Jimmy Ponder So Many Stars

An excellent guitarist with a soulful sound and the ability to uplift any funky jazz date, Jimmy Ponder has appeared on many recordings during his long career, over 80 as a sideman and 15 as a leader. Ponder began playing guitar when he was 14 and considers Wes Montgomery and Kenny Burrell to be his two main early influences and Wes Montgomery later on. Offered a job with Charles Earland after having only played guitar three years, Ponder waited until he graduated from high school and then spent three years with the organist's group, recording several dates with Earland. He worked and recording with Lou Donaldson, Houston Person, Donald Byrd, Stanley Turrentine, and Jimmy McGriff and in the early '70s moved to New York (from Philadelphia), leading his own groups.

Jimmy Ponder - Live at The Other End (1982) {Explore Records EXP0026 rel 2007}
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© 1982, 2007 Explore Records / Cheetah Company | EXP0026
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Bop / Guitar

Let's face it, solo jazz guitar records – by most guitar masters anyway – would become rather ho hum unless of course you are a student of the instrument or a die-hard fanatic. There are exceptions: Jim Hall, Bola Sete, Tal Farlow, as well as others purposely omitted for brevity here. Live at the Other End by Jimmy Ponder is not only engaging for its entire 55 minutes' running time, it's downright dazzling, and not only in technical acumen – which it certainly is – but in its pure singing musicality. Given that the Other End – formerly the legendary Bitter End – was, in 1982, a pop-oriented room, a solo gig by a jazz guitarist was risky for the club to be sure, but more so for the guitarist.

Jimmy Ponder - Jump (1989) {Muse MCD 5347}
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© 1989 Muse Records | MCD 5347
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Jazz Blues / Guitar

Ponder is a good guitarist in the Grant Green school, a fine soul/blues player. An excellent guitarist with a soulful sound and the ability to uplift any funky jazz date, Jimmy Ponder has appeared on many recordings during his long career, over 80 as a sideman and 15 as a leader. Ponder began playing guitar when he was 14 and considers Wes Montgomery and Kenny Burrell to be his two main early influences and Wes Montgomery later on.

Jimmy Ponder - Thumbs Up (2001) {HighNote HCD7080}
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© 2001 HighNote Records | HCD 7080
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Post Bop / Jazz Funk / Jazz Blues / Guitar

Pittsburgh-based guitarist Jimmy Ponder strums with his right-hand thumb, a somewhat unorthodox way of approaching the guitar even though it did anything but hold up the late great Wes Montgomery. The bottom line, however, is that it’s not so much about how a musician plays, but what he plays. And here, in the presence of bassist Dave Pellow and drummer Cecil Brooks III, Ponder amply demonstrates what he can do musically on Thumbs Up, his first-ever trio recording.

Jimmy Ponder - Mean Streets-No Bridges (1987) {Muse MCD5324}
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© 1987 Muse Records | MCD 5324
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Jazz Blues / Guitar

An '87 recording of prototype Ponder; soul jazz and blues played with energy and a slick, yet resourceful conviction. Ponder has never gotten the profile or the exposure he deserves; he doesn't use gimmicks or crank up the volume, but his tasty fills, clever riffs, and crisp, bluesy solos are always worthwhile.

Jimmy Ponder - Steel City Soul (1998) {32 Jazz 32075}
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© 1998 32 Jazz | 32075
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Post Bop / Jazz Blues / Guitar

32Jazz continues to reissue much of the former Muse label material; compiled here, much to the company's credit, are 11 tracks from Jimmy Ponder's days at Muse. As another product from Pittsburgh, one of the cradles of jazz, he honors that city through the title of this release, Steel City. Ponder is one of those few who strum the guitar with his thumb, like Wes Montgomery; also like Montgomery, he gets a very warm and soft sound from the stringed box. On this album, Ponder shows he is equally facile with romantic, soulful material, like "You Are too Beautiful," where he is backed by ace pianist Benny Green, and on the Duke Ellington classic "Solitude," where Big John Patton's organ and Bill Saxton's flute take the lead.

Jimmy Ponder - Ain't Misbehavin' (2000) {HighNote HCD7041 rec 1998}
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© 1998, 2000 HighNote Records | HCD 7041
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Jazz Blues / Guitar

Ponder’s guitar work on this album is warm and tinged with references to Wes Montgomery. On the opening “On Broadway,” pianist John Hicks, bassist Dwayne Dolphin and drummer Cecil Brooks III step in behind the guitarist with a clipped, Wynton Kelly-Paul Chambers-Jimmy Cobb strut. “Sunny” is bluesy and slow, and Ponder’s phrasing and tremolo recall B.B. King. “My One and Only Love” swings easy, with the guitar chords and low-register lines very reminiscent of Montgomery. Elsewhere, Ponder employs call-and-response phrases and octave-voiced lines that also recall the late guitarist.