Al Di Meola will make a guest appearance 10:30 PM, Friday, December 18, at Drom, 85, Avenue A, in New York.
Guitar Great Al Di Meola jams in New York
It’s not often that you get the chance to hear jazz fusion guitar great Al Di Meola jam in an intimate club in New York. So when I heard he’d be playing with Turkish clarinet virtuoso Husnu Senlendirici at Drom on Monday night, I high-tailed it down to Avenue A.
When I arrived, the club was full of guitar freaks and Turks. Everyone was dressed in dark colors, and, in the dim light, at first it was hard to tell who was who. But it soon became obvious. The Turkish men hugged each other heartily, while the American guitar freaks offered chilly handshakes. At small tables along the far wall, beautiful, dark-eyed women sat in pairs or singles, nursing drinks and chatting.
“Did you come to hear Husnu Senlendirici?” a smiling, young Turkish woman named Izge leaned over to ask me.
“I’m looking forward to hearing him, but it was Al Di Meola who drew me here,” I answered. Izge knew a lot about Turkish music, but she’d never heard of Al Di Meola. So I tried to fill her in.
In the guitar world, New Jersey-born Di Meola has long been legendary for his brilliant playing. Recruited when he was nineteen to join Chick Corea’s jazz-rock-fusion band Return to Forever in 1974, Di Meola immediately proved his chops and way more. Soon he was cutting albums that featured lightening-fast guitar licks and complex compositions of his own.
Guitar Great Al Di Meola jams in New York
It’s not often that you get the chance to hear jazz fusion guitar great Al Di Meola jam in an intimate club in New York. So when I heard he’d be playing with Turkish clarinet virtuoso Husnu Senlendirici at Drom on Monday night, I high-tailed it down to Avenue A.
When I arrived, the club was full of guitar freaks and Turks. Everyone was dressed in dark colors, and, in the dim light, at first it was hard to tell who was who. But it soon became obvious. The Turkish men hugged each other heartily, while the American guitar freaks offered chilly handshakes. At small tables along the far wall, beautiful, dark-eyed women sat in pairs or singles, nursing drinks and chatting.
“Did you come to hear Husnu Senlendirici?” a smiling, young Turkish woman named Izge leaned over to ask me.
“I’m looking forward to hearing him, but it was Al Di Meola who drew me here,” I answered. Izge knew a lot about Turkish music, but she’d never heard of Al Di Meola. So I tried to fill her in.
In the guitar world, New Jersey-born Di Meola has long been legendary for his brilliant playing. Recruited when he was nineteen to join Chick Corea’s jazz-rock-fusion band Return to Forever in 1974, Di Meola immediately proved his chops and way more. Soon he was cutting albums that featured lightening-fast guitar licks and complex compositions of his own.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
