Song:New Country
Album:The Very Best Of Jean-Luc Ponty
French violinist Jean-Luc Ponty was at the forefront of the jazz fusion movement of the 70s. This Rhino comp is a very good intro to his music. He was born Sept. 28, 1942 in Avranches, France. His father was director of the school of music in Avranches and Ponty started playing violin at age 5. At age 15, he was accepted into the Paris Conservatory and won the grand prize at age 17. He joined the Concerts Lamoureux Orchestra. So Ponty was all set to be a concert violinist. But legendary violinist Stephane Grappelli got him interested in jazz. By the mid-60s, he was recording with Grappelli, Stuff Smith & Svend Asmussen as part of Violin Summit. Then Ponty came to the US and met Frank Zappa & George Duke and joined the early 70s edition of the Mothers Of Invention. In 1974, he moved to John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra and then signed with Atlantic Records and went solo in 1975. The energetic New Country is from the 1976 album Imaginary Voyage, his third album on Atlantic. It was a big hit on the jazz charts and crossed over to the rock album chart. Musicians are Daryl Steurmer on guitar, Allan Zavod on keyboards, Tom Fowler on bass and Mark Craney on percussion. Ponty remained with Atlantic until he moved to Columbia in 1987. He continued to experiment with electronics but his music became more formulaic. This Rhino comp covers his prime in the 70s. Jean-Luc Ponty still tours and records. His latest CD The Acatama Experience was released on KOCH Records in May 2007 and features Belgian guitarist Philip Catherine. Here's Jean-Luc Ponty performing New Country in France 1976. This video was added to Youtube today.
No comments:
Post a Comment