ARTS Thursday, October 22, 1987 Page 7 The Michigan Daily Ponty By Timothy Huet Jean Luc Ponty's father must have been both surprised and pleased 1 by his son's musical evolution. The senior Ponty was one of the greatest classical violinists in Europe and trained his young son in the tradition. The boy bloomed under the cultivation of his father and soon became a consummate classical violinist. But as the younger Ponty matured, he developed a penchant for jazz. He has nurtured that penchant into a prolific and celebrated career. Ponty has become the most accomplished artist among that rarest soften, breed of musician: jazz violinists. Yet, he has never lost touch with his roots. The demanding training of the classical tutelage shows through clearly in the precision and clarity of Ponty's compositions. His music blends these restrained classical strains with the more free-flowing elements of jazz and instinctual rhythms of pop. To this mixture is added the nuances and styles of collaborative musicians of extremely diverse backgrounds but consistently high quality. The result is nearly impossible to describe. This hybrid synthesis defies standard categories of classification. his There is not yet, and may never be, a vocabulary to convey this maverick style. But it is not a style to be dissected with a critic's formularized jargon - it is a whole, seemless fusion. These peculiarities add to the tra- ditional difficulty a writer encounters in attempting to communicate the nature of an instrumental work. The musician's instrument explores areas that are inaccessible to the critic's pen. Rather than bastardizing an artist's work, a critic must satisfy herself of himself with portraying the music's effect. The effects of Jean Luc Ponty's work are as various as the influences ounds per-ceptible in his music. Some of the more pulsating jazz pieces can infuse one with a nervous energy. The more classical, serene compositions can cleanse listeners of this energy and seduce them into a hypnotic trance. Listening to a Ponty album is to venture upon an aural and emotional journey with many turns and twists. But, alas, one cannot express the ineffable. To partake of the experience at its most subtle, one should witness the master live tonight. Jean Luc performing at tonight at 7:30. Ponty will be the Power Center Tickets are $16.50. Jean Luc Ponty expanded the realm of the violin by incorporating it with jazz. J Clinton cuts with a feminist edg Take the Multi was personally going to be doing a self-termed 'fumorist' or feminist "Who are they? People who play By Avra Kouffman lot of hell time." humorist, she seems equally at home Ms. Pacman?" The concept of spending time in as a political satirist. This is not Clinton is at her best when she hell may faze Clinton, but it is surprising since the goals of the directs her wit towards her own "The most terrifying command- unlikely. Nothing else seems to. United States government rarely experience. On a recent visit to Ann ment I ever heard was good old Clinton is not afraid to tackle any parallel those of the women's Arbor she recalled cleaning her number nine," jokes lesbian com- subject, and she finds humor in just movement. Clinton makes it her apartment before the arrival of edian Kate Clinton. "Thou shalt not about everything. Her repertoire business to address femist concerns homophobic relatives. We were de covet thy neighbor's wife." focuses primarily on women's issues with humor; she neither disparages dyking the apartment...otherwiseME L Clinton gets personal with but expands to cover topics as these concerns nor treats them as called straightening up." She jokes MultiSpeed EL'" sacrsant, about her fluctuatin wei ht. M 4t~% b 1* VT d*~*t~ 4V" remarks like these on Kate Clinton: Live at the Great American Music Hall - 1986, her latest comedy album. "I heard that commandment and I thought that it had my name on it," she continues. "I knew that I diverse as food, baseball a n d presidential faeces. Clinton is not overly fond of the President and his wife. "I love Nancy...she seems so lifelike." A Clinton is currently a very popular comedian but her success was not instantaneous. She has built up a devoted following by touring often and everywhere. H e r performances at conferences, colleges, clubs and numerous festivals generally garner positive re-views. Her three comedy albums were also well-received. Both the press and the public like Kate Clinton. She is personable and pleasant-voiced, and her act is rarely vitriolic. There is, however, the oc- casional mean-spirited remark; one routine includes an unaccounted for attack on Ali McGraw. 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