Primary genres: Fusion, Modern Jazz
| Home |
| Players |
| Makers |
| Equipment |
| Resources |
| Vintage |
| News |
 Born: September 29, 1940.When anyone talks about jazz violin, they inevitably come back to Jean-Luc Ponty. Although others had established jazz violin as a viable style much earlier in the century, Ponty brought a more contemporary sensibility to the instrument, mostly through his use of electronic effects. When Ponty arrived on the scene, no one else had made extensive use of chorusing, flanging, reverb, and delay to twist the timbre of the violin into new shapes. Added to his interest in synthesizers and new rock styles, Ponty's synthetic timbres created a sound that was immediately recognizable. I would recommend two albums for those just starting out with Ponty: Aurora and Individual Choice. Aurora is a good example of his 70's sound, which was a bit funkier and more strident. Individual Choice opens with a great synthesizer piece that I particularly enjoy, and the rest of the album is a good example of his smoother, more arranged 80's sound. Ponty plays a variety of violins, but most notably Barcus-Berry and Zeta. Check out the picture of the Zeta Jazz violin to see an example of one of his most commonly-used (or at least photographed) violins. WNUR-FM (Northwestern University's radio station) maintains a cool jazz web site with a page devoted to Ponty, including a discography and pictures of most of his album covers. To see the page with album covers, click here. To see their discography, click here. And to go to the main WNUR Jazz Web page, click here. Here's a sample from his "Individual Choice" album:
Song copyright © Jean-Luc Ponty.
Web/Email:
http://www.ponty.com Discography
The Rite of Strings (1995)
|
Computer Incantations for World Peace (.AIFF format, 362K, 33 second clip)