The AndersonPonty Band
“Better Late Than Never” (Liaison, 2015)
Although the term highly anticipated is overused in the music business, in this case the anticipation was real. When you get the former lead vocalist of one of the most beloved progressive rock bands and one of the great masters of jazz-rock fusion together, we are talking about prog royalty and the expectations were very high, and they deliver the goods.
Former progressive rock-era Yes vocalist Jon Anderson finally realized his dream of collaborating with French electric violin maestro Jean-Luc Ponty. The result is the The AndersonPonty Band. The new group showcased its music live last year and is releasing the double set CD+DVD “Better Late Than Never” tomorrow.
Most of the material on “Better Late Than Never” are either Yes songs or Jean-Luc Ponty compositions with new arrangements. In the case of the Ponty pieces, former instrumental compositions reappear in a new form with vocals added by Anderson.
A majority of the album features progressive rock with symphonic and jazz-rock elements. However, there are some surprises like a reggae version of “Time and a Word.” And then there is the Yes hit, “Owner of a Lonely Heart” which is one of my least favorite Yes songs. Here, it sounds better thanks to Ponty’s participation.
The Jean-Luc Ponty recreations with vocals are the highlights of the album, including “One in the Rhythms of Hope”, “Listening with Me”, “Infinite Mirage”, and “Renaissance of the Sun”. Some of the titles have changed, but Ponty fans will quickly recognize the melodies featuring Ponty’s exquisite signature solos and melodies along with Anderson’s remarkable vocals.
Some of the Yes classics also stand out, like “Wonderous Stories”, “And You and I”, and “Roundabout.”
The musicians that appear in the album, in addition to Anderson and Ponty, are jazz and session musicians who have performed with Ponty in the past: Wally Minko on keyboards, Baron Browne on bass, Jamie Glaser on guitars and Rayford Griffin on drums. They are all outstanding musicians. However, the keyboards were not as great as I had expected. Minko is great pianist and organist, but his synthesizer orchestrations sound like factory pre-set sounds or maybe I just don’t like his sound selections.
The DVD contains interviews with the musicians and several live performances in Boulder, Colorado.
Who knows if this is a onetime collaboration or something more permanent. Something that has always puzzled me about progressive rock musicians is why they don’t collaborate more often with each other on progressive music projects, like jazz musicians do. Most of the collaborations by prog musicians out there are pop or easy listening rock so it’s great to see two iconic artists doing the good stuff.
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