Al Di Meola

Al Di Meola (born on July 22nd 1954 with Jersey City New Jersey (the United States) is a guitarist of Jazz fusion, known, amongst other things, for its incredible technique like for the discipline of its play.

Biography

Di Meola was born with Jersey City. In 1971, it returns to the Berklee College off Music to Boston in the Massachusetts. In 1974, it replaces Bill Connors within Return to Forever, the group of Chick Corea, records with the group one of the nuggets of the jazz rock'n'roll of years 75 the album " Romantic Warrior " and with until a complete recasting of the formation in 1976 plays.

Di Meola explored a large variety of styles, but he is particularly noticed for his work of Jazz fusion with Latin influences. He gained four times the distinction of Best Jazz Guitarist (better guitarist of jazz) decreed by the readers of Guitar Player Magazine .

Robert Lynch, historian of the guitar, writing: " In the history of the electric guitar, nobody contributed as much to advance the instrument in a purely technical approach than Mr. Di Meola. Its total control of the various styles and the various ranges is simply époustouflant. I feel priviligié to have been able to study his work during all these années."

In addition to its career prolific solo, it engaged in profitable collaborations with the bass player Stanley Clarke, the clavierist Jan Hammer, the violonist Jean-Luc Ponty, the guitarists John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía.

At the beginning of its career Di Meola was noticed for its technical control and its very fast and complex solos of guitars and compositions, although it started to explore the Mediterranean cultures and acoustic kinds like the Flamenco as of its first albums. Good examples are " Mediterranean Sundance" and " Lady off Rome, Sister off Brazil" album Elegant Gypsy (1977). Its first albums had a great influence on other guitarists of jazz and rock'n'roll. Di meola continued to explore the Latin music within the kind Jazz fusion with albums such as Casino and Splendido Hotel . It showed a more subtle approach in acoustic pieces like " Señor Mouse" and " Fantasia Continuation for Two Guitars" album Casino like in the album live with John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía: Friday Night in San Francisco . In 1978 it makes some dates in concerts in Japan with Chick Corea Tony Williams and Bunny Brunel. In 1980, it also made a round with Carlos Santana. In 1983 it leaves in round with Return to Forever, after the exit of the album Touchstone de Chick Corea in which on the Compadres title one could find the four accomplices of Return To Forever Al Di Meola, Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Lenny White

With Scenario , it explored an electronic facet of the jazz while collaborating with Jan Hammer (known in particular to have written to the topic of the series Two cops in Miami). following this change, it continued to extend its horizons with the acoustic album Cielo E Terra (cf live videotex DVD in Montreux 86). It started to incorporate synthetizers for guitar in albums as Soaring Through has Dream , on which one finds even daN Gottlieb, first beater of the Stalemate Metheny Group. From the years 1990, Di meola recorded albums in styles closer to the World Music and modern Latin that jazz, of which some strongly directed tango, in homage to the music of Astor Piazzola.

It continued to turn, playing in smaller rooms like The Birchmere with Alexandria, Virginia. Recent concerts integrated an outline of its new pieces (an interesting mixture of acoustics, " of acoustics saturé" , and of synthetizer for guitar in a format of pieces more seconded than to its first albums solos) as well as pieces with the electric guitar of its first albums. Di Meola often finishes its concerts with an energetic interpretation of the one of its parts representing the largest challenge to be played: " Race with Devil one Spanish Highway" , of the album Elegant Gypsy .

Discography

Albums solo

  • 1976 : Land off the Midnight Sun
  • 1977: Elegant Gypsy
  • 1978: Casino
  • 1980: Splendido Hotel
  • 1982: Electric Rendezvous
  • 1982: Feat of ingenuity - Live
  • 1983: Scenario
  • 1985: Cielo E Terra
  • 1985: Soaring Through has Dream
  • 1987: Tirami Known
  • 1988: KIS My Axe
  • 1990: Al Di Meola Plays Piazzolla
  • 1990: World Sinfonia
  • 1993 : World Sinfonia II - Heart off the Immigrant
  • 1994: Orange and Blue
  • 1998: Desired The Infinity
  • 1999: Christmas: Winter Nights
  • 2000 : World Sinfonía III - The Great Passion
  • 2002: Flesh one Flesh
  • 2003: Al Di Meola Revisited
  • 2006: Vocal Return
  • 2006: Consequence off Chaos

Collaborations

  1. Go (1976) with Go
  2. Go Live From Paris (1976) with Go
  3. Go Too (1977) with Go
  4. Friday Night in San Francisco (1980) with John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía
  5. Passion, Grace and Fire (1983) with John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía
  6. Super Guitar Trio And Friends (1990) with Larry Coryell and Biréli Lagrène
  7. Rite Off Strings (1995) with Stanley Clarke and Jean-Luc Ponty
  8. The Guitar Trio (1996) with John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía
  9. Black Utopia (2003) (album solo of Derek Sherinian)
  10. Cosmopolitan Life (2005) with Leonid Agutin

With Return to Forever

  • Where Cuts I Known You Before (1974, Polydor)
  • No Mystery (1975, Polydor)
  • Romantic Warrior (1976, Columbia)

Videotex

  • Al Dimeola Live At Montreux 86/93 (2004, DVD EAGLEROCK)
  • Al Dimeola Project Live At Montreal Fest Jazz 88 (1988, LCD VAP) (2003, DVD VAP)
  • Super Guitar Trio (Coryell+Lagrene) and Friends (1990, LCD PIONEER) (2001, DVD TDK)
  • Al Dimeola Project Live At Palladium 91 (1990, LCD PIONEER)
  • Al Dimeola One off thesis nights (2004, DVD INAK)
  • Al Dimeola Jean Luc Ponty Stanley Clarke Live At Montreux 94 (2005, DVD EAGLEROCK)

External bonds

  • Official site
  • Fingering charts for guitar of its pieces

Simple: Al Di Meola

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