Los Angeles - Legendary French violinist Jean Luc Ponty and his band will be   
   bringing their “Atlantic Years” tour to the US beginning late May 2017!   
   Jean Luc Ponty is a pioneer and undisputed master of the violin in the arena   
   of jazz and rock. He is    
   widely regarded as an innovator who has applied his unique visionary spin that   
   has expanded the vocabulary of modern music.   
      
   Says Jean Luc, “We're calling it 'The Atlantic Years' tour since I am   
   touring with my band from the late 70's - 80's with whom I recorded several   
   albums for Atlantic Records.”   
      
   The Jean Luc Ponty Band features:   
      
   Jean Luc Ponty – violin   
   Wally Minko – keyboards   
   Jamie Glaser – guitars   
   Rayford Griffin – drums   
   Baron Browne – bass   
      
   Jean Luc Ponty Band 2017 US tour dates:   
      
   May 30 – Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater   
   May 31 – Seattle, WA - The Neptune   
   June 01 – Eugene, OR - John G. Shedd Institute for the Arts   
   June 02 – Los Angeles, CA - The Saban Theater Beverly Hills   
   June 04 – San Francisco, CA - Regency Ballroom   
   June 05 – Santa Cruz, CA - Rio Theatre   
   June 07 – San Juan Capistrano, CA - The Coach House   
   June 08 – Agoura Hills, CA - The Canyon    
   June 09 – Scottsdale, AZ - Center For the Arts   
   June 10 – Las Vegas, NV - Allante Casino   
   June 14 – Boulder, CO - Boulder Theater   
   June 16 – Dallas, TX - Granada Theater   
   June 17 – Austin, TX - One World Theatre   
   June 20 – Chicago, IL - City Winery   
   June 21 – Detroit, MI - Chene Park   
   June 23 – Niagara Falls, NY - Seneca Niagara Casino   
   June 24 – Saratoga Springs, NY - Performing Arts Center   
   June 25 – NYC - B.B. King    
      
   After studying classical violin at the Paris Conservatory, Jean Luc Ponty   
   turned to jazz in the 60's. Thanks to his revolutionary style he collaborated   
   with some of the best European and American musicians such as Eddy Louiss,   
   Daniel Humair, Niels    
   Henning-Ørsted Pedersen, John Lewis, Lalo Schifrin, and Quincy Jones. He   
   became the first bebop violinist and US jazz magazine “Down Beat” created   
   a violin category for him in its critics' poll, until then violin was in the   
   'miscellaneous    
   instruments' category. His pioneering work on the electric violin in the 70's   
   attracted the attention of pop and rock musicians, he recorded with Elton John   
   and participated to several tours and legendary recordings with Frank Zappa's   
   Mothers of    
   Invention and John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra. In 1975 he founded his   
   own band and became one of the most prominent figures of the jazz-fusion   
   movement in the USA, selling millions of albums that all reached the top of   
   the US charts. Ponty's most    
   recent album “The Atacama Experience” is considered as one if his best and   
   to this day Ponty keeps touring with his band around the world.   
      
   Ponty also collaborates on occasional projects such as “The Rite of   
   Strings” with Stanley Clarke and Al Di Meola. In 2011 Ponty joined the   
   mythical American group RETURN TO FOREVER IV with Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke,   
   Lenny White and Frank Gambale    
   for a world tour spanning on 5 continents.   
      
   Ponty received the 2007 Jazz Trophy in Germany, the medal of Chevalier de la   
   Legion d'Honneur in France in 2009, the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Awards in   
   Ireland, and the Grand Prix of the Sochi Arts Festival in 2012 in Russia from   
   the hands of world    
   famous classical violist and orchestra conductor Yuri Bashmet. In 2012 Ponty   
   performed his music with Orchestre Pasdeloup for his 50-year career   
   celebration at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, then again with symphony   
   orchestras in Brazil, Russia and    
   Hungary in 2012 and 2013.   
      
   In April 2013 Herbie Hancock invited him to perform in Istanbul at   
   “International Jazz Day” for UNESCO. Ponty also founded a new quartet with   
   his daughter, pianist-singer-composer Clara Ponty which performed in France   
   and Germany in 2014. Ponty also    
   performed with the 89 musicians of the Novosibirsk Philharmonic Orcherstra for   
   the Siberian Christmas Festival.   
      
   In 2014 Ponty recorded an album as an acoustic trio with Stanley Clarke on   
   double bass and Gypsy-French guitarist Bireli Lagrene, which was released on   
   Impulse/Universal in the Fall 2015.   
      
   Jean Luc recently formed the Anderson Ponty Band with Jon Anderson, co-founder   
   and lead singer of British progressive rock band YES, a CD and DVD was   
   released in 2015 followed by a North American concert tour.   
      
   The Band:   
      
   Baron Browne (bass) was born and raised in Georgia, USA, and gravitated to   
   music at a very early age, learning to play his uncle's drumset at 7 years   
   old. At age 18, Baron moved to Boston to study at Berklee College of Music. He   
   began working full time    
   with Berklee alum such as Kevin Eubanks, Tiger Okoshi, Mike Stern, Bill   
   Frisell and Dean Brown. In 1983 Jean Luc Ponty called Baron to audition, and   
   hired him immediately. Baron toured with Ponty for 3 years and collaborated to   
   3 albums. Since then Baron    
   has toured worldwide and recorded with Billy Cobham, Steps Ahead, jazz   
   vibraphonist Gary Burton, and recorded many albums with Walter Beasley. His   
   versatility allowed him to also perform with R&B and Pop artists such as Brian   
   McKnight, Tom Jones and    
   Expose'. Baron also writes and performs regularly with Vital Information.   
      
   Jamie Glaser (guitar) is best known as the guitarist for grammy award winning   
   musical acts, Jean Luc Ponty, Chick Corea, Bryan Adams, Gloria Trevi,   
   Manhattan Transfer and more. His guitar can be heard on over 170 albums as   
   well as on the biggest sitcoms    
   of all time, Seinfeld and Married With Children. Jamie compositions can be   
   heard weekly on CBS sports, ABC, Animal Planet, History channel, Discovery,   
   and ESPN. His solo albums have been successful worldwide.   
      
   Rayford Griffin (drums) has been internationally respected as among the most   
   inventive, volcanic and versatile drummers in music, having amassed stellar   
   credits with virtuosos ranging from Jean Luc Ponty and The Stanley Clarke   
   Band, George Duke, to Dave    
   Koz, Anita Baker and Michael Jackson.   
      
   Wally Minko (keyboards) is a well respected and highly accomplished member of   
   the LA music scene and has toured and recorded with some of the most well   
   known and successful artists in the world! Some of the artists Wally has   
   worked with include Toni    
   Braxton, Pink, En Vogue, New Edition, Barry Manilow, Tom Jones, Arturo   
   Sandoval, Gregg Rolie (Santana/Journey), Eddie Money and the Anderson Ponty   
   Band, featuring legendary Yes vocalist, Jon Anderson and world renowned jazz   
   violinist, Jean Luc Ponty.   
      
   For more information:   
   www.ponty.com   
   www.facebook.com/jeanlucpontyband   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)