Jean-Luc Ponty

JeanLuc Ponty born 29 September 1942 is a French jazz violinist and composer Ponty was born into a family of classical musicians in Avranches France His father taught violin his mother taught piano At sixteen he was admitted to the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris graduating two years later with the institutions highest honor Premier Prix first prize He was hired by the Concerts Lamoureux in which he played for three years While still a member of the orchestra in Paris Ponty picked up a side job playing clarinet which his father had taught him for a college jazz band that regularly performed at local parties It proved lifechanging A growing interest in Miles Davis and John Coltrane compelled him to take up tenor saxophone One night after an orchestra concert and still wearing his tuxedo Ponty found himself at a local club with only his violin Within four years he was widely accepted as the leading figure in jazz fiddle At that time Ponty was leading a dual musical life rehearsing and performing with the orchestra while also playing jazz at clubs throughout Paris The demands of this schedule eventually brought him to a crossroads Critic Joachim Berendt wrote that Since Ponty the jazz violin has been a different instrument At first the violin proved to be challenging few at the time viewed the instrument as having a legitimate place in the modern jazz vocabulary With a powerful sound that eschewed vibrato Ponty distinguished himself with bebop phrasing and a punchy style influenced more by horn players than by anything previously tried on the violin In 1964 at age 22 he released his debut album Jazz Long Playing He performed on stage in Basel Switzerland with string players Stuff Smith Stéphane Grappelli and Svend Asmussen The performance was released as the album Violin Summit 1966 John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet invited Ponty to perform at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1967 which led to a recording contract with the World Pacific label and the albums Electric Connection 1969 with the Gerald Wilson Big Band and JeanLuc Ponty Experience with the George Duke Trio 1969 That year also brought Sunday Walk 1967 the first collaboration between Ponty and NielsHenning Ørsted Pedersen In 1969 Frank Zappa composed the music for Pontys solo album King Kong JeanLuc Ponty Plays the Music of Frank Zappa World Pacific 1970 In 1972 Elton John invited Ponty to contribute to his Honky Chateau 1972 album At the urging of Zappa and The Mothers of Invention who wanted him to join their tour Ponty emigrated with his wife and two young daughters to the United States and made his home in Los Angeles He continued to work on a variety of projects including two of John McLaughlins Mahavishnu Orchestra albums Apocalypse 1974 and Visions of the Emerald Beyond 1975 and tours until 1975 when he signed with Atlantic Source Article JeanLuc Ponty from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30