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Albert Laurence Di Meola (born July 22, 1954) is an American guitarist. Known for his works in
jazz fusion
Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, amplifiers, and ke ...
and world music, he began his career as a guitarist of the group Return to Forever in 1974. Between the 1970s and 1980s, albums such as '' Elegant Gypsy'' and '' Friday Night in San Francisco'' earned him both critical and commercial success.
Early life
Born inJersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark. into an Italian family with roots in Cerreto Sannita, a small town northeast of
He attended Berklee College of Music in 1971. At nineteen, he was hired by Chick Corea to replace Bill Connors in the pioneering 
In the beginning of his career, as evidenced on his first solo album '' Land of the Midnight Sun'' (1976, on which Jaco Pastorius and the ex-members of RTF collaborated), 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. Notable examples are "Mediterranean Sundance" and "Lady of Rome, Sister of Brazil" from the '' Elegant Gypsy'' album (1977).
His early albums were influential among rock and jazz guitarists. Di Meola continued to explore Latin music within jazz fusion on ''
In the mid-1980s, Di Meola began to incorporate the Synclavier guitar synthesizer into his compositions. Except for the occasional electric guitar foray on albums such as 1991's '' Kiss My Axe'', he spent most of the next two decades exploring acoustic music and world music. He rediscovered his love of the electric guitar in 2006, and the DVD of his concert at the Leverkusen Jazz Festival 2006 is subtitled ''Return to Electric Guitar''. In 2018, Di Meola was awarded an honorary doctorate of music from his alma mater, Berklee College of Music.
Official site
Al Di Meola Interview - NAMM Oral History Library (2015)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Di Meola, Al 1954 births Living people 20th-century American guitarists 21st-century American guitarists American jazz guitarists Jazz fusion guitarists Jazz-rock guitarists Lead guitarists Return to Forever members Columbia Records artists American jazz musicians Latin jazz guitarists Berklee College of Music alumni Bergenfield High School alumni American people of Italian descent People from Bergenfield, New Jersey Musicians from Jersey City, New Jersey People from Old Tappan, New Jersey Guitarists from New Jersey American male guitarists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians
Benevento
Benevento (, , ; la, Beneventum) is a city and '' comune'' of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the ...
, Di Meola grew up in Bergenfield, where he attended Bergenfield High School
Bergenfield High School is a four-year, comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades from Bergenfield, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Bergenfield Public Schools. Be ...
. He has been a resident of Old Tappan, New Jersey.
When he was eight years old, he was inspired by Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...
and the Ventures to start playing guitar. His teacher directed him toward jazz standards. He cites as influences jazz guitarists George Benson and Kenny Burrell and bluegrass and country guitarists Clarence White and Doc Watson.
Career
He attended Berklee College of Music in 1971. At nineteen, he was hired by Chick Corea to replace Bill Connors in the pioneering jazz fusion
Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, amplifiers, and ke ...
band Return to Forever with Stanley Clarke and Lenny White. He recorded three albums with Return to Forever, helping the quartet earn its greatest commercial success as all three albums cracked the Top 40 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' pop albums chart.
As Return to Forever was disbanding around 1976, Di Meola began recording solo albums on which he demonstrated a mastery of jazz fusion, flamenco
Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura a ...
, and Mediterranean music. His album '' Elegant Gypsy'' (1977) received a gold certification. In 1980, he recorded the acoustic live album, '' Friday Night in San Francisco'', with Paco de Lucía and John McLaughlin.
In the beginning of his career, as evidenced on his first solo album '' Land of the Midnight Sun'' (1976, on which Jaco Pastorius and the ex-members of RTF collaborated), 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. Notable examples are "Mediterranean Sundance" and "Lady of Rome, Sister of Brazil" from the '' Elegant Gypsy'' album (1977).
His early albums were influential among rock and jazz guitarists. Di Meola continued to explore Latin music within jazz fusion on ''Casino
A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live enterta ...
'' and ''Splendido Hotel
''Splendido Hotel'' is a double album by jazz guitarist Al Di Meola that was released in 1980.
Track listing
All songs by Al Di Meola unless otherwise noted.
Personnel
* Al Di Meola – guitars, mandocello, keyboards, drums, percussion, vo ...
''. He exhibited a more subtle touch on acoustic numbers "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''. The latter album became one of the most popular live albums for acoustic guitar, selling more than two million copies worldwide.
In the mid-1980s, Di Meola began to incorporate the Synclavier guitar synthesizer into his compositions. Except for the occasional electric guitar foray on albums such as 1991's '' Kiss My Axe'', he spent most of the next two decades exploring acoustic music and world music. He rediscovered his love of the electric guitar in 2006, and the DVD of his concert at the Leverkusen Jazz Festival 2006 is subtitled ''Return to Electric Guitar''. In 2018, Di Meola was awarded an honorary doctorate of music from his alma mater, Berklee College of Music.
Discography
* 1976 '' Land of the Midnight Sun'' (Columbia
Columbia may refer to:
* Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America
Places North America Natural features
* Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region i ...
)
* 1977 '' Elegant Gypsy'' (Columbia)
* 1978 ''Casino
A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live enterta ...
'' (Columbia)
* 1980 ''Splendido Hotel
''Splendido Hotel'' is a double album by jazz guitarist Al Di Meola that was released in 1980.
Track listing
All songs by Al Di Meola unless otherwise noted.
Personnel
* Al Di Meola – guitars, mandocello, keyboards, drums, percussion, vo ...
'' (Columbia)
* 1981 '' Friday Night in San Francisco'' with John McLaughlin, Paco de Lucia
Paco is a Spanish nickname for Francisco. According to folk etymology, the nickname has its origins in Saint Francis of Assisi, who was the father of the Franciscan order; his name was written in Latin by the order as ''Pater Communitatis'' (fat ...
(Columbia)
* 1982 '' Tour De Force – Live'' (Columbia)
* 1982 '' Electric Rendezvous'' (Columbia)
* 1983 '' Passion, Grace & Fire'' with John McLaughlin, Paco de Lucia (Columbia)
* 1983 '' Scenario'' (Columbia)
* 1985 ''Cielo e Terra
Cielo (Spanish and Italian for "heaven" or "sky"), El Cielo (in Spanish) or Il Cielo (in Italian) may refer to:
Art, entertainment, and media
* ''Cielo'' (film), a 2017 Chile-Canadian documentary film
* Cielo (TV channel), an Italian television ...
'' (Manhattan)
* 1985 '' Soaring Through a Dream'' with Al Di Meola Project (Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
)
* 1987 ''Tirami Su
''Tirami Su'' is an album by jazz guitarist Al Di Meola that was released in 1987.
Track listing
All songs by Al Di Meola except where noted
# "Beijing Demons" – 6:22
# "Arabella" – 7:08
# "Smile from a Stranger" – 5:40
# "Rhapsody of Fi ...
'' with Al Di Meola Project (Manhattan)
* 1988 '' Kiss My Axe'' with Al Di Meola Project (Tomato
The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...
)
* 1991 '' World Sinfonia'' (Tomato)
* 1993 '' Heart of the Immigrants'' (Mesa)
* 1994 '' Orange and Blue'' (Bluemoon)
* 1995 '' The Rite of Strings'' with Stanley Clarke, Jean-Luc Ponty
* 1996 '' The Guitar Trio'' with John McLaughlin, Paco de Lucia ( Verve)
* 1996 '' Di Meola Plays Piazzolla'' (Bluemoon)
* 1998 '' The Infinite Desire'' ( Telarc)
* 1999 '' Winter Nights'' (Telarc)
* 2000 '' World Sinfonía III – The Grande Passion'' (Telarc)
* 2002 '' Flesh on Flesh'' (Telarc)
* 2005 '' Cosmopolitan Life'' with Leonid Agutin
Leonid Nikolayevich Agutin (russian: link=no, Леонид Николаевич Агутин; born July 16, 1968) is a Russian pop musician and songwriter, Meritorious Artist of Russia (2008). He has been active since the 1990s. He has released te ...
(Ole)
* 2006 ''Vocal Rendezvous'' (SPV)
* 2006 '' Consequence of Chaos'' (Telarc)
* 2007 '' Diabolic Inventions and Seduction for Solo Guitar'' (In-Akustik)
* 2007 ''Live in London''
* 2008 '' World Sinfonia – La Melodia''
* 2008 ''He and Carmen'' with Eszter Horgas
* 2010 ''One Night in Montreal'' (Jazz Hour)
* 2011 '' Pursuit of Radical Rhapsody'' (Telarc)
* 2013 ''All Your Life: A Tribute to the Beatles Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London''
* 2015 ''Elysium'' (In-Akustik)
* 2017 ''Morocco Fantasia'' (In-Akustik)
* 2018 ''Elegant Gypsy & More Live'' (Ear Music)
* 2018 ''Opus'' (Ear Music)
* 2020 ''Across the Universe '' (Ear Music)
* 2022 ''Saturday Night in San Francisco''
References
External links
Official site
Al Di Meola Interview - NAMM Oral History Library (2015)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Di Meola, Al 1954 births Living people 20th-century American guitarists 21st-century American guitarists American jazz guitarists Jazz fusion guitarists Jazz-rock guitarists Lead guitarists Return to Forever members Columbia Records artists American jazz musicians Latin jazz guitarists Berklee College of Music alumni Bergenfield High School alumni American people of Italian descent People from Bergenfield, New Jersey Musicians from Jersey City, New Jersey People from Old Tappan, New Jersey Guitarists from New Jersey American male guitarists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians