Al Di Meola (Guitarist)
A bona fide guitar hero, perennial poll-winner and virtuoso of the highest
order, Al Di Meola has also been recognized over the past 30 years as a prolific
composer and respected artist with over 20 recordings as a leader. His creative
output to date is staggering, whether it's with his current World Sinfonia band
or past musical endeavors like his electric Tour de Force group with Jan Hammer,
Anthony Jackson, Steve Gadd and Mingo Lewis, the internationally acclaimed Trio
with fellow guitar superstars John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia, the Rite of
Strings trio with Stanley Clarke and Jean-Luc Ponty or the '70s fusion
supergroup Return To Forever with Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Lenny White.
And while his dazzling technique on both acoustic and electric guitars has
afforded him regal status among the hordes of fretboard aficionados who
regularly flock to his concerts, the depth of Di Meola's writing along with the
soulfulness and his inherent lyricism of his guitaristic expression have won him
legions of fans worldwide beyond the six-string set.
A pioneer of blending world music and jazz, going back to early Latin-tinged
fusion outings like 1976's Land of the Midnight Sun, 1977's Elegant
Gypsy and 1978's Casino, the guitar great continues to reflect the
rich influence of flamenco, tango, Middle Eastern, Brazilian and African musics
on more recent outings like 1998's The Infinite Desire, 2000's The
Grand Passion, 2006's Consequence of Chaos and 2008's La Melodia,
Live in Milano.
Coming off of 2008's triumphant 25-year reunion tour by Return To Forever,
which produced the live two-CD set Returns and the concert DVD Live at
Montreux, Di Meola began rehearsing new music with his New World Sinfonia band
in preparation for a coast-to-coast tour of the States in the early part of
2009, followed by whirlwind tours of Europe and the Middle East. Di Meola calls
his bandmates in the New World Sinfonia --Fausto Beccalossi on accordian, Peo
Afonsi on acoustic guitar, Peter Kaszas on percussion, Gumbi Ortiz on
percussion, Victor Miranda on bass -- "the best group of musicians so far in my
career."
Di Meola's ongoing fascination with complex rhythmic syncopation combined
with provocative lyrical melodies and sophisticated harmony has been at the
heart of his music throughout a celebrated career that has earned him critical
accolades, three gold albums and more than six million in record sales
worldwide. He has been particularly enamored over the past 20 years by the tango
music of the late Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla, whose compositions he
has interpreted over time, beginning with 1990's Di Meola Plays
Piazzolla, continuing to 1993's Heart of the Immigrants, 2002's
Flesh on Flesh and right up to 2007's Diabolic Inventions and
Seduction for Solo Guitar. "Piazzolla had a profound effect on my
development as a musician and as a person,” says Al. “We became close friends,
often communicating by mail. And during the course of this friendship my
admiration and desire to learn more about this great man intensified.”
A native of New Jersey who still resides in the Garden State, Di Meola was
born in Jersey City on July 22, 1954. Growing up in Bergenfield with the music
of Elvis Presley, The Ventures and The Beatles, he naturally gravitated to
guitar as a youngster and by his early teens was already an accomplished player.
Attaining such impressive skills at such a young age didn't come easy for Al but
rather was the result of focused dedication and intensive periods of
woodshedding between his junior and senior years in high school. “I used to
practice the guitar eight to ten hours a day,” he told Down Beat. “And I
was trying to find myself, or find the kind of music that suited where I was
going with the guitar.”
His earliest role models in jazz included guitarists Tal Farlow and Kenny
Burrell. But when he discovered Larry Coryell, whom Al would later dub “The
Godfather of Fusion,” he was taken with the guitarist's unprecedented blending
of jazz, blues and rock into one seamless vocabulary on the instrument. “I used
to ride the bus from New Jersey to see him at little clubs in Greenwich
Village,” he recalls. “Wherever he was playing, I'd be there.”
In 1971, he enrolled at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and by the
second semester there began playing in a fusion quartet led by keyboardist Barry
Miles. A gig tape of that band was later passed on to Chick Corea by a friend of
Al's and in the early part of 1974 the 19-year-old guitarist was tapped to join
the fusion superband as a replacement for guitarist Bill Connors. “I was just
sitting around my apartment in Boston on a Friday afternoon when Chick called
and asked me to come to a rehearsal in New York,” he recalls. “I couldn't
believe it. But in 10 minutes I packed some clothes in a bag, got a ride to New
York and never saw that apartment in Boston again.”
Following a weekend of rehearsals with Chick, Stanley Clarke and Lenny White,
Di Meola made his RTF debut at Carnegie Hall, offically launching his career
into the stratosphere. "Playing with Chick in Return To Forever was the first
significant step in my development as a player,” says Al. “Chick is another
major influence in my life. He has always been a wonderful supporter, major
musical inspiration and a friend.” After three landmark recordings with Return
To Forever -- 1974's Where Have I Known You Before, 1975's Grammy Award
winning No Mystery and 1976's Romantic Warrior -- the group
disbanded and Al subsequently started up his career as a solo artist. His 1976
debut as a leader, Land of the Midnight Sun, was a blazing showcase of
his signature chops and Latin-tinged compositions that featured a stellar cast
including drummers Steve Gadd and Lenny White, bassist Anthony Jackson and Jaco
Pastorius, keyboardists Jan Hammer, Barry Miles and Chick Corea and
percussionist Mingo Lewis. Over the course of six more albums with Columbia
Records -- Elegant Gypsy, Casino, Splendido Hotel, Electric Rendezvous, Tour
De Force and Scenario -- Al established himself as an influential force in
contemporary music.
1980 marked the triumph of the acoustic guitar Trio with Paco De Lucia and
John McLaughlin. Their debut recording on Columbia Records, Friday Night in
San Francisco, became a landmark recording that surpassed the two million
mark in sales. The three virtuosos toured together from 1980 through 1983,
releasing the studio album Passion, Grace & Fire in 1982. In 1995,
they reunited for a third recording, Guitar Trio, follow by another
triumphant world tour. In early 1996, Di Meola formed a new trio with the
violinist Jean-Luc Ponty and RTF bandmate Stanley Clarke called The Rite of
Strings. He subsequently recorded with the likes of opera superstar Luciano
Pavarotti, pop stars Paul Simon and Dave Matthews, classical guitarist Manuel
Barrueco and Japanese jazz pianist Yutaka Kobayashi. Over the course of his
career, Di Meola has also worked and recorded with Phil Collins, Carlos Santana,
Steve Winwood, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, Herbie Hancock, Gonzalo Rubalcaba,
Milton Naciemento, Egberto Gismonti, Stevie Wonder, Les Paul, Jimmy Page, Steve
Vai, Frank Zappa and many more.
But for now Al's main focus remains his New World Sinfonia. “I'm just totally
involved with the new group,” he says. “Everybody's happy and totally into the
music. The RTF reunion tour was fun and it was great for the fans, but it was
more of a nostalgic thing. I'm more interested now in moving forward with the
New World Sinfonia, which has really developed into something beautiful. For me,
it's the most rewarding thing I've done in a long, long time, all the way
around. You don't have the overbearing volume with this band. Instead you have a
rich harmonic kind of music with lots of improvisation, you have a music that is
emotional, which really reaches far beyond the almost head-banging male crowd
that electric fusion attracts.”
The prolific Di Meola plans to document his latest batch of new compositions
with both live and studio recordings in the coming year with the New World
Sinfonia. “What I'm doing now is just completely satisfying, like a phenomenal
meal and a great glass of vintage wine. The fusion thing is kind of a blast from
the past and is kind of assaulting on the ears. And there's a cool aspect to
that, but it's not where I'm going musically as a composer.”
Meanwhile, Di Meola may be expanding his world music vocabulary even further
after touring Morocco with his New World Sinfonia. “We'll be there a whole week
and that will afford me the chance to jam with some of the local musicians
there. I'm wide open to that kind of collaboration now. I've done some jamming
back in New York at a world music club in the East Village called Drom. I have a
very successful jam there with a Turkish clarinet virtuoso named Husnu
Senlendiric. I find that I have a real affinity for the music of the Middle
East. So we'll see how it goes in Morocco. Maybe there's something that can come
out of this.”
Clearly, there are many chapters yet to come in the story of Al Di Meola. But
so far, in his 35 years as a professional musician, he's already established a
rich legacy that has secured a place for him in the Gallery of Guitar Greats.
Stay tuned.
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