Jean-Luc Ponty is a pioneer and undisputed master of violin in the arena of jazz and rock. Classically trained, with an unquenchable ability to swing when he wants to, and consumed by a passion for tight structures and repeating ostinatos, Ponty has been able to handle styles as diverse as swing, bop, free and modal jazz, jazz-rock, world music and even country, mixing them up at will. Ponty was born in a family of classical musicians on September 29, 1942 in Avranches, France. At the age of 15, he was accepted into the Paris Conservatoire, ultimately winning the premier prix at age 17. He played with the Concerts Lamoureux Orchestra for three years. A growing interest in jazz brought him to leading a dual musical life: rehearsing and performing with the orchestra while also playing jazz at clubs throughout Paris in the night. Few at the time viewed the instrument as having a legitimate place in the modern jazz vocabulary. With a powerful sound that eschewed vibrato, Jean-Luc distinguished himself with be-bop era phrasings and a punchy style influenced more by horn players than by anything previously tried on the violin; nobody had heard anything quite like it before. After a hitch in the French Army (1962-64), Ponty went completely over to the jazz camp, leading quartets and trios in Europe and visiting the Monterey Jazz Festival workshop in 1967. In the late 60s and early 70s he then toured and recorded with Frank Zappa, the George Duke Trioa and the Mahavishnu Orchestra and formed the free-jazz Jean-Luc Ponty Experience (1970-72). Afterwards he set out on his own, compiling a long series of solo albums on Atlantic. On 1991's Epic-released Tchokola, Ponty combined his acoustic and electric violins, for the first time, with the powerful polyrhythmic sounds of West Africa. In 1995, Ponty joined guitarist Al Di Meola and bassist Stanley Clarke to record an acoustic album under the name The Rite of Strings. In 1997, Jean-Luc Ponty put back together his group of Western and African musicians pursuing the new fusion he started in 1991. Ponty also performed a highly acclaimed duet with bassist Miroslav Vitous in December 99. In January 2000, he participated to Lalo Schifrin's most recent recording with a big band, Esperanto.