Jean-Luc Ponty: Egocentric Molecules

Track

Egocentric Molecules

Artist

Jean-Luc Ponty (5-string violin)

CD

Jean-Luc Ponty Live (Wounded Bird WOU9229)

Buy Track

Musicians:

Jean-Luc Ponty (5-string violin),

Joaquin Lieviano, Jamie Glaser (guitars), Allan Zavod (keyboards), Ralphe Armstrong (bass)

Composed by Jean-Luc Ponty

Recorded: Los Angeles, December 1978

Rating: 92/100 (learn more)

In the 1970s, it seemed Jean-Luc Ponty was putting an album out every three months. They say you must strike while the iron is hot. What better way to compress the time needed to produce an LP than by recording a live album featuring Ponty's hits culled from over the last several months? Boy, I miss those days. There was a new fusion record available every six minutes.

"Egocentric Molecules" first appeared on Ponty's Cosmic Messenger. It is given a wonderful frenetic treatment for this lucky crowd. The first solo is taken by guitarist Lieviano. It rocks! Ralphe Armstrong then puts his bass through the paces. He uses some distortion which was totally out of character for him. Ponty's solo wailing is reminiscent of his performances on Mahavishnu's Visions of the Emerald Beyond. His sustained notes fill a vacuum and eventually break though its container. An abrupt end to the song brings the crowd to its feet. Very few musicians could thrill an audience the way Ponty could when he was a fusion god.

Reviewer: Walter Kolosky

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