With three days left, the Anderson Ponty Band has already reached its Kickstarter goal to fund a debut album featuring former Yes frontman Jon Anderson and violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. More than 1,000 backers have pledged nearly $100,000 in support of the project.
Up next is an introductory performance in Aspen, Colorado, scheduled for Saturday, September 20, 2014. The show will include both new compositions and re-imagined songs from both of their discographies.
“In September, I’m going to Aspen and we’ll go through a list of songs, including those I never had a chance to do with Yes, so Yes fans will be very surprised with them,” Anderson told St. Louis Magazine, in advance of a School of Rock performance there. “We won’t do whole songs in some cases, just snippets. The interesting thing with Jean-Luc is that I’ve been listening to his classic albums, his greatest hits and started singing to them. It’s a very exciting time to be starting a band.”
Anderson co-founded Yes in the late-1960s, and served three stints as its frontman — 1968–80, then 1982–88 and, finally, 1990–2004. He’s since been on a collaborative tear, working with a series of outside writers, but hadn’t formed a consistent working group until the Anderson Ponty Band.
“I had a break from Yes for a few years,” Anderson added. “I got pretty sick and when I recuperated, I started doing solo shows. In traveling the world with my wife, we had so much enjoyment. It was an adventure in life. At the same time, I write music constantly. I opened the door on my website once, saying that I wanted auditioners. This was six, seven years ago. I got in touch with a couple of dozen players and I’m still working with some of them on different projects: musicals, music for children, some symphonic work. I’m not sitting around pretending to be a rock star. I don’t think I am. I’m an adventurous musician.”
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