LIVE AT CHENE PARK

This live CD was recorded in Detroit`s Chene Park in June 29, 1996 (it is also the date when I celebrated with a big party being approved in my Professional Examination some days before, a coincidence!). This CD has a very good recording and it mainly has songs from Ponty`s latest albums until 1996: "Fables", "The Gift of Time", "Storytelling", "No Absolute Time", and from other albums he recorded in the 80s. It seems to me that the songs were played "totally live", without using the sequencers he used in the albums. Ponty and the band also improvised solos in the songs, playing with "happy feelings" and fun, really enjoying the concert, IMO. Chris Rhyme is a very good keyboard player, particularly playing a very good piano solo in "A Journey`s End". My favourite songs are: "Tender Memories", "Caracas", "After the Storm", "The Gift of Time", "The Amazon Forest", "The Storyteller" and "A Journey`s End". Drummer Michael Barsimanto is a good drummer, but he is the only musician whose performance left me a bit disappointed, because sometimes he sounds a bit "out of time", but in other songs he added different playing in comparison to the drummers who played the original studio versions.He particularly shines in "Caracas" and "A Journey`s End".Despite the bit of "out of time" playing in some songs, this CD is very enjoyable. Jamie Glaser and Baron Browne originally appeared in the original studio versions of some of these songs, so their playing, IMO, is more familiar to me, and more "adequate" to Ponty`s musical style, . This CD is very recommended. A last commentary: the CD starts with a spoken introduction given by a woman, who explains that the concert was being recorded for album, and then she introduced J.L Ponty to the audience to start the concert. I often skip this introduction of 48 seconds. I don`t like her "shouts"!