小简介
Jean Luc Ponty于1942年09月29日出生在法国Avreanches的一个古典音乐人的家中。他的父亲教授小提琴，他的母亲教授钢琴。在他十六岁的时候，他被允许到巴黎的Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris 学习，并且在十七岁时以优秀的成绩毕业。他立即被当时最主要的三个交响乐队之一的the Concerts Lamoureux雇佣，并且在那里演奏了三年。在音乐学校的期间，Ponty曾经为大学的一个爵士乐队客串过单簧管手，并和他们在聚会上一起演奏。这个乐队的领导者教给了他许多关于爵士的知识。后来，由于他对当时的现代爵士的兴趣越来越大，就象Miles Davis，John Coltrane那样，于是他改吹高音萨克斯。后来，这个兴趣让他有了把高音萨克斯上的音乐转换到他一直学习的乐器－－小提琴上冲动。这对于一个从小接受正统的古典音乐教育的小提琴手来说是一个飞跃。
二十二岁时，他在菲利浦公司发行了自己的第一张叫做《Jazz Long Playing》的独奏专辑。接下来便接续发行了数十张令人津津乐道且赞叹的个人作品。如果你要问谁是当代爵士乐小提琴巨匠，那么首推Jean Luc Ponty莫属。他惊人的演奏技巧总是让即兴的旋律如同乘着羽翼的歌声，自在又活跃。六十年代他曾与Stephane Grappelli(史提芬葛瑞波利)、Frank Zappa(法兰克萨帕)等人合作演奏前卫的录音，著名的"King Kong"就是一例。但七十年代中期之后他就成为技惊四座的爵士小提琴先躯。同时因为他有古典小提琴的背景，从绝对音感到即兴独奏，几乎再困难的技巧也难不倒他。然而他融合各种乐风，并大胆予以新意的作法，也让许多乐界人士啧啧称奇。当时相继邀他共同合作的乐手包括有Elton John(艾尔顿强)、John McLaughlin(约翰麦克劳夫伦)与众多当时的乐界精英，足是锐不可当。Jean Luc Ponty通过在小提琴上大胆运用电子与合成器效果，把小提琴从演奏纯音乐的乐器中解放出来。在爵士和摇滚领域，他是一个无可争辩的先锋小提琴领导者。他因为应用他自己独特的梦幻疾速风格演奏而被大家所尊敬。
by Richard S. Ginell
It has been a long, fascinating odyssey for Jean-Luc Ponty, who started out as a straight jazz violinist only to become a pioneer of the electric violin in jazz-rock in the 70s and an inspired manipulator of sequencers and synthesizers in the 80s. At first merely amplifying his violin in order to be heard, he switched over to electric violin and augmented it with devices that were associated with electric guitarists and keyboardists, like Echoplex machines, distortion boxes, phase shifters, and wah-wah pedals. Classically trained, with an unquenchable ability to swing when he wants to, and consumed by a passion for tight structures and repeating ostinatos, Ponty has been able to handle styles as diverse as swing, bop, free and modal jazz, jazz-rock, world music, and even country, mixing them up at will. Starting in 1977, he also pioneered the use of a five-string electric violin with a low C string. Undoubtedly, he rivals Stéphane Grappelli for the title of the most prominent and influential European jazz violinist.
Pontys father — the director of the school of music in Avranches and a violin teacher as well — got Jean-Luc started on violin at the age of five, and his mother tutored him on piano. He left school at 13 in order to practice six hours a day in the hope of becoming a concert violinist. At 15, he was accepted into the Paris Conservatoire, ultimately winning the premier prix at age 17. He played with the Concerts Lamoureux Orchestra for three years, during which time, thanks to the influence of Grappelli and Stuff Smith, he became interested in jazz. Oddly enough, Ponty began playing jazz first on the clarinet and tenor sax, waiting until 1962 to apply it to the violin. After a hitch in the French Army (1962-1964), Ponty went completely over to the jazz camp, leading quartets and trios in Europe, recording with Grappelli, Smith, and Svend Asmussen on Violin Summit, and visiting the U.S. for the first time in 1967 at a Monterey Jazz Festival workshop. Enriching himself with diverse American experiences in 1969, Ponty recorded with Frank Zappa, joined the George Duke Trio, and upon his return to France, formed the free jazz Jean-Luc Ponty Experience (1970-1972) before settling in the U.S. and rejoining Zappas Mothers of Invention. He toured and recorded with the Mahavishnu Orchestra in 1974-1975 and then set out on his own, compiling a long series of solo albums on Atlantic that pulled away from the more volcanic aspects of fusion toward a more lyrical, European, yet still exciting extension of Mahavishnus idioms.
In 1983, after his records began to sound increasingly formulaic, Ponty switched gears and recharged his creative batteries on the synthesizer. Starting with the Individual Choice album, he began constructing attractive revolving patterns of electronic sounds with the help of sequencers, producing backdrops for his violin that were elegantly indebted to Europop influences. He took this direction with him when he signed with Columbia in 1987, but on 1991s Tchokola album Ponty was on the move again, throwing out the sequencers and recording with West African musicians who provided him with new ostinato patterns to play with. Ponty opened the 21st century with Life Enigma in 2001, following it with Live at Semper Opera that same year. A live Warsaw date from 1999 was released in 2004 as Jean-Luc Ponty in Concert. The Acatama Experience appeared in 2007.
