presents:

JEAN-LUC PONTY
violin

Official website: www.ponty.com

Through his bold experimentation with electronics and synthesis, Jean-Luc Ponty liberated the image and capabilities of the violin from a purely acoustic, largely classical or folk setting. He is a pioneer and undisputed master of violin in the arena of jazz and rock, widely regarded as an innovator who has applied his own unique visionary spin that has expanded the vocabulary of modern music.

Jean-Luc Ponty was born in a family of classical musicians on September 29, 1942 in Avreanches, France. His father taught violin, his mother piano. At the age of sixteen, he was admitted to the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and graduated with that institution's highest award, premier prix, at seventeen. He was immediately hired by one of the major symphony orchestras, the Concerts Lamoureux, where he played for three years.
While he was at the conservatory of Paris, Ponty picked up a side gig playing clarinet for a college jazz band that played parties. The bandleader taught him the basic rules of jazz, and Ponty later switched to tenor sax because he quickly developed an interest for the more modern jazz of the time, like Miles Davis and John Coltrane. This interest became a passion which made him switch from tenor sax to his instrument, violin. That was an important step for the classically trained violonist.
Every week he was rehearsing and playing with the symphony orchestra, and also playing jazz till 3 a.m. in clubs. Obviously, he had to make a choice, so he took a chance with jazz. At first, violin was a handicap, because it was not viewed as an instrument for modern jazz. While many critics have tried to link Ponty with Grappelli, it was Stuff Smith's punchy style of playing that Ponty was drawn to. However, Ponty's phrasing was more influenced by jazz trumpeters, saxophonists and pianists of the be-bop era and he developed a style of playing that discarded vibrato for a straighter sound. Critics said then that he was the first jazz violonist to be as exciting as a saxophonist.

Ponty's notoriety grew fast and by 1964, at 22 years old, he had released his debut solo album on the Philips label called Jazz Long Playing. In 1966, a live album called Violin Summit on Saba/MPS brought together Stuff Smith, Stéphane Grappelli, Svend Asmussen and Jean-Luc Ponty in Basel, Switzerland. In 1967, John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet invited Ponty and the other violonists to recreate the same event at the Monterey Jazz Festival in California. But Ponty and Asmussen were the only ones to make it there. Ponty's appearance led to a recording contract with the World Pacific label, for three albums. Back in Europe, he recorded a number of albums that were met with increasing critical success. That brought him to the attention of a lot of artists who wanted Ponty's signature violin in their own projects, among them were Elton John, Frank Zappa and John McLaughlin. In 1968, Ponty and Zappa collaborated on an album called King Kong. In 1973, Zappa asked Ponty to join the Mothers of Invention with whom he toured for seven months. Then John McLaughlin asked Jean-Luc to join forces with him for the second Mahavishnu Orchestra with whom Ponty recorded two albums and toured in 1974 and 1975.

By then, Ponty was living in Los Angeles with his wife and two young daughters to start a new life full of expectations for the American dream. That dream materialized in 1975 when Ponty signed a major deal with the Atlantic Records label, then headed by the legendary Nesuhi Ertegun who gave the violonist complete freedom to produce his own albums. Among his early recordings, Aurora and Imaginary Voyage not only established him as a virtuoso violonist with a unique style, but also as one of the figureheads of the jazz-rock movement in the United States. Between 1975 and 1985, he toured all over the world and recorded 12 albums with Atlantic Records, which all reached the top five in Billboard's jazz charts. In 1984 a revolutionary video featuring time-lapse images was produced by Louis Schwarzberg for "Individual Choice". Along with Herbie Hancock, Ponty became one of the first jazz musicians to have a music video.

Besides recording and touring with his own group, Ponty also performed some of his compositions with the New Music Ensemble of Pittsburgh, the Radio City Orchestra in New York, and symphony orchestras in Montreal, Toronto, Oklahoma City and Tokyo. In the late 80s, Ponty recorded two albums for Columbia Records, The Gift of Time (1987) and Storytelling (1989). In 1991, he recorded Tchokola with a group of West African musicians in Paris for Epic, then brought these musicians to the U.S. and Canada for an eight week tour.
In 1993, Ponty came back to his own musical style while keeping some of the African musicians for No Absolute Time. He also came back to the Atlantic label.
In 1995, Ponty recorded an album with guitarist Al DiMeola and bassist Stanley Clarke under the group name The Rite of Strings. This group was highly acclaimed during a successful tour as a super acoustic trio in the U.S., Canada, South America and Europe from June to November 1995.
An anthology of Ponty's productions for Atlantic entitled Le Voyage has been released in January 1996, by Rhino Records/WEA, following which Ponty regrouped his band for live performances. One of these concerts was recorded on June 29, 1996 in Detroit, U.S.A., in front of 6,000 fans. This is the first live album he recorded since 1979, and it contains more recent material than the anthology. The record has been released worldwide in February 1997 by Atlantic/WEA under the title Live at Chene Park.

DISCOGRAPHY

As leader:

Jean-Luc Ponty, Jazz Long Playing - Philips/Phonogram, France (1964)
Sunday Walk - Verve/Polygram, Germany (1967)
More than Meets the Ear - World Pacific/CEMA/Capitol (1968)
Electric Connection - World Pacific/CEMA/Capitol (1969)
Live at Donte's - World Pacific/CEMA/Capitol (1969)
The Jean-Luc Ponty Experience - with George Duke Trio, World Pacific/CEMA/Capitol (1969)
Open Strings - Verve Polygram, Germany (1971)

As leader/producer:

Upon the Wings of Music - Atlantic Records (1975)
Aurora - Atlantic Records (1976)
Imaginary Voyage - Atlantic Records (1976)
Enigmatic Ocean - Atlantic Records (1977)
Cosmic Messenger - Atlantic Records (1978)
Jean-Luc Ponty Live - Atlantic Records (1979)
A Taste for Passion - Atlantic Records (1979)
Civilized Evil - Atlantic Records (1980)
Mystical Adventures - Atlantic Records (1982)
Individual Choice - Atlantic Records (1983)
Open Mind - Atlantic Records (1984)
Fables - Atlantic Records (1985)
The Gift of Time - Columbia/Sony (1987)
Storytelling - Columbia/Sony (1989)
Tchokola - Epic/Sony (1991)
No Absolute Time - Atlanic Records (1993)
Le Voyage, The Jean-Luc Ponty Anthology - Rhino/Atlantic Records (1996)
Live at Chene Park - Atlantic Records (1997)

with other artists:

Violin Summit - with Stuff Smith, Stéphane Grappelli, Svend Asmussen, MPS/Polydor Germany (1996)
Free Action - with Wolfgang Dauner's septet, MPS/Polydor Germany (1967)
Noon in Tunisia - with George Gruntz, MPS/Polydor Germany (1967)
Trio HLP - with Daniel Humair and Eddie Louiss, Dreyfus Jazz Line, France (1968)
King Kong - composed and arranged by Frank Zappa, Blue Note (1969)
New Violin Summit - with Sugar Cane Harris, Michael Urbaniak, Milso Brantner, MPS/Polydor International (1971)
Honky Chateau - with Elton John, MCA (1972)
Overnight Sensation - with Frank Zappa, Discreet (1973)
Stéphane Grappelli & Jean-Luc Ponty - Musidisc France MU 760 (1973)
Apocalypse - with John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, Columbia (1974)
Visions of the Emerald Beyond - with John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, Columbia (1975)
My Spanish Heart - with Chick Corea, Polydor U.S.A. (1976)
Heroes - with Mark O'Connor, Warner Bros. (1993)
East River Drive - with Stanley Clarke, Epic/Sony Music (1993)
The Rite of Strings - with Stanley Clarke & Al DiMeola, Gai Saber/I.R.S./EMI (1995)

For booking, contact:
PALAST PROMOTIONS
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Unter den Eichen 7
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tel. +49 611 1800900
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