French fusion violinist Jean-Luc Ponty is to have three of his 1980 and 1990s albums reissued through the MPS/Edel label over the next few months.
1984's Open Mind will be reissued on May 12, followed by 1993's No Absolute Time on June 9 and finally 1983's Individual Choice will be released on July 14. The albums will be reissued on vinyl, CD and digitally. MPS have previously reissued Ponty's 1967 album Sunday Walk.
Ponty had moved from France to the USA in 1970 at Frank Zappa's suggestion, with whom hee toured with Zappa before moving on to the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Chick Corea’s Return To Forever and became one of the pioneers of jazz-rock and jazz-fusion
Ponty released a string of acclaimed solo albums in the 70s including Imaginary Voyage in 1976 and Enigmatic Ocean in 1978, and by the 1980s he was experimenting with synthesizers on both Individual Choice and Open Mind are from , while with No Absolute Time he was influenced by West African rhythms.
Ponty worked with an array of talent on these releases, including Allan Holdsworth, George Duke, Randy Jackson, Chick Corea and George Benson
“George is for me one of the greatest jazz guitarists in the world,” Ponty said of Benson, “and he proves it with his amazingly creative solo on Modern Times Blues.”
