Al di Meola

by Greg Prato
 
Guitarist Al di Meola first rose to prominence as a blazing jazz fusion player before his playing matured and he began to conquer other styles, such as acoustic Latin music. Born on July 22, 1954, in Jersey City, NJ, di Meola briefly studied at the Berklee School of Music in Boston during the early 70s before accepting a job replacing guitarist Bill Connors in fusion trailblazers Return to Forever (a group that included such monster instrumentalists as keyboardist Chick Corea and bassist Stanley Clarke) in 1974. It was with di Meola that Return to Forever enjoyed their greatest commercial success, as such releases as 1974s Where Have I Known Before, 1975s No Mystery, and 1976s Romantic Warrior cracked the U.S. Top 40 before di Meola jumped ship to launch a solo career.
 
What followed remains some of the finest jazz fusion guitar-based recordings ever: 1976s Land of the Midnight Sun, 1977s Elegant Gypsy (which would eventually earn gold certification in the U.S.), and Casino, plus 1979s Splendido Hotel, before uniting with fellow guitar greats John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía for 1980s Friday Night in San Francisco. Throughout the 80s and 90s, di Meola racked up numerous accolades (including earning yearly top honors in Guitar Player Magazine polls), kept on issuing solo releases on a regular basis, and played with others, including releases by Stomu Yamashta, Paul Simon, Stanley Jordan, and David Matthews, as well as further work with such former bandmates as Corea, Clarke, de Lucía, and McLaughlin. During the 90s, di Meola turned his back almost entirely on fusion to concentrate more on acoustic-based world music, as evidenced by such releases as World Sinfonia, Di Meola Plays Piazzolla, and Heart of the Immigrants, among others. Since that time, Di Meola has continued this eclectic approach with releases like 2003s Revisited, 2006s Consequence of Chaos, and 2007s Diabolic Inventions and Seduction for Solo Guitar, Vol. 1: Music of Astor Piazzolla.