Ponty to pull in the crowds at NCH
JAZZ
Sunday March 08 2009
Here's another scoop for the Waltons World Masters series: the Jean-Luc Ponty Quartet. Next Thursday night at the National Concert Hall, Ponty (violin, electric violin) will be backed by William Lecomte (keyboards), Guy Nsangue Akwa (bass) and Damien Schmitt (drums).
The son of two music teachers, Jean-Luc Ponty was classically trained at the Paris Conservatory. He turned to jazz in the 1960s, appearing at the Antibes-Juan-les-Pins and Monterey festivals. Ponty went on to record with the Gerald Wilson Big Band and the George Duke Trio. He toured with Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention and John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra. Since 1975 he has led his own groups.
Over the years his style has encompassed swing, bebop, modal jazz and jazz-rock, as well as being inspired by West African polyrhythms. Twelve of his albums reached the top five on the Billboard jazz charts. His latest CD, The Acatama Experience, was inspired by a visit to the Atacama desert in Chile (the spelling mistake in the title was spotted only after the CD cover had been printed).
Clashing with the Ponty concert is a gig in the Sugar Club by Simon Jermyn (guitar, electric bass) with Loren Stillman (saxophone), Sean Carpio (drums) and Joachim Badenhorst (clarinet). However, there's another chance to catch the group in the Triskel Arts Centre, Cork, on Wednesday night.
Lionel Loueke (guitar), from Benin in West Africa, created a stir when he appeared with Herbie Hancock in the Tripod last November. Next Sunday and Monday (15th and 16th) he'll be at JJ Smyth's. Get there early and grab a seat.
- Grainne Farren
