Page 108 - The Strad (February 2020)
P. 108
Sentimental
Work
7 B ;f
PONTY
The French jazz violinist–composer has recorded his 1976 piece ‘Renaissance’
;,8'' ধ1'9 g #<; -;Z9 ;,' 38-+-2!£ ='89-32 ;,!; 8'1!-29 $£39' ;3 ,-9 ,'!8;
‘Renaissance’ was the second track on my I was working with a new band at the time; we were still
1976 album Aurora. I had no idea at the getting to know each other, and all at the start of our careers.
time that it was going to be my rst big On piano we had Patrice Rushen, who’d trained as a classical
success, or that it would still be played pianist and contributed a beautiful solo improvisation – and she
on radio today – it wasn’t my intention was only 21 at the time. It was also the rst time I’d played with
to write a hit, as I’ve never known how! Daryl Stuermer, who performed on two more albums with me
It’s hard for me to say why it took o before joining Genesis as lead guitarist.
the way it did: I think that somehow the piece looked back to
my youth, and had a kind of European feel that might have hen Aurora was nished, I must say I doubted if it
appealed to people. would be successful, as it sounded like nothing else
It was conceived in a dierent way from anything else I’d W on American radio at the time. But on its release,
ever composed. I was ying back to Los Angeles after nishing it was ‘Renaissance’ that got the most airplay – on all kinds of
a European tour, and the rst few bars of the piece came into channels, from jazz to folk and classic rock. It was a unique
my head. at’s happened before, but this time I could hear thing: it didn’t belong to any one genre, so DJs from every
the specic instrumentation – the melody was being played quarter could play it. e sound, the beat, and the whole feel
pizzicato on a violin, while a cimbalom was performing the of the piece seemed to catch on; I think it’s a very simple work
same line alongside it. I’d been to Eastern Europe in the at heart, and maybe that’s one reason why people embraced it.
mid-1960s and heard gypsy bands playing with a cimbalom, Most of ‘Renaissance’ is improvised. After the introduction
so I must have picked it up from there. en a few days later, you hear the melody, which acts as a kind of second
while I was driving through LA, I heard the next eight bars, introduction, leading into the section where the rhythm pattern
then another sixteen, and it all stayed with me. Several weeks begins. en the melody comes back with a few dierent notes,
after that, we were recording Aurora in the studio and even after which Patrice and Daryl go back to the top, playing the
though I knew this piece didn’t t with anything else on the same chords on which we start improvising. I’ve recorded
album, I decided to record it. I ditched the electric violin I used dierent versions of the piece, the rst in 1995 for a recording
on the other tracks, and picked with guitarist Al Di Meola and
up the Charles Jacquot that my Stanley Clarke on double bass.
parents bought me when I started e album was called e Rite of
at the Paris Conservatoire. I found Strings – I’m not sure I liked the
TOP PHOTO KEVIN RAYMOND. MAIN PHOTO TONY LIPOMI I could nd in Los Angeles, and Stravinsky! In 2011 I did
title very much, but it shows the
an autoharp, which was the closest
equivalent to a cimbalom that
respect jazz musicians have for
another version with a great
I asked the drummer to play a
piano solo by Chick Corea.
regular beat on the kick drum.
Since he wasn’t using his hands,
But I know that the 1976
version is still the one that gets
he picked up a bell tree and began
the most airplay on the radio,
adding some colours that way.
I knew ‘Renaissance’ was totally
Jean-Luc Ponty
in the mid-1970s.
so many listeners.
dierent from all the other tracks,
‘“Renaissance” is
but I thought it worked anyway.
INTERVIEW BY CHRISTIAN LLOYD
a very simple piece
at heart’ and which means the most to
ɕɔɚ THE STRAD FEBRUARY 2020 www.thestrad.com
