# CD review: Jean-Luc Ponty & Wolfgang Dauner – Live at the Bern Jazz Festival 2011 – 2022: Video, CD cover

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2022/02/27/cd-review-jean-luc-ponty-wolfgang-dauner-live-at-the-bern-jazz-festival-2011-2022-video-cd-cover/
- Published: 2022-02-27T00:31:10+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Recorded live in March 2011 at the Bern Jazz Festival, this record showcases two
of Europe’s greatest jazz artists and innovators perform as a duo. Legendary drummer
Kenny Clarke compared Jean-Luc Ponty to Dizzy Gillespie. **

Fellow violinist Stuff Smith marveled, “He plays violin like Coltrane plays saxophone.”
Born in 1942, the French violinist transported jazz violin playing into the world
of modern jazz.

Pianist Wolfgang Dauner, born in 1935, is a German jazz institution. His various
experiments fusing jazz, classical, rock and avant-garde elements catapulted him
to the front of contemporary European jazz. He ran the gamut of jazz styles and 
trends in a career that spanned over six decades.

Despite the greatest admiration for each other and many performances throughout 
the late 60s, Ponty and Dauner lost contact after Ponty moved to California in 1973
and both embarked on new musical adventures. It took over two decades until both
reconnected after the violinist was invited as a performer for a special concert
celebrating Dauner’s 60th birthday as Ponty explains: “He suggested that we play
a few tunes together as an acoustic duet and I loved it so much that I decided to
do more concerts with this format.

Years later we heard the live recording of our live performance at the Bern Jazz
Festival 2011 and we both agreed that we should release it as a live album. I was
extremely saddened when Wolfgang passed away in January 2020 and the release of 
this live album became even more important to me as it adds to the legacy that Wolfgang
is leaving to the musical world. It also feels very special for me to work again
with the MPS label, for which Wolfgang and I have produced several recordings in
the 60s.

We made a selection of his compositions and mine that worked best as an acoustic
duo. I always loved his lyrical pieces with rich harmonies, the poetic and spacy
moods of his music with which I felt a strong affinity.”

01.Once Upon a Dream (Live)
 02.Drachenburg Für R (Live) 03.Suite for Claudia (Live)
04.Two Thousand-One Years Ago (Live) 05.Porgy & Bess (Live) 06.Pamukkale (Live) 
07.Sketch up and Downer (Live) 08.Hong Kong Fu (Live)

![Jean-Luc Ponty & Wolfgang Dauner: Live At The Bern Jazz Festival 2011 | Dodax.
co.uk](https://c4-static.dodax.com/v2/360-360-177754909_ny48vy-png)

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