Blues, Jazz, Rock Violinists?
Jean-Luc Ponty has had a long, long career and I cannot say that I have followed every path he has gone down. What I can say is that at one point he was an excellent jazz violinist. Jean-Luc Ponty Stephane Grappelli is proof. (Note that the link is to a CD that contains contains bonus material. The first five tracks comprise the original album.) There's also a live recording that he did with George Duke that is quite good. |
Some Ponty stuff did hit me as cheez whiz... haven't kept up with what he's doing. He's obviously a big talent and he's recorded things that can't rationally be described as pop or fusion. The MPS releases are generally pretty solid and his work on the 1970 World Pacific/Liberty release (King Kong) demonstrates what he can do w/ FZ material, (even Downbeat had sense enough to recognize that this stuff had compositional weight on par w/ Charles Mingus or Oliver Nelson). And yes you should read recommendations to avoid hearing avant garde noise makers or that f word music, (whatever that is)... if you're not careful you might learn something ... be sure to keep those training wheels on! |
If you don't like Jean Luc Ponty that's fine. To each his own. All JLP's recordings have not been great. But some of his recordings and live performances of those recordings have been nothing short of amazing. If you haven't witnessed it, you might not be able to relate to what I'm saying. Even though I am primarily a jazz fan Jean Luc cannot be categorized as a jazz violinist. He definitely plays a fusion of many musical sytles and my favorite work from him is from past years. I've seem him around the country many times and his shows have always been electrifying and ultimately "great." He is a virutoso composer and musician. Not even the greatest musicians and artist were great all the time on every recording. |
