Customer Rating: 
Summary: Jean-Luc Ponty
Comment: My son plays the violin and just started playing with a jazz band. He's 16 and appreciates all types of music. But, now that he's focusing on jazz violin... he really likes Jean-Luc Ponty. I bought a couple for his Christmas stocking!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Spectacular!! Possibly his best........a true fusion classic!!!
Comment: I am surprized and delighted to see the rare unanimous 5-star rating on this album, and I am happy to join in and continue the trend!!! I have been a Jean-Luc fan since the release of the incredible Imaginary Voyage in '76, and this is arguably Ponty's best album ever!!! This is a stand-out album even among the fusion classics!!! Keyboardist Allan Zavod was a standard member of the band at the time, and he really shines on this album. British guitarist Allan Holdsworth adds his remarkable talent and personality in perfect form. Session guitarist Darryl Steurmer (who is now playing guitar for Genesis) does an excellent job on this album. Jean-Luc's friend from his days in The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Ralphe Armstrong on bass, is marvelous. And Steve Smith (who joined Journey a year later in time to enjoy their fame in the late '70s, and later started Vital Information) is supurb as well. The music is inspired and astronomical throughout!! One of the loftiest, best examples of the fusion movement!!! This is an energetic, vital and necessary album!!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: A baffling (Enigmatic) abundance of musical ideas (Ocean).
Comment: I've never seen an album so unanimously loved here at Amazon! But it is nice confirmation for those of us who place it among our top 5 albums of all time. There's no question that all the musicians here were top-notch, and just worked so naturally together on this album. But the dazzling solos would have gone unnoticed had it not been for Ponty's incredible compositions supporting them, and the unique voice of his electric violin. This was the type of album in the 1970's that caught your attention immediately, and stretched your musical tastes into a whole new and exciting style of contemporary music. For a young man (at that time!) who was just learning to appreciate the bass guitar in much of progressive music, I found Armstrong's jazzy but progressive fretless bass a source of endless creativity and fun.
Really, there is little I can add to the gushing reviews that others have already posted, but I needed to acknowledge this album's brilliance if only for reasons of posterity. This was indeed JLP's best, and one of the greatest albums ever - fusion, jazz, rock, prog...whatever. Absolutely essential for those stranded on a deserted island surrounded by...ocean.
(Bring extra batteries!)
I value interesting music that is played and recorded well. This cd's rating was based on:
Music quality = 9.7/10; Performance = 9.5/10; Production = 8.5/10; CD length = 8/10.
Overall score weighted on my proprietary scale = 9.3 ("5 stars")
Customer Rating:
Summary: Right where I left it...
Comment: I experienced this music when I was 20, back when Enigmatic Ocean was originally released, while smoking pot with a group of friends. I've always disliked smoking pot, and never had a good experience with it EXCEPT for that night -- it felt so wonderful being tossed around in all that sound. I haven't heard EO again until tonight, and it's every bit as incredible as I remembered it to be... now THAT's what I call transcendental.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Unanimous
Comment: Like the others, I agree that this is JLP's best (IMHO) -
I have a cool story that can be used as trivia:
Last year (2006) I saw a Vital Information show here in L.A., and Steve Smith was as phenomenal as ever. After the show, I had the opportunity to meet him, and I always had one question for him: "Are you the same Steve Smith on Jean Luc Ponty's 'Enigmatic Ocean'...?" He smiled and said (very humbly) "...yes... it was my first album recording. I was a teenager then..." -he said it with a big grin, too.
Yep, this is THE album to get.
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