Jean-Luc Ponty
| Jean-Luc Ponty | |
|---|---|
Jean-Luc Ponty at the Nice Jazz Festival 2008
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Jean-Luc Ponty |
| Born |
29 September 1942 Avranches, France |
| Genres | Jazz, jazz fusion, crossover jazz, bebop |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer |
| Instruments | Violin, electric violin, clarinet, saxophone, piano |
| Years active | 1958–present |
| Labels | Atlantic, Columbia, Blue Note, Prestige, Philips, Epic, Koch, Polygram, J.L.P. Productions, Inc. |
| Associated acts | John McLaughlin, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Svend Asmussen, Frank Zappa, Stéphane Grappelli, Stuff Smith, Al Di Meola, Stanley Clarke, Gerald Wilson, Elton John, Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, Bela Fleck, Return to Forever |
| Website | www |
Jean-Luc Ponty (born 29 September 1942) is a French virtuoso violinist and jazz composer.
Ponty was born into a family of classical musicians on 29 September 1942 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 institution's highest honor, Premier Prix (first prize). In turn, he was immediately hired by one of the major symphony orchestras, Concerts Lamoureux, in which he played for three years.
While still a member of the orchestra in Paris, Ponty picked up a side gig playing clarinet (which his father had taught him) for a college jazz band that regularly performed at local parties. It proved a life-changing jumping-off point. A growing interest in the jazz sounds of Miles Davis and John Coltrane compelled him to take up the tenor saxophone. One night after an orchestra concert and still wearing his formal 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 until 3 a.m. at clubs throughout Paris. The demands of this schedule eventually brought him to a crossroads. "Naturally, I had to make a choice, so I took a chance with jazz," he says. Critic Joachim Berendt wrote that "Since Ponty, the jazz violin has been a different instrument," of his "style of phrasing that corresponds to early and middle John Coltrane" and his "brilliance and fire."
At first, the violin proved to be a handicap; 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 be-bop-era phrasings and a punchy style influenced more by horn players than by anything previously tried on the violin; no one had yet heard anything quite like Ponty's playing. Critics said then that he was the first jazz violinist to be as exciting as a saxophonist. Ponty's notoriety grew by leaps and in 1964 at age 22 he released his debut solo album for Philips, Jazz Long Playing. Then a 1966 live album called Violin Summit united Ponty playing live in Basel, Switzerland on stage with such notable string players as Svend Asmussen, Stéphane Grappelli and Stuff Smith.
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