| Elegant Gypsy | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | April 1977 | |||
| Recorded | December 1976–January 1977 | |||
| Genre | Jazz rock | |||
| Length | 37:00 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer | Al Di Meola | |||
| Al Di Meola chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  [1] |
| The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide |  [2] |
Elegant Gypsy is the second album by American jazz fusion guitarist Al Di Meola. It was released in 1977 by Columbia Records.
Elegant Gypsy was a follow-up album to Di Meola's debut release, Land of the Midnight Sun . The distinctive music on the album is a speedy fusion of jazz and rock, with lightning-fast guitar riffs intermixed with lyrical acoustical passages. The songs include explorations of Latin music themes, including acoustic genres like flamenco. [3]
The inspiration behind one of di Meola's signature songs, “Race with Devil on Spanish Highway”, came from The Kinks’ garage rock classic "You Really Got Me". It the first song he attempted to play on the guitar, when he was between eight and nine years old. [4]
Elegant Gypsy won an annual award for Best Guitar Album in Guitar Player .[ citation needed ]
Janice Dickinson is the model on the album cover.
All songs by Al Di Meola unless otherwise noted.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Flight Over Rio" | Mingo Lewis | 7:16 |
| 2. | "Midnight Tango" | 7:28 | |
| 3. | "Mediterranean Sundance" | 5:14 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 4. | "Race with Devil on Spanish Highway" | 6:18 |
| 5. | "Lady of Rome, Sister of Brazil" | 1:46 |
| 6. | "Elegant Gypsy Suite" | 9:16 |
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Billboard 200 | 58 [5] |
| 1977 | Billboard Top Jazz Albums | 5 [5] |
Albert Laurence Di Meola is an American guitarist. Known for his work in jazz fusion and world music, his breakthrough came after joining Chick Corea's Return to Forever group in 1974. He launched, from 1976 afterwards, a successful and critically acclaimed solo career, noted for his technical mastery, complex compositions and explorations of Latin music. Highlights of his work are Elegant Gypsy, his Friday Night in San Francisco collaboration and the World Sinfonia trilogy.
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.
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.
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.
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.
World Sinfonia is an album by jazz fusion guitarist Al Di Meola that was released in 1991.
Casino is the third album by jazz guitarist Al Di Meola. It was released in 1978.
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.
Land of the Midnight Sun is the debut album by jazz fusion guitarist Al Di Meola, released in 1976.
Splendido Hotel is a double album by jazz guitarist Al Di Meola that was released in 1980.
Di Meola Plays Piazzolla is an album by Al Di Meola which is a tribute to Argentinian composer Ástor Piazzolla. Eight of the ten songs were written by Piazzolla. Di Meola is accompanied by percussionist Arto Tuncboyacian and Dino Saluzzi, who plays bandoneon. Vince Mendoza provided some of the string arrangements.
Scenario is an album by jazz guitarist Al Di Meola, released in 1983. Musicians include keyboardist Jan Hammer, bassist Tony Levin and drummers Bill Bruford and Phil Collins.
Return to the 7th Galaxy: The Anthology is a 1996 compilation of 1972-1975 recordings made by bands assembled by Chick Corea under the name Return to Forever. The collection includes tracks from the albums Light as a Feather, Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy, Where Have I Known You Before and No Mystery, together with four previously unreleased tracks.
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.
Consequence of Chaos is an album by Italian-American jazz fusion and Latin jazz guitarist Al Di Meola, released in 2006. The album features guest appearances by Chick Corea, Steve Gadd, John Patitucci and Barry Miles.
Go Too (1977) is Go's third album. Go was founded by Stomu Yamashta, Steve Winwood and Michael Shrieve. For this album, Jess Roden replaced Winwood. The style of the music became modified accordingly. In addition, Linda Lewis was hired as a singer. Together with The Headhunters bassist Paul Jackson, Jr. and the orchestra of Martyn Ford, the album unified various jazz, funk and classically influenced soundscapes.
Magic Touch is the first studio album by guitarist Stanley Jordan, released in 1985 by Blue Note Records on vinyl; a CD edition was issued in 1990. Jazz fusion guitarist Al Di Meola produced it. The record spent 51 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's jazz chart, and went gold almost 20 years after its release. It earned Grammy nominations: Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Soloist and Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal Or Instrumental.
Orange and Blue is an album by jazz guitarist Al Di Meola that was released in 1994.
"Río Ancho" is a Spanish flamenco guitar piece that combines flamenco and gypsy jazz influences. The piece is in the key of E minor and progresses to A minor, D, G, C and B7. The original performances of the song had notable flute solos towards the end of the piece, reminiscent of classic Spanish gypsy music with trumpets. The track first featured on Paco de Lucia's 1976 album Almoraima.
The Infinite Desire is an album by jazz guitarist Al Di Meola that was released in 1998. Pianist Herbie Hancock plays acoustic piano on one pice, guitarist Steve Vai also plays electric guitar on another. Other guests include Pino Daniele on vocals, Mario Parmisano on keyboards, piano and strings and Rachel Z also on keyboards.
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