Mystical Adventures expands
Jean-Luc Ponty's palette slightly with the introduction of part-time percussionist
Paulinho Da Costa and the use of a vocoder on a couple of tracks. Otherwise, it's the same mixture of mildly intoxicating arpeggios and flights of fancy that you'd find in various amounts on any
Ponty album from this period. The five-part suite "Mystical Adventures" is a softer sibling to the earlier "Imaginary Voyage," utilizing vaguely Spanish themes and occasionally ambient pairings of organ and synthesizer to create a work similar to
Chick Corea's "Touchstone." While in the course of its 20 minutes some interesting ideas are explored on the first side of music, the real showstoppers are a cover of
Stevie Wonder's "As" and the closing "Jig." These two songs are as engaging and fun as anything from
Ponty's Atlantic output -- not coincidentally, they're two of the three songs that feature
Da Costa, whose percussion complements
Ponty's violin to create dual engines of propulsion. The return of guitarist
Jamie Glaser has little audible effect on the music, though the addition of drummer
Rayford Griffin (who would remain with
Ponty for the rest of the decade) alongside bassist Randy Jackson results in one of the most muscular rhythm sections on any
Ponty album. Beginning with A Taste for Passion,
Ponty's fusion became smoother and softer, with fewer violin solos and more participation from the band.
Mystical Adventures continues this trend, and can be regarded as somewhat more accessible than his earlier fusion albums, if less substantive. In a way, this record marks the end of an era for the electric violinist, his affair with the organ and electric piano blossoming into a full-time relationship with synthesizers on subsequent albums that allowed him to pursue a solo career in earnest. ~ Dave Connolly