Jean-Luc Ponty (born 29 September 1942) is a French

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

violinist and composer.

Early life

Ponty was born into a family of classical musicians in

Avranches Avranches (; nrf, Avraunches) is a commune in the Manche department, and the region of Normandy, northwestern France. It is a subprefecture of the department. The inhabitants are called ''Avranchinais''. History By the end of the Roman period ...

, France. His father taught violin, his mother taught piano. At sixteen, he was admitted to the

Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

, graduating two years later with the institution's 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 life-changing. A growing interest in

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

and

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Born and raise ...

compelled him to take up

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...

. 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".

Success with the violin

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 Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumen ...

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 Hezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith (August 14, 1909 – September 25, 1967), better known as Stuff Smith, was an American jazz violinist. He is well known for the song " If You're a Viper" (the original title was "You'se a Viper"). Smith was, al ...

, Stéphane Grappelli, and

Svend Asmussen Svend Asmussen (28 February 1916 – 7 February 2017) was a Danish jazz violinist, known as "The Fiddling Viking". A Swing style virtuoso, he played and recorded with many of the other jazz musicians, including Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and S ...

. The performance was released as the album '' Violin Summit'' (1966).

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

of the

Modern Jazz Quartet The Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) was a jazz combo established in 1952 that played music influenced by classical, cool jazz, blues and bebop. For most of its history the Quartet consisted of John Lewis (piano), Milt Jackson (vibraphone), Percy ...

invited Ponty to perform at the

Monterey Jazz Festival The Monterey Jazz Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Monterey, California, United States. It debuted on October 3, 1958, championed by Dave Brubeck and co-founded by jazz and popular music critic Ralph J. Gleason and jazz ...

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 '' Jean-Luc Ponty Experience with the George Duke Trio'' (1969). That year also brought ''Sunday Walk'' (1967), the first collaboration between Ponty and

Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (, 27 May 1946 – 19 April 2005), also known by his abbreviated nickname NHØP, was a Danish jazz double bassist. Biography Pedersen was born in Osted, near Roskilde, on the Danish island of Zealand, the son of ...

Frank Zappa and emigration to the United States

In 1969,

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of ...

composed the music for Ponty's solo album '' King Kong: Jean-Luc Ponty Plays the Music of Frank Zappa'' (World Pacific, 1970). In 1972,

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

invited Ponty to contribute to his '' Honky Chateau'' (1972) album. At the urging of Zappa and

The Mothers of Invention The Mothers of Invention (also known as The Mothers) was an American rock band from California. Formed in 1964, their work is marked by the use of sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Originally an R&B ban ...

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 Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

. He continued to work on a variety of projects – including two of John McLaughlin's

Mahavishnu Orchestra The Mahavishnu Orchestra were a jazz fusion band formed in New York City in 1971, led by English guitarist John McLaughlin. The group underwent several line-up changes throughout its history across its two periods of activity, from 1971 to 1976 ...

albums ''

Apocalypse Apocalypse () is a literary genre in which a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a human intermediary. The means of mediation include dreams, visions and heavenly journeys, and they typically feature symbolic imager ...

'' (1974) and '' Visions of the Emerald Beyond'' (1975) and tours until 1975, when he signed with

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. For the next decade, Ponty toured the world repeatedly and recorded 12 consecutive albums, each of which reached the ''Billboard'' jazz charts top five, selling millions of albums. His early Atlantic recordings, such as 1976's ''

Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

'' and '' Imaginary Voyage'', established Ponty as one of the leading figures in jazz-rock. He went on to crack the Top 40 with the album ''

Enigmatic Ocean ''Enigmatic Ocean'' is a studio album by French jazz fusion artist Jean-Luc Ponty, released in 1977. It features guitarists Allan Holdsworth and Daryl Stuermer, keyboardist Allan Zavod, bassist Ralphe Armstrong (with whom Ponty had played in Mahav ...

'' in 1977 and ''

Cosmic Messenger ''Cosmic Messenger'' is an album by French jazz fusion artist Jean-Luc Ponty, released in 1978. Track listing All songs by Jean-Luc Ponty. #"Cosmic Messenger" – 4:38 #"The Art of Happiness" – 4:33 #"Don't Let the World Pass You By" – 6:23 ...

'' in 1978. In 1984, a video of

time-lapse Time-lapse photography is a technique in which the frequency at which film frames are captured (the frame rate) is much lower than the frequency used to view the sequence. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus ...

images of New York City was produced by Louis Schwarzberg for the song " Individual Choice" (1983). Besides recording and touring with his own group, Ponty performed with the

Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble The Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble (PNME) is an American ensemble dedicated to the performance of contemporary classical music. Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the group was established by composer David Stock in 1976. It has premiered over ...

, the Radio City Orchestra in New York, and symphony orchestras in Montreal, Toronto, Oklahoma City, and Tokyo. In the late 1980s he recorded the albums '' The Gift of Time'' (1987) and ''

Storytelling Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own stories or narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cultural pr ...

'' (1989) for

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region i ...

. On '' Tchokola'' ( Epic, 1991) Ponty combined acoustic and electric violins for the first time with polyrhythmic sounds of West Africa. He performed for two months in the U.S. and Canada with African expatriates he had met in Paris. In 1993, he returned to Atlantic with the album '' No Absolute Time''. In 1995, he joined guitarist

Al Di Meola Albert Laurence Di Meola (born July 22, 1954) is an American guitarist. Known for his works in jazz fusion and world music, he began his career as a guitarist of the group Return to Forever in 1974. Between the 1970s and 1980s, albums such as ...

and bassist

Stanley Clarke Stanley Clarke (born June 30, 1951) is an American bassist, film composer and founding member of Return to Forever, one of the first jazz fusion bands. Clarke gave the bass guitar a prominence it lacked in jazz-related music. He is the first ja ...

to record an acoustic album, '' The Rite of Strings''. This trio undertook a six-month tour of North America, South America, and Europe. He reunited his American band in 1996 for live performances following the release of a double album for Atlantic entitled '' Le Voyage: The Jean-Luc Ponty Anthology''. One of these concerts was recorded in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

, Michigan on June 29, 1996, and released in October 1996 by Atlantic under the title '' Live at Chene Park''. In 1997, Ponty reunited his group of Western and African musicians to pursue the fusion music he had begun to explore in 1991. They toured for three years from the Hawaiian Islands to Poland and in North America and Europe. Ponty performed duet with bassist Miroslav Vitous in December 1999. In January 2000, he participated in

Lalo Schifrin Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin (born June 21, 1932) is an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. He is best known for his large body of film and TV scores since the 1950s, incorporating jazz and Latin American musical eleme ...

's recording ''Esperanto''. In June 2001 he performed duets with Russian violinist Vadim Repin and at the Film Music Festival in Poland with American jazz violinist Regina Carter. In August 2001, Ponty released his album '' Life Enigma'' on his label (J.L.P. Productions), a return to his concept from the 1970s with modern production. He played all the instruments on some tracks and was joined by band members for others. He gave a concert with his band in his native town of

in Normandy on 21 September 2001. He was honored during a ceremony at City Hall. He then embarked on a tour in the U.S. in October and November 2001. In May 2001, he recorded a concert with the same musicians at the opera house in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

, Germany. This recording was released in July 2002 on '' Live at Semper Opera''. In January 2003, he toured India for the first time, seven shows in six major cities for the Global Music Festival organized by Indian violinist

L. Subramaniam Lakshminarayana Subramaniam (born 23 July 1947) is an Indian violinist, composer and conductor, trained in the classical Carnatic music tradition and Western classical music. Early years Subramaniam was born in Madras, Madras Presidency, Brit ...

. Ponty performed on a reunion tour with

and

from June to October 2004 in the U.S. and Canada. In 2005, he toured with Trio! with Stanley Clarke and Béla Fleck. In 2006, he reunited Jean Luc Ponty & His Band and toured in the U.S., Chile, Venezuela, Western and Eastern Europe, Russia, The Middle East and India; they recorded a studio album called '' The Atacama Experience'' (2007) with guitarists

Allan Holdsworth Allan Holdsworth (6 August 1946 – 15 April 2017) was a British jazz fusion and progressive rock guitarist and composer. Holdsworth was known for his esoteric and idiosyncratic usage of advanced music theory concepts, especially with resp ...

and Philip Catherine. In April 2012, Ponty performed in an acoustic trio with Clarke and guitarist Bireli Lagrene for the second set of a concert at the Chatelet Theatre in Paris to celebrate five decades in music. The first set featured Ponty with a string orchestra. In 2014, he recorded a jazz album entitled ''D-Stringz'' with Clarke and Lagrene. In September 2014, Ponty formed the Anderson Ponty Band with

Jon Anderson John Roy Anderson (born 25 October 1944) is an English singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the lead singer of the progressive rock band Yes, which he formed in 1968 with bassist Chris Squire. He was a member of the band across thre ...

, lead singer of

Yes Yes or YES may refer to: * An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no Education * YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US * YES (Your Extraordinary Saturday), a learning program from the Minnesota Institute for Talent ...

Work with Return to Forever

In 2011, Ponty was invited by bandleader/keyboardist

Chick Corea Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz composer, pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain", " 500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba", and ...

to join the group Return to Forever for a series of concerts throughout the year. The group is labeled 'Return to Forever IV', as it is the fourth incarnation of the group. Ponty had first recorded with Corea on his 1976 solo album ''

My Spanish Heart ''My Spanish Heart'' is the tenth solo album by Chick Corea, recorded and released in 1976. Prominent guest musicians include Corea’s Return to Forever bandmate Stanley Clarke on basses, violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, drummers Steve Gadd and Narada M ...

''.

Personal life

Ponty is married and has two daughters. One daughter, Clara Ponty, is a pianist and composer; Ponty has collaborated with Clara on several projects, including her third album, '' Mirror of Truth'' (2004).

Discography

As leader

* '' Jazz Long Playing'' (

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is ...

, 1964) * ''Sunday Walk'' (SABA, 1967) * ''Violin Summit'' with Stuff Smith, Stephane Grappelli, Svend Asmussen(SABA, 1967) * ''More Than Meets the Ear'' (World Pacific, 1968) * '' Electric Connection'' (World Pacific, 1969) * '' Jean-Luc Ponty Experience with the George Duke Trio'' (World Pacific, 1969) * '' King Kong: Jean-Luc Ponty Plays the Music of Frank Zappa'' (World Pacific, 1970) * ''New Violin Summit'' with Don "Sugar Cane" Harris, Michal Urbaniak (MPS/BASF, 1971) * ''Live at Montreux 72'' (Pierre Cardin, 1972) * '' Open Strings'' (MPS/BASF, 1972) * ''Ponty/Grappelli'' with Stephane Grappelli (America, 1973) * '' Upon the Wings of Music'' (Atlantic, 1975) * ''Jean-Luc Ponty'' (Liberty/EMI, 1976) * ''

'' (Atlantic, 1976) * ''

Cantaloupe Island "Cantaloupe Island" is a jazz standard composed by Herbie Hancock and recorded for his 1964 album ''Empyrean Isles'' during his early years as one of the members of Miles Davis' 1960s quintet. Hancock later recorded a jazz-funk fusion version o ...

'' (Blue Note, 1976) * '' Imaginary Voyage'' (Atlantic, 1976) * ''Jean-Luc Ponty Meets Giorgio Gaslini'' (Pausa, 1976) * ''

'' (Atlantic, 1977) * '' Live at Donte's'' (Blue Note, 1978) * ''

'' (Atlantic, 1978) * '' A Taste for Passion'' (Atlantic, 1979) * ''

Live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film *'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD) Music * Live (band), American alternative rock band * List of album ...

'' (Atlantic, 1979) * ''Heartstring/Jean-Luc Ponty: Live'' with Earl Klugh (AFRTS 1979) * ''

Civilized Evil ''Civilized Evil'' is an album by French jazz fusion artist Jean-Luc Ponty that was released in 1980. It was reissued by Atlantic on CD in 1992. Track listing All songs by Jean-Luc Ponty. #"Demagomania" – 6:25 #"In Case We Survive" – 4:06 ...

'' (Atlantic, 1980) * ''As Trio'' with Daniel Humair, Eddy Louiss (All Life, 1980) * '' Mystical Adventures'' (Atlantic, 1982) * '' Individual Choice'' (Atlantic, 1983) * '' Open Mind'' (Atlantic, 1984) * '' Fables'' (Atlantic, 1985) * '' The Gift of Time'' (Columbia, 1987) * ''

'' (Columbia, 1989) * ''Puss in Boots'' with Tracey Ullman (Rabbit Ears, 1991) * '' Tchokola'' (Epic, 1991) * ''Volume 1'' with Daniel Humair, Eddy Louiss (Dreyfus, 1991) * ''Volume 2'' (Dreyfus, 1991) with Daniel Humair, Eddy Louiss * '' No Absolute Time'' (Atlantic, 1993) * '' The Rite of Strings'' with

, Al Di Meola (Gai Saber 1995) * '' Live at Chene Park'' (Atlantic, 1996) * '' Life Enigma'' (J.L.P., 2001) * '' Live at Semper Opera'' (Le Chant Du Monde, 2002) * '' Jean-Luc Ponty in Concert'' (Le Chant Du Monde, 2003) * '' The Atacama Experience'' (Koch, 2007) * ''D-Stringz'' with Stanley Clarke, Bireli Lagrene (Impulse!, 2015) * '' Better Late Than Never'' with Jon Anderson (Ear Music, 2015)

As sideman

With

* ''

'' (Polydor, 1976) * ''Chick Corea'' (Polydor, 1987) * ''Music Forever & Beyond'' (GRP, 1996) * ''

Forever Forever or 4ever may refer to: Film and television Films * ''Forever'' (1921 film), an American silent film by George Fitzmaurice * ''Forever'' (1978 film), an American made-for-television romantic drama * ''Forever'' (1992 film), an American ...

'' (Concord, 2011) With

* ''

'' (Columbia, 1974) * '' Visions of the Emerald Beyond'' (Columbia, 1975) * ''The Mahavishnu Orchestra & John McLaughlin'' (Amiga, 1979) With

* ''

Hot Rats ''Hot Rats'' is the second solo album by Frank Zappa, released in October 1969. It was Zappa's first recording project after the dissolution of the original version of the Mothers of Invention. Five of the six songs are instrumental; while "Wil ...

'' (Bizarre/Reprise, 1969) * The Mothers, '' Over-Nite Sensation'' (Discreet, 1973) * ''

Apostrophe The apostrophe ( or ) is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritical mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet and some other alphabets. In English, the apostrophe is used for two basic purposes: * The marking of the omission of one ...

'' (Discreet, 1974) * ''

Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar ''Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar'', a project consisting of ''Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar'', ''Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar Some More'' and ''Return of the Son of Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar'', is a series of albums by Frank Zappa. The albums consist s ...

'' (Barking Pumpkin, 1981) * ''You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 6'' (Rykodisc, 1992) * '' The Lost Episodes'' (Rykodisc, 1996) * ''

One Shot Deal ''One Shot Deal'' is an album by Frank Zappa, posthumously released in June 2008. Overview The track "Occam's Razor" is a guitar solo extract from a live version of the song "Inca Roads". The solo was used in the song "On the Bus" from the album ...

'' (2008) * ''

Road Tapes, Venue 2 ''Road Tapes, Venue #2'' is a posthumous album of Frank Zappa, released in October 2013, consisting of songs from three concerts held in August 1973 at the Finlandia Hall, Helsinki, Finland: the August 23 early & late shows and the August 24 sh ...

'' (Vaulternative, 2013) * '' The Crux Of The Biscuit'' ( Zappa Records, 2016) With others *

, '' 1000 Hands: Chapter One'' (Opio Media, 2019) *

Sam Bush Charles Samuel Bush (born April 13, 1952) is an American mandolinist who is considered an originator of progressive bluegrass music. In 2020, he was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame as a member of New Grass Reviva ...

, '' Laps in Seven'' (Sugar Hill, 2006) *

Michel Colombier Michel Colombier (23 May 1939 – 14 November 2004) was a French composer, arranger, and conductor. Career Colombier wrote the scores of several motion pictures and TV productions. He also wrote chamber music and ballets. With composer Pierre H ...

, ''Wings'' (A&M 1971) *

Wolfgang Dauner Wolfgang Dauner (; 30 December 1935 – 10 January 2020) was a German jazz pianist who co-founded the United Jazz + Rock Ensemble. He worked with Hans Koller, Albert Mangelsdorff, Volker Kriegel and Ack van Rooyen and composed for radio, tele ...

, ''Free Action'' (SABA, 1967) *

George Duke George M. Duke (January 12, 1946 – August 5, 2013) was an American keyboardist, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer. He worked with numerous artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and as a pr ...

, ''Night After Night'' (Elektra, 1989) *

Serge Gainsbourg Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French musician, singer-songwriter, actor, author and filmmaker. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provoc ...

, ''Histoire De Melody Nelson'' (Light in the Attic, 2009) *

George Gruntz George Gruntz (24 June 1932 – 10 January 2013) was a Swiss jazz pianist, organist, harpsichordist, keyboardist, and composer known for the George Gruntz Concert Big Band and his work with Phil Woods, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Don Cherry, Chet Baker, ...

, ''Barock Sex & Jazz-Sechs'' (Electrola, 1966) * George Gruntz, ''Noon in Tunisia'' (SABA, 1967) * Andre Hodeir, ''Anna Livia Plurabelle'' (Philips, 1966) *

, '' Honky Chateau'' (UNI, 1972) *

Jeff Lorber Jeffrey H. Lorber (born November 4, 1952) is an American keyboardist, composer, and record producer. After six previous nominations, Lorber won his first Grammy Award on January 28, 2018 for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album for ''Prototype'' ...

, ''

Hacienda An ''hacienda'' ( or ; or ) is an estate (or '' finca''), similar to a Roman '' latifundium'', in Spain and the former Spanish Empire. With origins in Andalusia, ''haciendas'' were variously plantations (perhaps including animals or orchard ...

'' (Heads Up, 2013) * Clara Ponty, ''Mirror of Truth'' (Eden, 2005) * Clara Ponty, ''Into the Light'' (Le Chant Du Monde, 2010) * Return to Forever, '' The Mothership Returns'' (Eagle 2012) *

, ''Esperanto'' (Aleph, 2000) *

Alan Sorrenti Alan Sorrenti (born 9 December 1950) is an Italian singer and composer. Biography Sorrenti was born in Naples, but his mother was Welsh, and he spent much of his childhood in Aberystwyth, Wales. As a result, he is fluent in both Italian and ...

, ''Aria'' (Harvest, 1972) *

Gerald Wilson Gerald Stanley Wilson (September 4, 1918 – September 8, 2014) was an American jazz trumpeter, big band bandleader, composer, arranger, and educator. Born in Mississippi, he was based in Los Angeles from the early 1940s. In addition to being a ...

, ''

Eternal Equinox ''Eternal Equinox'' is an album by the Gerald Wilson Orchestra recorded in 1969 which became his last released on the Pacific Jazz label.L. Subramaniam Lakshminarayana Subramaniam (born 23 July 1947) is an Indian violinist, composer and conductor, trained in the classical Carnatic music tradition and Western classical music. Early years Subramaniam was born in Madras, Madras Presidency, Brit ...

performing together)

References

External links

Ponty.com
– Official website
Jean-Luc Ponty video interview
at AllAboutJazz.com
"In Conversation with Jean-Luc Ponty"
at Jazz.com by Thierry Quénum on 6 September 2008
2010 interview with Jean-Luc Ponty
at Prog-Sphere.com by Nikola Savić on 28 September 2010
Jean-Luc Ponty biography, discography and album reviews, credits & releases
at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

Jean-Luc Ponty discography, album releases & credits
at Discogs.com
Jean-Luc Ponty biography, discography, album credits & user reviews
at ProgArchives.com
Jean-Luc Ponty albums to be listened
as stream on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active use ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ponty, Jean-Luc 1942 births Living people French composers French male composers French jazz violinists 20th-century French male violinists People from Manche Mahavishnu Orchestra members French expatriates in the United States 21st-century French male violinists French male jazz musicians