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Saint Lucia Jazz Festival May 2010.

JEAN LUC PONTY

Ponty was born in a family of classical musicians on September 29, 1942 in Avranches,France. His father taught violin, his mother taught piano. At sixteen,he was admitted to the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique deParis,graduating two years later with the institution's highest award, Premier Prix. In turn, he was immediately hired by one of the major symphony orchestras,
Concerts Lamoureux, where he played for three years.
While still a member of the orchestra in Paris,
Ponty picked up a side gig playing clarinet (which his father had taught him) for a college jazz band that regularly performed at local parties. It proved a life-changing jumping-off point.
A growing interest in the jazz sounds of Miles Davis and John Coltrane compelledhim to take up the tenor saxophone. One night after anorchestra concert,
still wearing his formal tuxedo, Ponty found himself at a local club with only his violin.
Within 4 years, he was widely accepted as the leading figure in jazz fiddle.

At times, Ponty was leading a dual musical life: rehearsing and performing with the orchestra while also playing jazz until 3 AM at clubs throughout Paris. The demands of this schedule eventually brought him to a crossroads. "Naturally, I had to make a choice, so I took a chance with jazz", says Jean-Luc. Ponty's attraction to jazz was propelled by Miles Davis's and John Coltrane's music, which led him to adopt the electric violin. Critic Joachim Berendt wrote that "Since Ponty, the jazz violin has been a different instrument" and of his "style of phrasing that corresponds to early and middle John Coltrane" and his "brilliance and fire"