CoronaVinyl Day 333 (P): Enigmatic Ocean by Jean-Luc Ponty

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "P," and something I realized today is that I have two albums by French jazz fusion violinist.  I can sincerely say that I did not intentionally purchase either of them, but presumably I got them as part of one of the larger lots of records that I bought at some point.  Anywho, today I listened to his 1977 album Enigmatic Ocean.

Before today, I literally knew nothing about Ponty, other than his name.  Born into a family of classical musicians, it's not surprising that Ponty was a violin prodigy.  In the late '60s and early '70s, he played an album of Frank Zappa songs and collaborated with Zappa on several other Zappa albums, and he played electric violin on Elton John's Honky Chateau album in 1972.  In 1975, he signed a solo deal with Atlantic and was a jazz-rock fusion powerhouse, and overall, he has released dozens of albums, most recently in 2015. 

I hadn't looked anything up about him before I played the record, I had no idea what to expect when I put Enigmatic Ocean on the turntable.  I was pleasantly surprised.  It's definitely jazz-rock fusion -- all instrumental, lots of jams, and a little harder rocking than what I expected from the very '70s cover.  I will say that the title Enigmatic Ocean is a good one, even if redundant, as all oceans are enigmas.

After signing with Atlantic in 1975, Ponty had 12 consecutive albums that reached the Top 5 of the Billboard Jazz albums chart, and some had some decent crossover success.  Enigmatic Ocean went to #1 on the Billboard Jazz albums chart and #35 on the Billboard album chart.

Favorite Song on Side 1:  "Enigmatic Ocean Part III"
The title track is a four-part suite that closes out side one.  Part III is a funky tune that has some good guitar solos.

Favorite Song on Side 2:  "The Struggles of The Turtle to The Sea Part III"
"The Struggles of the Turtle to The Sea" is a three-part suite that ends the album, and Part III is a rockin' jazz jam, also with some pretty great guitar solos.