Maybe you recognize his name from his time playing with Frank Zappa and Elton John 50 years ago. Or maybe you heard him with John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra, or Chick Correa, or Bela Fleck, or on his LPs and gigs with Stanley Clarke and Al DiMeola. Jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty sure has gotten around, spreading his brand of fiddling fusion on both acoustic and electric violins since the ’60s.
Ponty, who turned 80 last week, was born in Normandy and took up jazz soon after graduating from the National Conservatory. He carved out a successful career in the ’60s, often in groups with drummer Daniel Humair.
As the audience for bebop dried up, Ponty dismayed jazz purists by “going electric,” a common switch for guitarists but not violinists. He pioneered the instrument, becoming the first to run a violin through various effects — a wah-wah pedal, for instance. He first visited the U.S. at the Monterrey Pop Festival in 1967, hooked up with George Duke and Frank Zappa and toured with the Mothers and the Mahavishnu Orchestra before striking out on his own.
His interest in collaborating across genre lines started early. This video comes from a PBS Soundstage special in 1977, “Fiddlers Three,” which brought together Ponty, classical violinist Itzhak Perlman and country fiddler Doug Kershaw. Ponty played this country-inspired tune from his album “Imaginary Voyage,” one his dozen LPs to reach the top 5 on the jazz chart.
Among the guest appearances Ponty made during his rock phase were a pair of tunes on Elton John’s 1972 “Honky Chateau” album.
Ponty’s last major project to date was an LP and tour with Jon Anderson in 2015. Their sets contained a lot of old Yes songs, like “Owner of a Lonely Heart.”
