Al Di Meola

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Al Di Meola
Al Di Meola 2006 1.jpg
Al Di Meola at the Granada Theater, Dallas, Texas, December 6, 2006
Background information
Birth nameAlbert Laurence Di Meola
Born (1954-07-22) July 22, 1954 (age 70)
Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Songwriter
  • composer
  • musician
InstrumentGuitar
Discography Al Di Meola discography
Years active1974 – present
Labels
Formerly of Return to Forever
Website aldimeola.com

Albert Laurence Di Meola (born July 22, 1954) [1] is an American guitarist. Known for his works in jazz fusion and world music, he began his career as guitarist with the group Return to Forever in 1974. From 1976 to 1978 he played with Stomu Yamashta in the supergroup Go on three records. The 1970s and 1980s saw albums such as Land of the Midnight Sun , Elegant Gypsy , Casino and Friday Night in San Francisco earn him both critical and commercial success. [2] [3]

Contents

Early life

Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, [1] into an Italian family with roots in Cerreto Sannita, a small town northeast of Benevento, Di Meola grew up in Bergenfield, where he attended Bergenfield High School. [4] [5] He has been a resident of Old Tappan, New Jersey. [6]

When he was eight years old, he was inspired by Elvis Presley 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. [7]

Career

Di Meola with Return to Forever at Onondaga Community College, Syracuse, New York, 1974 Return to Forever 1974.jpg
Di Meola with Return to Forever at Onondaga Community College, Syracuse, New York, 1974
Di Meola with Chick Corea in Rochester, New York, 1976 Al Di Meola & Chick Corea.jpg
Di Meola with Chick Corea in Rochester, New York, 1976

He attended Berklee College of Music in 1971. [1] At nineteen, he was hired by Chick Corea to replace Bill Connors in the pioneering jazz fusion band Return to Forever with Stanley Clarke and Lenny White. [1] 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. [2]

As Return to Forever was disbanding around 1976, Di Meola began recording solo albums on which he demonstrated a mastery of jazz fusion, flamenco, and Mediterranean music. [8] His sophomore album, Elegant Gypsy (1977), eventually went gold, certified by the RIAA in July 24, 1989. [9] In 1980, he recorded the acoustic live album, Friday Night in San Francisco , with Paco de Lucía and John McLaughlin. [2]

Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, and Paco de Lucia performing in Barcelona, Spain in the 1980s Tres GUITARRISTAS (asi, con mayusculas).jpg
Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, and Paco de Lucía performing in Barcelona, Spain in the 1980s

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 and Splendido Hotel . 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. [10]

Di Meola at Leverkusener Jazztage (Forum/Leverkusen/Germany) on November 7, 2016 Al Di Meola - Leverkusener Jazztage 2016-AL1913.jpg
Di Meola at Leverkusener Jazztage (Forum/Leverkusen/Germany) on November 7, 2016

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 both acoustic and world music. He rediscovered his love of the electric guitar in 2006, [11] and the DVD of his concert at the Leverkusen Jazz Festival 2006 is subtitled Return to Electric Guitar. [12] In 2018, Di Meola was awarded an honorary doctorate of music from his alma mater, Berklee College of Music. [13]

Personal life

In July 2016, Al Di Meola married Stephanie Kreis after meeting after a 2013 concert of his in Budapest. [14]

Al has two daughters from a previous relationship; Oriana [15] and Valentina. [16] He also has a daughter with Stephanie, named Ava. [17] Additionally he is a first-time grandfather with his grandson named Orion [18] [19] from daughter Valentina.

In September 2023 while performing on stage in Bucharest, Romania Di Meola suffered a heart attack. He was admitted to a local hospital where he was treated for ST elevation myocardial infarction. [20] He took some time off from performances, but began performing again in January 2024. [21]

Musical style and influences

Besides the impressive speed and accuracy of his alternate picking, another hallmark of Al di Meola's style is his palm muting. [22] [23] In an interview to Rick Beato, di Meola explained how he developed and practiced this technique: "[...] when I was younger, and the neighbors downstairs in the next yard, I didn't really want them to hear me play. So I would mute my strings. So I got kind of got used to the palm on the bridge and muting. But I also liked the fact that the notes popped". [24]

Di Meola espouses the advantages of palm muting when playing the electric guitar:

If you're playing, let's say, a Les Paul or a guitar with a lot of amplification in a sustained setting, and you go down low, it's pretty messy. So I would try to clean that up by muting so that you don't have this 'wash' of sound, if you know what I mean. It cleans up the wash, in a sense. So that kind of became a thing. [24]

Legacy

Al di Meola made an impression on a whole generation of hard rock and heavy metal "guitar heros". The list includes neoclassical legend Yngwie Malmsteen, Mr. Big's Paul Gilbert, Extreme's Nuno Bettencourt and Dream Theater's John Petrucci. [22] [25]

Guitar World magazine included Al di Meola on their top 50 fastest "shredders" of all time list. Di Meola personally dislikes the term, though, which he finds "limiting". He was featured alongside other rock and jazz luminaries, such as Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhoads, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Allan Holdsworth, Frank Gambale and others. [26]

Al di Meola, along with former bandmates Return to Forever, received in 2008 the BBC Jazz "Lifetime Achievement Award" by Beatles producer George Martin. They performed Romantic Warrior's title track at the event. [27] In the same year he received a honorary doctorate degree from his alma mater , the Berklee College of Music. [28]

Discography

Awards and nominations

Grammy Awards [29]

Guitar Player Magazine [30]

Berklee College of Music

BBC Jazz Awards

Latin Grammy Awards [31]

Related Research Articles

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Stanley Clarke is an American bassist, composer and founding member of Return to Forever, one of the first jazz fusion bands. Clarke gave the bass guitar a prominence it lacked in jazz-related music. He is the first jazz-fusion bassist to headline tours, sell out shows worldwide and have recordings reach gold status.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John McLaughlin (musician)</span> English jazz fusion guitarist, founder of the Mahavishnu Orchestra (born 1942)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Return to Forever</span> American jazz fusion group led by Chick Corea

Return to Forever was an American jazz fusion band that was founded by pianist Chick Corea in 1972. The band has had many members, with the only consistent bandmate of Corea's being bassist Stanley Clarke. Along with Weather Report, The Headhunters, and Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever is often cited as one of the core groups of the jazz-fusion movement of the 1970s. Several musicians, including Clarke, Flora Purim, Airto Moreira and Al Di Meola, came to prominence through their performances on Return to Forever albums.

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<i>No Mystery</i> 1975 studio album by Return to Forever

No Mystery (1975) is a studio album by jazz-rock fusion band Return to Forever, and the second featuring the quartet of Chick Corea, guitarist Al Di Meola, bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Lenny White.

<i>Where Have I Known You Before</i> 1974 studio album by Return to Forever

Where Have I Known You Before is a studio album by Return to Forever, the first featuring guitarist Al Di Meola, and the second since leader Chick Corea switched to mostly electric instrumentation, playing music heavily influenced by progressive rock, funk and classical.

<i>Romantic Warrior</i> 1976 studio album by Return to Forever

Romantic Warrior is a studio album by the American jazz fusion band Return to Forever, their first recorded for Columbia Records, after releasing their previous four albums on Polydor. In February 1976, the group retreated to Caribou Ranch near Nederland, Colorado to record. It was the first album to remove the "featuring Chick Corea" credit from beside the band name on the album cover. Despite the music being more dense and avant-garde than the funkier No Mystery, it remains the band's highest selling album with over 500,000 copies sold in the US alone.

<i>Elegant Gypsy</i> 1977 studio album by Al Di Meola

Elegant Gypsy is the second album by American jazz fusion guitarist Al Di Meola. It was released in 1977 by Columbia Records.

<i>Tour De Force – Live</i> 1982 live album by Al Di Meola

Tour de Force — Live is a live album by jazz guitarist Al Di Meola that was released in 1982 and recorded on February 4, 1982 at Tower Theatre in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania. Additional keyboards and percussion were overdubbed in the studio.

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<i>Kiss My Axe</i> 1991 studio album by Al Di Meola

Kiss My Axe is an album by jazz guitarist Al Di Meola that was released in 1991. It is a jazz fusion album, with significant world music influences. Like its predecessor, Tirami Su (1987), it is credited to "The Al Di Meola Project", although the two albums have an almost entirely different set of backing musicians.

<i>Consequence of Chaos</i> 2006 studio album by Al Di Meola

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"Mediterranean Sundance" is the third track on Elegant Gypsy (1977), the second album by Al Di Meola. This piece and "Lady Of Rome, Sister Of Brazil", are the only two entirely acoustic tracks on the album. However, unlike "Lady Of Rome, Sister Of Brazil" which is an acoustic solo by Di Meola, "Mediterranean Sundance" consists of an acoustic guitar duet with flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucía. With a duration of 5' 13", the song is a complex blend of jazz and flamenco influences.

<i>Flesh on Flesh</i> 2002 studio album by Al Di Meola

Flesh on Flesh is a 2002 album by Italian-American jazz fusion and Latin jazz guitarist Al Di Meola. The album contains new compositions and reworkings of older ones as well.

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"Egyptian Danza" is a composition by Latin jazz-fusion guitarist Al Di Meola. He first recorded it in 1977 for his album Casino and also recorded live in Philadelphia in February 1982. It later appeared on his 1994 album Essence of Al Di Meola. Heavily influenced by Contemporary Egyptian music and Ancient Egyptian music, the distinctive exotic middle-eastern mystical sound and atmosphere of the piece comes from the C-sharp Phrygian dominant scale, which is composed from the fifth degree of an F-sharp harmonic minor scale. When Di Meola performs it live the piece is characterised by muting at the top of the fretboard in parts and by very fast sporadic picking. Although he performs the piece on an electro acoustic guitar parts of the piece are played as on an electric guitar. It features violins and Latin congas in the background. The original album recording featured Mingo Lewis.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 697. ISBN   0-85112-939-0.
  2. 1 2 3 Prato, Greg. "Al Di Meola". AllMusic. Retrieved September 10, 2017.
  3. ↑ Smith, Toby (November 6, 2009). "Al Di Meola, World Sinfonia Australian Tour – March 2010". Music Feeds. Retrieved September 10, 2017.
  4. ↑ Encyclopedia of Jazz Musicians, jazz.com, backed up by the Internet Archive as of January 26, 2009; accessed September 11, 2017. "Di Meola was born to an Italian family with roots in jazz fusion on July 22nd, 1954 in Jersey City, New Jersey, across the Hudson River from Manhattan. He grew up in Bergenfield, New Jersey, located in Bergen County.... When Di Meola completed his studies at Bergenfield High School, he enrolled in classes at the Berklee College of Music in Boston."
  5. ↑ Al Di Meola profile, Concord(entertainment company); accessed September 11, 2017.
    "Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, on July 22, 1954, Al Di Meola grew up with the music of The Ventures, The Beatles and Elvis Presley. ... '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."
  6. ↑ Stewart, Zan. The State of Jazz: Meet 40 More Jersey Greats, The Star-Ledger , September 28, 2003, backed up by the Internet Archive as of September 29, 2007. Accessed September 11, 2017. "Al DiMeola – One of the most dynamic of contemporary guitarists, Jersey City native DiMeola lives in Old Tappan."
  7. ↑ "Al Di Meola: "It's Bullshit When Guitarists Say, "One Note Says So Much More Than 100"". Guitar World. July 22, 2016. Retrieved September 10, 2017.
  8. ↑ Yanow, Scott (2013). The Great Jazz Guitarists. San Francisco: Backbeat. p. 57. ISBN   978-1-61713-023-6.
  9. ↑ "RIAA - Gold & Platinum Searchable Database". RIAA . Retrieved August 9, 2024.
  10. ↑ Scheel, Christian. "Al Di Meola World Sinfonia". Nova Concerts. Retrieved June 15, 2011.
  11. ↑ "In Conversation with Al Di Meola" – special feature on the Speak a Volcano DVD
  12. ↑ Speak a Volcano: Return to Electric Guitar (2007) DVD
  13. ↑ "Al Di Meola Gets Honorary Berklee Doctorate". JazzTimes. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  14. ↑ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved February 10, 2024.
  15. ↑ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved February 10, 2024.
  16. ↑ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved February 10, 2024.
  17. ↑ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved February 10, 2024.
  18. ↑ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved February 10, 2024.
  19. ↑ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved February 10, 2024.
  20. ↑ "US guitarist Al Di Meola suffers a heart attack on stage in Romania but is now in a stable condition". AP News. September 28, 2023. Retrieved September 28, 2023.
  21. ↑ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved February 10, 2024.
  22. 1 2 Griffiths, Charlie (July 19, 2024). "'A relentless speed and accuracy rarely heard before on the electric guitar': Al Di Meola's peerless alternate-picking style changed the landscape of guitar playing – just ask John Petrucci and Nuno Bettencourt". Guitar World . Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  23. ↑ Barnard, Simon (January 24, 2023). "How to palm mute on guitar: a metal and punk essential". Guitar World . Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  24. 1 2 Slavković, David (March 8, 2022). "Al Di Meola Explains Why It's 'Torture' to Record an Album Today, Talks Unusual Way How He Developed Palm Muting Technique". Ultimate Guitar . Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  25. ↑ Sharma, Amit (December 26, 2019). "Yngwie Malmsteen: the 10 guitarists who impressed me most". MusicRadar. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  26. ↑ Guitar World Staff (March 11, 2015). "Need for speed: The 50 fastest shred guitarists of all time". Guitar World . Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  27. ↑ Fordham, John (July 23, 2008). "BBC Jazz Awards 2008: A winning shindig". The Guardian . Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  28. ↑ "Honorary Degree Recipients". Berklee College of Music . Retrieved August 8, 2024.
  29. ↑ "Grammy Award winners – Al di Meola". Grammy.com. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
  30. ↑ "Annual readership poll results", 1980, page 27.
  31. ↑ "Latin Grammy Award nominees – Al di Meola". LatinGRAMMY.com. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
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