Sunday 21 September 2014

From an Idea to Album 
in Three Weeks: Anderson Ponty Band Debuts New Music at Wheeler Opera House

During the Anderson Ponty Band’s rehearsal on Tuesday afternoon, there was only one person sitting in the audience at the Wheeler Opera House: Jon Anderson’s wife, Jane. 

While the six-man group ran through one of their new songs, Jane took notes and relayed them to the sound mixer in his booth. On stage, each musician, including Anderson and Jean-Luc Ponty, scribbled their own marks on sheet music, others on their iPads and tablets. 

That’s the way many of the group’s practices have been since they’ve had the historic stage to themselves since the end of August to workshop their new band and album. The Anderson Ponty Band is the next step in the auspicious musical careers of Jon Anderson, co-founder and former frontman of Yes, and violin great Jean-Luc Ponty. 

The two men worked together sporadically during the 1970s and ‘80s – when Yes was topping British and American charts for songs like “Roundabout” and “And You and I” and Ponty was touring with Frank Zappa – then reuniting a couple of years ago while sending each other tracks with violin layovers. 

Read on...

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