Jean-Luc Ponty - Live At Donte's
Released - 1981
Recording and Session Information
"Donte's", North Hollywood, CA, March 11 & 12, 1969
Jean-Luc Ponty, electric violin, baritone violectra; George Duke, electric piano; John Heard, electric bass; Al Cecchi, drums.
Hypomode Del Sol
People
California
Eighty-One
Track Listing
| Side One | ||
| Title | Author | Recording Date |
| Hypomode De Sol | Jean-Luc Ponty | March 11/12 1969 |
| People | B. Merrill-J. Styne | March 11/12 1969 |
| Side Two | ||
| California | Jean-Luc Ponty | March 11/12 1969 |
| Eighty-One | Ron Carter | March 11/12 1969 |
Liner Notes
EAN-LUC PONTY
In 1966 a new name cropped up among the winners in Down Beat's annual poll of jazz critics. In the "Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition" division — that is, those musicians on the way up—first place in the "miscellaneous instrument" category was awarded to a young French violinist. Jean-Luc Ponty. Few American listeners had heard his music for, while he had been recording in Europe for several years, he had no albums in U.S. release and had yet to make his first American appearance. This event occurred the following year when, on the strength of his poll victory. he was invited to perform at the 1967 Monterey Jazz Festival where he mesmerized critics and listeners alike with the dazzling virtuosity and striking creativity of his playing. Too, it was indicative of the violin's status in jazz in those days that a separate category for the instrument did not then exist in Down Beat's poll; that one was in time established reflects both the increasing use of the instrument in contemporary jazz and Ponty's pivotal role in bringing the violin to the forefront and, through the example of his brilliantly original approach, stimulating others to take it up.
The originality and brilliance of his music have been evident from at least the middle 1960s when, following his decision of a few years earlier to pursue jazz to the exclusion of all else, Ponty had forged the daring, audaciously original approach to the instrument that has led to the respect of his peers, an international reputation and, more recently, sustained commercial success. Not only had he achieved Idiomatic mastery in the art of jazz playing but had gone beyond this, rising to a position of leadership on his chosen instrument, in turn influencing those who have followed where he has led.
The child of classical musicians and teachers, Ponty was born Sept. 29, 1942. in Avranches, France, where not unexpectedly he gravitated to music at an early age, undertaking classical violin studies at five. He pursued this discipline over the next dozen years, and at 17 was awarded first prize for violin at the Conservatoire Nationale Superieur in Paris. For the next several years he performed as a member of the Concerts Lamoureux orchestra, and a career in classical music seemed assured. His introduction to jazz, which he had not heard previously, having immersed himself in classical music, took place when, as he told Robert Palmer, "Some friends, including musicians from the Conservatoire, took me to hear people like Bud Powell, Kenny Clarke, Johnny Griffin, and Dexter Gordon, and introduced me to albums." At about the same time another musician-friend, knowing Ponty to be proficient on clarinet asked him to substitute for a player in a Paris jazz group of which he was a member. While he was unfamiliar with both the idiom and its repertoire, Ponty found the experience absorbing and soon had achieved proficiency in the swing style in which the band performed. A chance encounter with New Orleans clarinetist Albert Nicholas whom he met when a classical broadcast assignment brought him to Limoges, where Nicholas was appearing in a local jazz club, led to a deeper appreciation of the music and a resolve on Ponty's part to explore it more fully.
"It was just fun for me, not something I took very seriously," he has said of his early playing experiences. "But once I realized I was much more excited by improvisation than by being in a symphony orchestra, I switched to the violin, because I had much more facility and could get quicker to the point. I could go and jam with Bud Powell and all those great jazz musicians much faster on the violin."
He was confirmed in this decision by his discovery and exploration of the work of the several violinists who had preceded him in jazz, and this proved a turning point. "Stephane Grappelli was my first inspiration," he told Palmer "I used the violin before I heard him, just because I felt more comfortable with it, but after I heard Grappelli I became more interested in experimenting for myself. I had in mind a sound and style that I thought had never been done, a more progressive style adapted to the violin. Then right after Grappelli I discovered Stuff Smith, and he was a very strong influence on me too. Then, of course, Mlles and Coltrane..."
Too, Grappelli had become Ponty's friend and advisor as well as musical mentor. "We met and became friends right away," the younger man recalled. "He was very kind to me and he encouraged me to go on playing jazz. In fact, I would even say that psychologically he was great. Because at one point I was...insecure about what to do, if I should stay in a symphony orchestra and stick to classical music or go on with a career as a jazz violinist. I didn't really know my worth as a jazz violinist and he was the only one to really encourage me to go on. He said that I had created an original style, and psychologically that was very important to me."
Thus encouraged, Ponty persevered, continuing to explore the jazz legacy through recordings and, whenever possible, contact with American players in the French capitol, sitting in as often as he could. By 1964 he felt he was ready, severed his ties with the classical world and joined the band of Jeff Gilson — "which was pretty avant-garde for the period," he noted — and soon was leading his own groups. A tumultuous appearance at the 1965 Antibes Jazz Festival brought him to the attention of continental jazz listeners which was further stimulated through recordings, and these led to his 1966 Down Beat poll win, the appearance at the 1967 Monterey Jazz Festival, the release of his first U.S. recording the following year (More Than Meets The Ear, World Pacific 20134), and a busy European performing schedule. This exciting period of musical growth, Ponty characterized simply: "I started playing bebop and went on to more experimental stuff and playing free jazz." He added in explanation, "At first I was influenced by horn players more, because horns were what the most creative musicians were playing and I wanted to identify my music with that style. Then I found my own identity. I guess everybody goes through this period of influences first."
Not only had Ponty found a personal, richly creative mode of expression but had amplified his violin as well. He had to do this, he explained, simply in order to be heard over the sound of drums and other instruments in his group. But what was adopted as a practical solution to an immediate problem soon evolved into an integral, highly exciting part of his approach, eventually leading to even fuller exploitation of the possibilities the use of electronics allowed.
In the Spring of 1969 Ponty came to the U.S. to undertake his first recordings for Pacific Jazz' Richard Bock who had been one of the violinist's staunchest boosters for several years. Bock had earlier arranged for the release of the European-recorded More Than Meets The Ear performances on his World Pacific label, and soon had conceived the plan of recording Ponty with Gerald Wilson's admirable jazz orchestra. All the formidable logistical problems solved, recording dates were scheduled for early March at Bock's Los Angeles studios. In addition, a pair of club dates was arranged to coincide with Ponty's presence on the West Coast, one at the Both/And Club in San Francisco and the second at Donte's in North Hollywood, where the present recordings were made.
Chosen to work with him on these dates was the trio of pianist George Duke, then beginning to make a name for himself from his base in San Francisco and, more to the point, an ardent fan of Ponty's music. Hearing that the violinist was coming to the U.S. to perform and convinced that he was the best of available players to join cause with him, Duke literally deluged Bock with requests that he and his group be the ones to accompany the violinist. "That was the first time I had gotten egotistical and aggressive," the pianist recalled later. "I just felt like I knew exactly what I wanted, like I had to make that move." After hearing tapes of the trio, Ponty concurred.
The musicians met for the first time in San Francisco immediately before the Both/And engagement. Al Cecchi, the trio's drummer at the time, remembers that only one brief rehearsal was necessary for the four men to familiarize themselves with the music to be performed. Ponty, he recalled, made suggestions about the routines to be followed on various pieces, demonstrating them to the trio, after which they would run them down, but by and large everything fell into place easily and quickly. It was Cecchi's impression that the violinist was quite pleased with the trio's ability to play his music the way he wanted it played, that because of this he had to make few if any accommodations in his playing, allowing him to be and play himself. Jean-Luc and George had a great deal of respect for one another and this, taken with the cohesiveness of the trio, Duke, bassist John Heard and Cecchi having worked together for more than a year at the time, made for a very enjoyable playing and easy, totally without hassles," the drummer said. "I think we all were lifted by it."
Following the Both/And gig Ponty left for Los Angeles to meet with Bock and Wilson. A few days later the trio followed him, driving down from San Francisco on the day of the Donte's opening, arriving with just enough time to set up for the first set. Ponty and the trio were totally unprepared for the excitement that greeted their appearance; word of mouth had preceded them and the turnout was phenomenal. "The club was packed both nights," Cecchi recalled. "It was absolutely mobbed. It seemed like every musician in town came by, guys who never went to clubs, like some of the top studio string players. I remember John Guerin, whom I had known from the East Coast, came up and said we should be pleased so many people, and influential ones, he added, had come out to hear us. Then he pointed to a table, and there were Lalo Schifrin, Stan Kenton, Herb Alpert, people like that. It was a real event, and one of the most exhilarating experiences I've ever had in playing music. We were thrilled—the excitement, the enthusiasm of the crowds — it was unbelievable."
It's all been caught here: the incandescent brilliance, technical virtuosity and urgency of Ponty's playing intertwined with the answering fire and cascading invention of Duke's, the collective, powerful creativity of the group, and the enthusiastic response of Donte's audiences, memorializing an event of pivotal importance to Ponty's career — his real arrival in American musical circles. The fire lit by Monterey had turned into a blaze. From this March, 1969, visit have proceeded the album with the Wilson orchestra (Electric Connection, World Pacific 20156), a second "live" set with the Duke Trio recorded at Thee Experience (WP 20168), the celebrated association with Frank Zappa, including the wonderful King Kong LP (along with the Thee Experience recordings contained in the 2-LP set Canteloupe Island, LWB-632), the violinist's later membership in John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, and the formation of his own American group and the great success he's enjoyed with the jazz-rock fusion approach he's since developed from all of these experiences, The seeds, or at least the deep jazz roots of those developments are stunningly displayed in these compelling, hugely rewarding performances, which now can be sampled and enjoyed for the first time.
—Pete Welding
