Jean Luc+ponty

Here is Ponty's radical break with his past, one that further tightened his control over his craft while ironically liberating his muse. In laying out his attractive new music on synthesizers and sequencers, emphasizing revolving ostinato patterns, Ponty rejuvenated his melodic gift, and as a result, even in this controlled setting, his violin solos take on a new freshness and exuberance…

Here is Ponty's radical break with his past, one that further tightened his control over his craft while ironically liberating his muse. In laying out his attractive new music on synthesizers and sequencers, emphasizing revolving ostinato patterns, Ponty rejuvenated his melodic gift, and as a result, even in this controlled setting, his violin solos take on a new freshness and exuberance…

Jean-Luc Ponty - Jazz Long Playing (1964) {Gitanes–Jazz In Paris 548 150-2 rec 1964}
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© 1964, 2000 EmArcy / Gitanes / Universal Music | Jazz In Paris Series | 548 150-2
Jazz / Mainstream Jazz / Hard Bop / Standards / Violin

These 1964 sessions marked jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty's recording debut as a leader. In spite of his choice of instrument, he was mainly influenced by bop musicians (especially saxophonists and trumpeters) rather than fellow Frenchmen, swing violinist Stéphane Grappelli. At this stage in his career, he chose mostly compositions by European musicians of his generation, along with tunes American jazz compositions that had stood the test of time.

These 1964 sessions marked jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty's recording debut as a leader. In spite of his choice of instrument, he was mainly influenced by bop musicians (especially saxophonists and trumpeters) rather than fellow Frenchmen, swing violinist Stéphane Grappelli. At this stage in his career, he chose mostly compositions by European musicians of his generation, along with tunes American jazz compositions that had stood the test of time. His angular playing in Martial Solal's "Une Nui Au Violon" contrasts with his later venture into jazz fusion, while his dash through Charlie Parker's "Au Privave" is almost immediately halted to first showcase drummer Daniel Humair then flautist Michel Portal before he takes center-stage with a blazing solo…

A switch back to Atlantic finds Jean-Luc Ponty continuing to dabble in West African waters while re-establishing his earlier solid base in repeating sequenced patterns. The electronics are back, for Ponty splits his time between the electric violin and various synthesizers and sequencers while Abdou M'Boup and Sydney Thiam add African percussion, which often takes a back seat to the electronics as the rhythmic basis for the music. This time, though, the material Ponty has composed isn't as compelling as it had been in the past; at times, Ponty sounds like he is very competently treading water (though "Blue Mambo" has a compelling groove). Yet despite all of the changes Ponty has put himself through, his music still has a Continental elegance that cannot be mistaken for that of anyone else.

Ponty embarks on more experiments in the future-is-now world of synthesizers and sequencers, where the painstakingly programmed machines often seem to generate an irresistible momentum of their own. As on Individual Choice, Ponty's melodies are immediately appealing in an almost Continental manner, whether spelled out on violin, violectra, or on the sequenced synths that set up the ostinato underpinning. Ponty has even less help than before – no more than one or two supporting players on a few tracks. One of them is George Benson, who does his flavorful jazz/funk thing over Ponty's rhythm computer on "Modern Times Blues"; the other is Chick Corea, who appears on two tracks. This is almost as essential as Individual Choice, and in some ways, even more confident and assured.

Apparently Ponty was lonely for some company in the studio, for he brought in a full rhythm section (Scott Henderson, guitar; Baron Browne, bass; Rayford Griffin, drums) to accompany his impressive battery of electric violins, keyboards, drums and sequencers. The sound has opened up considerably, but again, Ponty continues to explore the high-tech, electronic, sequenced ostinato world that he opened the door to on Individual Choice. The music floats, gleams, and rocks along to sometimes rigid grooves in this mostly successful attempt to merge the sequencer-driven Ponty of the '80s with his jazz-rock incarnation of the '70s. It's a very even album, without any extreme peaks or dips, and Ponty dispenses with his sidemen entirely on the final two tracks, the last of which concludes the CD on a gently percolating electronic groove.

A pioneer of the electric violin in the 1970’s, and an inspired manipulator of sequencers and synthesisers in the 1980’s, Jean-Luc Ponty is the undisputed master of his instrument in this area. Experimenting with electronics and synthesis, he liberated the violin’s image and capabilities from classical or folk settings. After cutting several albums for the World Pacific label in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, In 1974, fresh from a tour with the Mahavishnu Orchestra until he signed a solo deal with Atlantic Records. Throughout the next decade, he was to record a dozen visionary albums, 5 of which are included here.

The act of switching to Columbia did not have a substantial impact upon Jean-Luc Ponty — not yet, at least — for his debut with the label found him mining the repeating, sequencer-driven lode that he was exploring while on Atlantic. But there are two areas where there is a difference: the material is superior to that of Fables, more memorable and immediately winning in melodic and arpeggiated content, and the sound quality is considerably improved over that of much of his Atlantic output. The rhythm section of Fables returns, with Pat Thomi replacing Scott Henderson on guitar, and as before, they take a definite back seat to their leader's violins, synthesizers and electronic devices.