Al Di Meola (born Al Laurence Dimeola July 22, 1954 in Jersey City, New Jersey) is an Italian American jazz fusion and Latin jazz guitarist. Di Meola grew up in Bergenfield, New Jersey, and attended Bergenfield High School. [1] He is now a resident of Bergen County, New Jersey. [2]

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Career

In 1971, he enrolled in the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1974 he joined Chick Corea's band, Return to Forever, and played with the band until a major lineup shift in 1976.

Di Meola went on to explore a variety of styles, but is most noted for his Latin-influenced jazz fusion works. He is a four time winner as Best Jazz Guitarist in Guitar Player Magazine s Reader Poll.

Guitar historian Robert Lynch states: "In the history of the electric guitar, no one figure has done more to advance the instrument in a purely technical manner than Mr. Di Meola. His total command of the various styles and scales is simply mind-boggling. I feel privileged to have been able to study his work all these years."

In addition to a prolific solo career, he has engaged in successful collaborations with bassist Stanley Clarke, keyboardist Jan Hammer, violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, and guitarists John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía. He also guested on "Allergies" from Paul Simon's "Hearts and Bones" album (1983).

In the beginning of his career, as evidenced on his first solo album Land of the Midnight Sun (1976), Di Meola was noted for his technical mastery and extremely fast, complex guitar solos and compositions. But even on his early albums, he had begun to explore Mediterranean cultures and acoustic genres like flamenco. Good examples are "Mediterranean Sundance" and "Lady of Rome, Sister of Brazil" from the Elegant Gypsy album (1977). His early albums were very influential among rock and jazz guitarists alike. Di Meola continued to explore Latin music within the jazz-fusion genre on albums like Casino and Splendido Hotel . He exhibited a more subtle touch on acoustic numbers like "Fantasia Suite for Two Guitars" from the Casino album, and on the best-selling live album with McLaughlin and de Lucia, Friday Night in San Francisco . In 1980, he also toured with fellow Latin rocker Carlos Santana.

With Scenario , he explored the electronic side of jazz in a collaboration with Jan Hammer (of Miami Vice theme fame). Beginning with this change, he further expanded his horizons with the acoustic album Cielo e Terra . He began to incorporate guitar/synthesizers on albums such as Soaring Through a Dream . Beginning in the 1990s, Di Meola recorded albums closer to World music and modern Latin styles than jazz.

He has continued to tour, playing in smaller venues like The Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia, and House of Blues in Las Vegas, Nevada. Recent concerts have included a sampling of his newer material (an engaging mix of acoustic, "distorted acoustic music", and guitar/synthesizer with a looser format than the songs on the early solo albums) along with a selection of electric guitar numbers from the early albums. Di Meola often closes out shows with an energetic rendition of one of his most challenging (to play, that is) pieces, "Race with Devil on Spanish Highway", from the Elegant Gypsy album. Even in technical showcases like this, he combines blindingly fast scalar runs with subtle, dazzling rhythms, and melodic phrases. Because of his early recordings, Di Meola became arguably the most important pioneer of shred guitar, influencing guitarists such as Yngwie Malmsteen (with whom he appeared on keyboardist Derek Sherinian's solo album Black Utopia in 2003) Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi with his speed runs as a child and Dream Theater's John Petrucci. ^[3] However, in most cases after the early 1980s, Di Meola has largely distanced himself from this approach. In various interviews, Di Meola has stated that his reason for stepping away from the electric guitar is due to hearing damage (manifested as tinnitus) from years of playing at excessive volumes; ^[4] the acoustic guitar does not aggravate his condition.

But in 2006 he rediscovered his love of the electric guitar ^[5], and the DVD of his concert at the Leverkusen Jazz Festival 2006 bears the subtitle Return to Electric Guitar . ^[6]

Discography

Solo works

• Land of the Midnight Sun (1976)
• Elegant Gypsy (1977)
• Casino (1978)
• Splendido Hotel (1980)
• Electric Rendezvous (1982)
• Tour De Force - Live (1982)
• The Guitarist (Germany) (1982)
• Scenario (1983)
• Cielo e Terra (1985)
• Soaring Through a Dream (1985)
• Tirami Su (1987)
• Kiss My Axe (1991)
• ''World Sinfonia (1991)
• ''The Best of Al Di Meola - The Manhattan Years (1992)
• World Sinfonia II - Heart of the Immigrants (1993)
• Orange and Blue (1994)
• Acoustic Anthology (1995)
• Di Meola Plays Piazzolla (1996)
• The Infinite Desire (1998)
• Christmas: Winter Nights (1999)
• World Sinfonía III - The Grande Passion (2000)
• Anthology (2000)
• Flesh on Flesh (2002)
• Al Di Meola Revisited (2003)
• Vocal Rendezvous (2006)
• Consequence of Chaos (2006)
• Diabolic Inventions And Seduction For Solo Guitar (2006)
• La Melodia Live in Milano: World Sinfonia (2008)

Collaborations

• Venusian Summer (1975) Lenny White, Al Di Meola, Larry Coryell
• Go (1976) with Go Stomu Yamash'ta,Steve Winwood, Al Di Meola
• Go Live From Paris (1976) with Go Stomu Yamash'ta,Steve Winwood, Al Di Meola
• Go Too (1977) with Go
• Friday Night in San Francisco (1980) with John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía
• Passion, Grace and Fire (1983) with John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía
• Latin (1987) with George Dalaras
• Super Guitar Trio And Friends (1990) with Larry Coryell and Biréli Lagrène
• Rite Of Strings (1995) with Stanley Clarke and Jean-Luc Ponty
• Dance of Fire (1995) - Aziza Mustafa Zadeh
• The Guitar Trio (1996) with John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía
• Winter Nights (1999) - Roman Hrynkiv
• Inspiration - Colors & Reflections (2000) Aziza Mustafa Zadeh
• Nylon & Steel (2001) Manuel Barrueco
• The Running Roads (2001) with George Dalaras
• Black Utopia (2003) with Derek Sherinian
• Cosmopolitan Life (2005) with Leonid Agutin
• Midsummer Night In Sardinia (2005) with Andrea Parodi
• Mária (Égi szerelem) (2007) with Miklos Malek and Eszter Horgas
• The NYC Session: Beautiful Love (2007) with Eddie Gomez, Billy Drummond and Yutaka Kobayashi

As Producer

• Magic Touch (1985) Stanley Jordan

Return to Forever albums featuring Al Di Meola

• Where Have I Known You Before (1974, Polydor)
• No Mystery (1975, Polydor)
• Romantic Warrior (1976, Columbia)
• Returns (2009, Eagle (Fontana))

References

1. Al Di Meola, Telarc International Corporation. Accessed September 20, 2007. "“In the ‘60s, if you didn’t play like Eric Clapton or Jimi Hendrix or Jimmy Page, you weren’t accepted,” he recalls of his high school years in Bergenfield, New Jersey."
2. The State of Jazz: Meet 40 More Jersey Greats, ''The Star-Ledger'', September 28, 2004.
3. Title Unavailable
4. AL DiMEOLA Speaks About His Tinnitus - YouTube: American Tinnitus Association's Channel
5. "In Conversation with Al Di Meola" - special feature on the ''Speak A Volcano'' DVD
6. Speak A Volcano: Return to Electric Guitar (2007) DVD