Rating:
Genre:
Jazz
Release Date: 07/13/1993
Run Time: 43:42
Not just an album of interpretations,
King Kong: Jean-Luc Ponty Plays the Music of Frank Zappa was an active collaboration;
Frank Zappa arranged all of the selections, played guitar on one, and contributed a new, nearly 20-minute orchestral composition for the occasion. Made in the wake of
Ponty's appearance on
Zappa's
jazz-rock masterpiece
Hot Rats, these 1969 recordings were significant developments in both musicians' careers. In terms of
jazz-rock fusion,
Zappa was one of the few musicians from the
rock side of the equation who captured the complexity -- not just the feel -- of
jazz, and this project was an indicator of his growing credibility as a composer. For
Ponty's part,
King Kong marked the first time he had recorded as a leader in a
fusion-oriented milieu (though
Zappa's brand of experimentalism didn't really foreshadow
Ponty's own subsequent work). Of the repertoire, three of the six pieces had previously been recorded by
the Mothers of Invention, and
"Twenty Small Cigars" soon would be.
Ponty writes a
Zappa-esque theme on his lone original
"How Would You Like to Have a Head Like That," where
Zappa contributes a nasty guitar solo. The centerpiece, though, is obviously
"Music for Electric Violin and Low Budget Orchestra," a new multi-sectioned composition that draws as much from modern
classical music as
jazz or
rock. It's a showcase for
Zappa's love of blurring genres and
Ponty's versatility in handling everything from lovely, simple melodies to creepy dissonance, standard
jazz improvisation to
avant-garde, nearly free group passages. In the end,
Zappa's personality comes through a little more clearly (his compositional style pretty much ensures it), but
King Kong firmly established
Ponty as a risk-taker and a strikingly original new voice for
jazz violin.
~Steve Huey, All Music Guide
;)
Listen
