.

+ King Kong (1969) - A wonderfully animated record devoted almost exclusively to the compositions of Frank Zappa that shifts from the wistful quartet reading of Idiot Bastard Son to the 20 minute Music for Electric Violin and Low Budget Orchestra.

+ New Violin Summit (1971) - A long out-of-print concert recording that lands Ponty squarely in fusion territory. Having Dauner, guitarist Terje Rypdal and prog rock hero Robert Wyatt on drums as a rhythm section enhances the electric spirit.

+ Visions of the Emerald Beynold (1975) - The final Mahavishnu Orchestra collaboration featuring Ponty and guitarist John McLaughlin. Hearing the two musically butt heads on Eternity’s Breath, Part 2 remains a beautifully fearsome experience.

+ Imaginary Voyage (1976) - A watershed fusion recording, Imaginary Voyage sported expansive compositions (the four part title tune), a solo violin work drenched in echo effects (Wandering on the Milky Way) and even a bluegrass/bop hit (New Country).

+ Cosmic Messenger (1978) - Arguably the finest and most popular of Ponty’s Atlantic albums, Cosmic Messenger was a tighter but denser exercise with layers of keyboards and guitars augmenting Ponty’s increasingly otherworldly violin sound.

+ Individual Choice (1983) - The first of two largely unaccompanied albums where Ponty created compositions dominated as much by synthesizers as violin. Among the very few guests: bass guitarist and future American Idol judge Randy Jackson.

+ Tchokola (1991) - A career changing album that unplugged Ponty from computers and sequencers in favor of grooves from Senegal, Cameroon and Nigeria. The album’s heavily West African cast is still reflected in Ponty’s live performances today.

+ The Rite of Strings (1995) - A summit featuring three of fusion music’s foremost celebs (Ponty, bassist Stanley Clarke and guitarist Al DiMeola) playing in an entirely acoustic setting. A 1975 Ponty fusion classic, Renaissance, becomes a perfect fit for the sessions.

+ The Acatama Experience (2007) - While guitar pals Allan Holdsworth and Philip Catherine make cameos, Acatama de-emphasizes guitar and electric playing for a gentler but no less absorbing sound. The unplugged solo piece Desert Crossing is a mind-blower.

Jean-Luc Ponty and His Band perform at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 14 at the Singletary Center for the Arts. Tickets: $25, $28 and $32. Call (859) 257-4929.

derek trucks

We offered the bulk of our recent interview with guitarist Derek Trucks over the last two days. But there were many insightful comments that didn’t make their way, mostly for space limitations, into the story. Here is the best of what got left behind:

On the 40^th anniversary of The Allman Brothers Band and the group’s most recent string of spring concerts at New York’s Beacon Theatre: “It was great. We had Levon Helm, Taj Mahal, Buddy Guy, Johnny Winter, Eric Clapton, Chuck Leavell, Bonnie Bramblett - just some amazing guests. It was nice also that the band dedicated the whole Beacon run - this whole anniversary, really - to Duane (Allman, the band’s founding guitarist, who died in 1971). That’s fitting. I think he’d be pretty happy with the fact that his band has made it this long with so much integrity.”

On other Allman-related anniversaries this year: “It’s my 10^th year in the Allman Brothers and the 20^th anniversary of the 1989 reunion (the band had dissolved in 1982). It’s also been 20 years now for the band at the Beacon. And I turned 30 this year. Lots of anniversaries; lots of serendipity.

On the influence of vintage soul music on his new “Already Free” album: “I listened to as much Sly Stone and Bobby Womack as I did rock. That’s the music I grew up loving. Whether it was Otis Redding or Sam Cooke, it was all a huge influence. And so, it all comes out. I really think this record, more than any other I’ve done, is the most true to where we’re from. It really feels like an American record. Even further than that, it feels like a Deep South record. You can feel the moss on the trees and the tea colored water out back. The record has that vibe. It’s got all of the influences that are in our blood.

On recording with jazz piano great McCoy Tyner: “Within a few months I got to record with Richie Havens, Buddy Guy and McCoy Tyner. Three different worlds - but these are guys I respect immensely.  McCoy was really a trip, because in recording with him I was also stepping into a studio with (veteran jazz drummer) Jack DeJohnette and (equally esteemed bassist) Ron Carter. I felt like I was in that Sesame Street skit - you know, ‘one of these things is not like the other.’ But it was great. A few months after the recording session, I was playing a jazz festival with my band. McCoy was playing down the street at another venue at the festival, so I got to sit in for the last half of his set. That was just as much fun as the record. And I got the jazz treatment where you rehearse three tunes and go up onstage only to have the guys call three different tunes. It was still great - kind of a trial by fire, though.”

On his performance history in Lexington: “We had a lot of fun there for awhile. We were playing a club called Lynagh’s every year and had some great shows and great times there. We’re looking forward to coming back.”

chuck leavell

Yesterday, we presented the bulk of our recent phone interview with Chuck Leavell as a feature story. But Leavell has such an extensive musical history and was up for talking about any corner of it that a lot of insightful comments had to be omitted due to space.

So here we have an extra: Leavell talking about areas of his musical life not touched upon in yesterday’s piece.

The catalyst for nearly all of these comments is a new concert album, Live in Germany. Leavell recorded it immediately after finishing a two-year tour as keyboardist for The Rolling Stones, the iconic band he has played with for over a quarter century.

Q: On Live in Germany, you play with what amounts to a pick-up band - players that had very little rehearsal time for music that effectively covers your entire career. Can you describe the challenge of whipping this much music into performance shape so quickly with musicians that were entirely new to you?

A: All I can say is the enthusiasm was high on everybody’s part. Once I heard these guys play, I just thought, ‘How lucky am I?’ These guys weren’t fooling around. For their part, though, I think they were looking for a break from their normal routine. Some of the guys work for the HR Big Band (the German ensemble that has collaborated with such disparate artists as Jack Bruce and Bill Frisell). So this was a chance for them to break out of their mold and play some different kinds of music. I needed them, they needed me and it all worked out.

Q: You perform a version of Georgia on My Mind on Live in Germany, which might be seen as a tribute to your adopted home state (Leavell is a native of Alabama). But wasn’t Ray Charles also a formative influence?

A: Without a doubt. When I was about 13, I went to a Ray Charles concert with my older sister. We had some Ray Charles records in our house growing up, so I was familiar with him. But I didn’t give all that much of a thought going to the concert. But when they cranked up… man, oh, man, was it was such an incredible band. He had (David) Fathead Newman on the sax. He had the Raelettes singing so well and beautifully. He had Billy Preston on Hammond B3. And then, of course, there was Ray himself. It was such a powerful experience. It just moved me. It moved me more than any music up to that point. That’s when I seriously started pursuing a career and started to look for better musicians to play with

Q: Live in Germany also includes Compared to What, the early ‘70s jazz and R&B hit popularized by Lexington native Les McCann. How influential to you was that song?

A: Listen, I remember so well when that Montreux record came out by Les McCann and Eddie Harris. Swiss Movement it was called. Listening to that whole record but especially Compared to What was huge for me There was a big ‘wow’ factor when I heard that. McCann’s voice, his piano playing and the song itself, a Eugene McDaniel tune… it all affected me heavily. There was such a cool groove to it. I debated a bit playing that because it’s almost sacred ground. But I just love that song so much and was in the company of musicians that I thought could do it justice.

Q: There are two tunes from your days with the Allman Brothers Band on Live in Germany. One is Jessica, the Dickey Betts instrumental from the Brothers and Sisters album. The Allmans cut that in 1973, when you first joined the band. What was it like playing Jessica with a new arrangement and a pack of younger musicians?

A: That’s a matter of attitude, a matter of your own mind. I get questions from people like, ‘How can you play Honky Tonk Women with the Stones so many times and not get tired of it?’ Or, ‘How can you play Satisfaction or Jumping Jack Flash so much?’ To me, it’s just a matter of approach. You go out like it’s the first time you ever played it. With Jessica, as you mentioned, I got to play it from a different angle with these guys using saxophone to play part of the melody line. That provides an opportunity to freshen things up. We also extended the breakdown prior to the piano solo to build the excitement in that part of the song. Look, man, it’s a joy to have worked on records that have stood the test of time. And certainly Jessica has. It’s great to be able to play it 35 years later.

Q: You are also a tree farmer, forestry expert and staunch environmentalist. With your wife Rose Lane, you run Charlene Plantation in Macon. When your life isn’t fully immersed in music, does throwing yourself into one of these jobs help refresh your perspective when it comes time to work on music again?

A: Absolutely. I spent two years on tour with the Rolling Stones, having that be the focus for that period of time. I then immediately followed it up with my own tour, which was a joy to do. But as you can imagine, I was ready for a change. So to get back home and focus on environmental issues and give to them whole heartedly was wonderful. Now, when I sit back down at the piano, it’s not like I just came off a show with the Stones. My mind has been elsewhere. I have a fresh perspective on the music again.

Chuck Leavell performs at 7 tonight for the WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour at the Kentucky Theatre. Tori Sparks will be the other featured guest. The taping is sold out.