France's Jean-Luc Ponty is a prolific recording artist, composer and bandleader. He pioneered the electric violin in jazz-rock in the 1970s, creating a distinctive sonic fusion that graced iconic albums by Frank Zappa, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and others. Between 1975 and 1995, he released 15 consecutive top five albums. These included Upon the Wings of Music (1975), Enigmatic Ocean (1977), The Gift of Time (1987), Storytelling (1989), and The Rite of Strings (1995, alongside Stanley Clarke and Al Di Meola). 2007's The Atacama Experience featured guitarists Allan Holdsworth and Philip Catherine. In 2015, Ponty, with Clarke and Birelli Lagrene released D-Stringz, while he and vocalist Jon Anderson issued Better Late Than Never. They collaborated again on 2019's 1000 Hands: Chapter One. In 2022, MPS issued the archival Live at the Bern Jazz Festival with pianist Wolfgang Dauner. In June, Ponty appeared on house producer Ron Trent's single "Sphere."