THE PROG INTERVIEW

Every month we get inside the mind of one of the biggest names in music. This issue it’s Jean-Luc Ponty. The jazz violinist got his first big break with German label MPS before an impromptu meeting with Frank Zappa led to the mustached man producing one of his albums and him being invited to play on Hot Rats and with The Mothers Of Invention. His electrified sounds augmented the second incarnation of Mahavishnu Orchestra and, later, Return To Forever, and in 2014, he began the first of several collaborations with Jon Anderson. Current MPS release Live At The Bern Jazz Festival 2011 captures a live performance with the late pianist Wolfgang Dauner, and finds the French musician revisiting his solo back catalogue for the recently relaunched label. Here, he reminisces over his impressive career so far.

Sid Smith

JEAN-LUC PONTY Having performed since he was a small child, violinist Jean-Luc Ponty has enjoyed a remarkably diverse career. After winning the coveted first prize when he graduated from the internationally respected Paris Conservatory in 1960, it seemed he was destined for a life on the concert platform. However, the 18-year-old Ponty found himself following a different muse and by 1964 he’d released his debut album as a jazz violinist, his first step on a path that would see him wander far. In the mid-60s he established an alliance with the German record label MPS. From there he found himself in North America in 1969 meeting Frank Zappa, performing a cameo appearance on Zappa’s Hot Rats and, in 1970, releasing the album, King Kong: Jean-Luc Ponty Plays The Music Of…

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Prog (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 130

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