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List non exhaustive
of famous
American Jazz Violinists


Look short biographys

Jean Luc Ponty

Stuff Smith
Joe Venuti
Eddie South
Emilio Caceres
Harry Lookofsky

Claude Williams
Ray Perry
John Frigo
Ginger Smock
Joe Kennedy Jr
Ray Nance
Papa John Creach
Sugar Cane Harris
Jerry Goodman
Mark O'Connor
Vanessa Mae
John Blake

 Mark Feldman
Regina Carter
Billy Bang






List non exhaustive of
Youngest and other fine
American Jazz Violinists



Scott Tixier
Noel Pointer

Konstantin Illistskiy
Elek Bacsik
Mateusz Smoczynski
Jason Anick
Jerald Daemyon
Ian Cooper
Yilian Canizares
Sara Caswell
Diane Delin
Mads Tolling
Karen Briggs
Zack Brock
Christian Howes
Omar Puente
Sonya L. Robinson
Randy Sabien
Vassar Clements
Michal Urbaniak
Leroy Jenkins
Adam De Graff




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American jazz violonists

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Most known American jazz & improviser violinists


Jean Luc Ponty

French /American jazz violinist, composer, and producer.
He lives in Los Angeles and Paris.
He is the French musician the most known all over the world. His talent as a melodist was imitated by a lot of musicians.
Jean-Luc Ponty has built a substantial reputation as a versatile jazz violinist who is equally at home in many musical genres: swing, bop, modal jazz, free jazz, and jazz-rock. The native of France has toured throughout the world and recorded dozens of records.
After classical first prize of violin in Paris and a classical career in his youth, Ponty's entree into the world of American jazz came in 1967 when he attended a masterclass at the Monterey, California, Jazz Festival and came to the attention of the American public and recording industry. Before returning to France, Ponty performed in nightclubs and recorded three albums with the George Duke Trio in 1969.
He formed group "the Jean-Luc Ponty Experience" and toured Europe, 1970-72 . In 1972 he played with Elton John.
He played with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, 1969-75,
1974-75 he joins Mac Laughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra.
After that he made his own career and became very famous all over the world through his records and tours.
Ponty's career has taken many varied turns. Following the release of  The Gift of Time album in 1987, Ponty made a major tour of North America, South America, and Europe. He has also appeared as a classical performer with such ensembles as the New Japan Philharmonic, the Montreal Symphony, and the Toronto Symphony, among others. His 1989 LP Storytelling also reflects Ponty's background in classical music; it is the first time in many years that he performed on acoustic violin.
His own ensembles and with numerous other musicians, beginning in 1975; band members have included Rayford Griffin (drummer), Baron Browne (bassist), Wally Minko (pianist), and Jamie Glaser (guitarist).
See more detailed:

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jean Luc Ponty famous French-American jazz violonist


Festival Antibes 1964
Georges Arvanitas (piano), Guy Pedersen (contrebasse), Daniel Humair (batterie)
"Rhythm-a-nin” de Thelonious Monk



Jean-Luc Ponty & his Band
In Concert (Warsaw 1999)
"Enigmatic Ocean“ (by Jean-Luc Ponty)



Jean-Luc Ponty and HR Big Band
Frankfurt Germany (2012)
“The Struggle Of The Turtle To The Sea” (By Jean-Luc Ponty - Arrangement by Jim McNeely)


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Stuff Smith
He was very popular. His style was rough and direct similat as a trumpet
Stuff Smith was undoubtedly one of the great swing violinists of the early 20th century.
Smith achieved stardom while leading small groups at the Onyx Club in New York City. After being signed to Vocalion in 1936, he had a big hit with "I'se A Muggin'" and was billed as Stuff Smith and his Onyx Club Boys. He recorded for Vocalion in 1936, Decca in 1937 and Varsity in 1939-1940. Smith cited Louis Armstrong as his primary influence and inspiration to play jazz, and like Armstrong, was a vocalist as well as an instrumentalist.
He is credited as being the first violinist to use electric amplification techniques on a violin. He contributed to the song "It's Wonderful" (often performed by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald throughout their careers.

Stuff Smith American jazz violinist
You'se a Viper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKFH_zh4gY0
Soft winds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY01AqKfzaw

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Joe Venuti

Joe Venuti's real importance to jazz is as improvised music's first great violinist. He was a boyhood friend of Eddie Lang (jazz's first great guitarist) and the duo teamed up in a countless number of settings during the second half of the 1920s, including recording influential duets. Venuti moved to New York in 1925, and immediately he and Lang were greatly in demand for jazz recordings, studio work, and club appearances. Venuti seemed to play with every top white jazz musician during the segregated era and, in 1929, he and Lang joined Paul Whiteman's Orchestra
Joe Venuti American Jazz Violinist
"Wild Cats"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uJlWymX9rE

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Eddie South
His classical swing style is very elegant. He played in the pre-bop era,
Eddie South was a brilliant technician who, were it not for the universal racism of the time, would probably have been a top classical violinist. A child prodigy, South graduated from the Chicago Music College. Since classical positions were not open to black violinists in the 1920s, South learned to play jazz (helped out by Darnell Howard). In the early to mid-'20s, he worked in Chicago with Jimmy Wade's Syncopators, Charles Elgar, and Erskine Tate. South's 1928 visit to Europe (where he studied at the Paris Conservatoire) made a deep impression on the violinist, particularly his visit to Budapest; later on, he would often utilize gypsy melodies as a basis for jazz improvising. In 1931, South returned to Chicago, where his regular band included the young bassist Milt Hinton. In 1937, he visited Paris and had the opportunity to record with Stephane Grappelli & Django Reinhardt.. However, South never really had a major breakthrough commercially in his career. He did work on radio and television, but spent most of his life in relative obscurity, gigging in New York, Los Angeles, and especially Chicago

Eddie South american jazz violinist
Black Gipsy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mozx_Dv-VCE
Old Harlem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTQM7aRXfKQ
Eddie Blues avec Django Reinhardt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K07rIf-BcE&list=RD4K07rIf-BcE&start_radio=1&rv=4K07rIf-BcE&t=56
Nagasaki
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hybCuIlCV9Y
Praeludium and Allegro (swing style)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JV-p_IcQpJY &list=RD4K07rIf-BcE&index=2

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Emilio Caceres
1897-1980 Emilio Caceres, jazz violinist, was born in Corpus Christi on September 24, 1897. He was the elder brother of his famous brother Ernesto Caceres who was born in Rockport, Texas.
He played with "Swing trio" and orchestra.

But it was through Emilio's Trio that the two brothers first gained national attention when they appeared on the Benny Goodman Camel Caravan radio show in 1937. Prior to this date, the trio, which included Emilio on violin, Ernesto on clarinet and baritone sax, and a cousin, Johnny Gomez, on guitar, had performed "some of the hottest music around San Antonio."
Emilio Caceres jazz violinist, Ernie Caceres and Johnny Gomez

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Harry Lookofsky
He was a jazz violinist.
He was born in Paducah, Kentucky in 1913 and studied classical violin in St. Louis where he joined the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in the mid 1930s. ... He continued his career as a classical symphony violinist later as concertmaster at ABC following Toscanini's retirement in 1954.

Harry Lookofsky jazz violinist in USA

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Claude Williams
(1908- 2004)
He played jazz violin and jazz guitar. He performed into his 90s.
He played with the greatest: Ben Webster, Lester Young, the Count Basie orchestra …
Discography – (relaunched his career after 1980, see a concert in 1988)
He was the first guitarist to record with Count Basie and the first musician to be inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame.

Claude Williams  American jazz violinist

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Ray Perry
He was born in 1915 to a musical family and began playing the violin at a young age,
Perry had some local jobs early on with Dean Earl in 1935, Clarence Carter during 1937-39 and Blanche Calloway for eight months in 1940 before landing a high-profile position with Lionel Hampton. He was with Hampton from Sept. 1940 until Oct. 1943, taking a few violin solos on records.

Ray Perry American jazz-violinist

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John Frigo
American jazz violinist and bassist. Wrote the jazz standard Detour Ahead as part of the Soft Winds Trio with Herb Ellis and Lou Carter . Performed as a country fiddler on the National Barn Dance radio show for 13 years.
John Frigo American jazz violonist

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Ginger Smock
(1920–95) 

One of the first women to record “hot” jazz improvisations on the violin, and one of the first female African American bandleaders on television, her horn-like solos and dramatic stage presence electrified audiences across the country. Her story may be punctuated with closed doors but is defined by those she pushed open and walked right through.

Ginger Smock ameracan woman Jazz violinist

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Joe Kennedy Jr

Violinist, educator, composer, arranger,
he was member of the Four Strings, along with pianist Ahmad Jamal, guitarist Ray Crawford, and bassist Edgar Willis.
Joe Kennedy, Jr. toured the world as a violinist and composer. His international credits include tours of Japan - the North Sea Jazz Festival at the Hague, Holland - Grande Parade du Jazz, Nice, France - Birmingham, England International Jazz Festival.
He appeared in “A Salute to Duke Ellington” at the Kennedy Center, which was televised nationally. He also performed at the Concord and Monterey Jazz Festivals - the New York Kool Jazz Festival - Carnegie Hall - as guest violinist with the Modern Jazz Quartet at the Richmond (VA) Jazz Festival - as violin soloist at the Aspen, Colorado Music Festival - at the San Francisco Jazz Festival.
Kennedy’s career and many of his compositions were featured in the British documentary, “Fiddlers Three”.
He had the reputation of the " cleanest violin"

Joe Kennedy Jr American jazz violinist

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Ray Nance
He played with Duke Ellington, violin and trumpet
Ray Nance was an integral part of the Duke Ellington   orchestra from 1940 to 1963 although he took a break in the early ‘40s to lead his own groups. A multi-talented artist who played trumpet, cornet and ... violin
Ray Nance was a virtuoso jazz violinist and Ellington took care to feature him on many of the band ’s numbers. Particularly outstanding are his contributions to “Moon Mist,” “Come Sunday” and “ Black Brown and Beige.”

Ray Nance American Jazz Violin

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Papa John Creach
John Henry Creach (May 28, 1917 – February 22, 1994), better known as Papa John Creach, was an American blues violinist, who also played classical, jazz, R&B, pop and acid rock music. ... Creach recorded a number of solo albums and guested at several Grateful Dead and Charlie Daniels Band concert.
Papa John Creach was one the best known blues violinists of the 20th century, through his membership in the Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna, the Jefferson Starship, and his solo recordings.
He played in a pop blues improvising style
 Skilled equally in pop, rock, jazz, and blues, he played with a rough edged warm tone and wild hot trilling solo licks.

Papa John Creach American jazz violin and pop

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Don Sugar Cane Harris
The jazz, blues and rock violinist Don 'Sugarcane' Harris, who has died of pulmonary illness aged 61, played on four of Frank Zappa's albums, including "Hot Rats" and "Weasels Ripped My Flesh".
He performed with Little Richard's band in the early 60s and, with his lifelong friend, the pianist Dewey Terry, worked as Don & Dewey from the 50s on.
He was also a pioneer in the amplification of the violin. As he put it, he 'took a cartridge off a record player, taped the crystal to the wood of my violin, attached a shielded wire and plugged it into an amp.'

He had a very rough blues sound. This sound is the one he played with Frank Zappa and the mothers of invention

Sugarcane Harris blues  and jazz violin

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Jerry Goodman

Jerry Goodman was  born on March 16, 1949, in Chicago, Illinois. His parents were both members of the string section of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and his uncle was the noted composer and jazz pianist Marty Rubenstein. ... Jerry Goodman has also been a part of Billy Cobham's Spectrum 40 tour .
Jerry Goodman is simply one of the most explosive talents the rock world has ever seen: a violin player trained in classical music with an ear for jazz and the attitude  of a true rock n’ roller! Known for his work with Chicago-based prog fusion band The Flock and John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra as well as studio sessions with everyone from Hall & Oats to Styx, Goodman deftly combined his influences into a vibrant musical vision all his own.

Jerry Goodman Blues rock jazz violin american

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Mark O'Connor

Mark O'Connor (born August 5, 1961) is an American violinist and composer whose music combines bluegrass, country, jazz and classical. ... He is also an expert at traditionally-based fiddle and bluegrass music.
Mark O'Connor is a true musical prodigy. He began playing guitar at age six, moved on to violin at 11 and was winning national fiddle championships by age 12. He won the National Junior Fiddle Championship four years running from 1974 to 1977. During almost the same period (1973 to 1976) he won the National Old Time Fiddle Championship. He moved on to win more prestigious titles and captured the Grand National Fiddle Championship three years in a row (1979 to 1981). Then he exited the contest circuit and began touring with David Grisman's band.
He has appeared on 450 albums, composed nine concertos and has put together groundbreaking ensembles
.
Mark O' Connor American country jazz violin

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Vanessa Mae
She was born Vanessa-Mae Vanakorn Nicholson in Singapore on 27th October 1978, (the same day as Nicolo Paganini) to a Thai father and a Chinese mother.  When she was four her parents separated and her mother married Graham Nicholson, a British attorney, who adopted Vanessa-Mae.  Her family then moved to London.
At six after 2 years of piano, she began to study the violin. Despite her multi-talent at playing both the piano and the violin Vanessa decided to focus on the violin,
 She was a child prodigy.  At seven she won the title Young British Pianist of the Year, then gave up the piano and turned to the violin.  At eight, she was invited by Prof Lin-Yao-Ji to Beijing to continue training with him.  The course, scheduled for three years, she finished it in months.
Her self-styled “techno-acoustic fusion” blends classical, jazz, country , bluegrass and pop music techniques to create a distinctive style that is all her own.
She likes all these styles of music.
She is very famous all over the world for her selfstyle and also for classical performances
 
Vanessa Mae Classical, Fusion and jazz violinist

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John Blake
John Edward Blake Jr. was born in Philadelphia on July 3, 1947, and began his training on violin at 9.
He studied music at West Virginia University, after which did postgraduate work in Montreux, Switzerland, focusing partly on traditional East Indian music.
John Blake has performed and/or recorded with Archie Shepp the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Turtle Island String Quartet, Quartet Indigo, the Steve Turre Sextet, the Billy Taylor Trio, Avery Sharpe, Cecil McBee, Jay Hoggard and James Newton. Blake released his recording debut as a leader and composer, Maiden Dance, in 1984, the first of five well-received projects on Gramavision Records including one that teamed him up with fellow jazz violinists Michal Urbaniak and Didier Lockwood.
He released his sixth album,
Quest
 that reunited him with Grover Washington and featured Joe Ford, Charles Fambrough, Ben Riley, Omar Hill, Joey Calderazzo, on Sunnyside Records 1992. Blake’s first recording with his current quartet, The Traveler, was released in 2007.
John Blake is a fine jazz violinist melodist
John Blake american jazz violinist

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Mark Feldman
Born 1955 in Chicago, he is an American jazz violinist playing a modern experimental style.
Mark Feldman worked in Chicago from 1973 to 1980, and in Nashville, Tennessee from 1980 to 1986. He worked in New York City and Western Europe from 1986. Feldman often works with John Zorn, Sylvie Courvoisier, John Abercrombie, The Masada String Trio, Dave Douglas, Uri Caine, Billay Hart. He has played on recordings by Maichael Brecker, lee Konitz, Joe Lovano, Chris Potter .
At New York's Lincoln Center he played in duo with pianists Paul Bley and Muhal Richard Abrams . In 2010 Feldman Released two Recordings. "Oblivia" a duo recording of original music with pianist/composer Sylvie Courvoisier on Tzadik Records. "To Fly To Steal" with the Mark Feldman/Sylvie Courvoisier Quartet Featuring Bassist Thomas Morgan And Drummer Gerry Hemmingway on The Swiss Label Intakt. In 2006, Feldman's recording What Exit was released on ECM,which featured British Pianist John Taylor.
In 1995 he released Music for Violin Alone, a collection of his Improvisations for Solo Violin, on Tzadik Records. In 2000 he released Book of Tells on Enja records, a recording of his compositions for string quartet.

In Chicago he was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and played in many bar bands in Chicago. He played on over 200 recordings in Nashville as a studio musician, was a member of the Nashville Symphony, and was a member of the touring groups of country western entertainers Loretta Lynn and Ray Price.
He has played on over 100 recordings in New York City as a soloist in contemporary music and modern jazz.

Mark Feldman American jazz violin

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Regina Carter
She plays jazz with a sweet subtle sound.
Born in Detroit, Michigan in 1966, Regina began studying violin at the age of four using the Suzuki method. She attended Cass Technical High School in Detroit, and her training continued at the New England Conservatory of Music and at Oakland University in Michigan for jazz.
She is one of the most famous American woman playing jazz violin

Regina Carter American woman playing jazz violin

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Billy Bang

Born William Vincent Walker in Mobile, Alabama on Sept. 20, 1947. He died in Harlem, he was 63. 
He is a violinist whose gritty, expressive and spirited playing earned admiration in contemporary jazz circles.
He plays experimental modern style and freejazz.
Billy Bang identified the free-jazz scene created by players like John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman as a means for addressing issues of race and social justice. Taking up the violin again, he studied with the prominent avant-garde jazz violinist Leroy Jenkins, became immersed in the 1970s downtown loft-jazz ferment, and went on to collaborate with idiosyncratic musical auteurs like Kip Hanrahan and Bill Laswell.
He recorded 2 albums inspired by what he lived when he was in the army in Vetnam
"Vietnam the Aftermath" - "Reflections"
and other albums

Billy Bang American jazz violinist

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