Jean-Luc Ponty

French virtuoso violinist Jean-Luc Ponty was born into a family of musicians, with his parents teaching violin and piano. When he reached the age of 16 he was admitted to the Conservatoire National Seperieus de Musique de Paris where he studied hard and graduated with a premier prix and an offer of a position in the Concerts Lamoureux Symphony Orchestra. He played with the orchestra for three years and did gigs on the side as a jazz clarinetist. Soon he realised he could put the sounds of jazz that he loved into the violin which was his preferred instrument and he became known as a prolific jazz fiddler.

In 1969 Ponty collaborated with Frank Zappa for Ponty's solo album 'King Kong (World Pacific)'. This opened many doors for Ponty with the likes of Elton John approaching him to collaborate. He moved his family out to Los Angeles and spent the next decade writing and recording, both with others and solo. He recorded twelve solo albums, all of which charted in the top five of the Bilboard Jazz Charts.

The '80s and '90s saw Ponty spend a lot of time touring, and in 1995 he recorded an acoustic album with Al Di Meola and Stanley Clarke called 'The Rite of Strings'. The trio toured with the album, opening the world's eyes to their unique style of acoustic jazz. He reunited with the members of Jean-Luc Ponty & His Band in 2006 and spent time touring and experiencing the world. In 2014 he formed the Anderson-Ponty Band with Yes founding member Jon Anderson and released an album, 'Better Late Than Never'. They set out on tour in 2016.