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Al Di Meola trio "Opus & More" at Cremona Jazz Festival 2019

By Danilo Codazzi

Al Di Meola At One World Theatre

By Jed Vaughn

Al Di Meola One World Theatre Austin, TX September 25, 2018 One World Theatre in Austin, Texas, is a unique and intimate little venue to catch great musical performances in the self-proclaimed “Live Music Capital of the World." Every seat provides a great view with perfect sound and acoustics. With a mere 300 seats, it is impossible to land in one that would not be described as superb. World-class guitarist Al di Meola performed there ...

Al Di Meola: Opus

By Doug Collette

Guitarist/composer Al Di Meola explores his heritage musically and otherwise in the near hour-long Opus. Largely a solo project, the music becomes all the more compelling for an intricacy mirrored in the deceptively ornate cover art. The intimacy arising from the very first tones of “Milonga Noctiva (Wandering in the Dark)" eventually alternates overdubs of acoustic and electric guitars with orchestral punctuation. As flamenco flourishes introduce the sounds of classically-tinged piano, the musicianship conjures an air of formality ...

Al Di Meola at Balboa Theater

By Jim Worsley

Al Di Meola Balboa Theater San Diego, CA September 22, 2017 Most of us have been on many journeys in life. It might be globetrotting or a trip to the grocery store or all and everything in between. A journey can be filled with a myriad of the expected and unexpected. Of stops and starts. Of turns and curves. Of upgrades and downslopes. There are bumps in the road and detours. Al Di ...

Al Di Meola: Elysium

By Doug Collette

Virtually all of guitarist Al DiMeola's recordings since the days of Return to Forever are listenable to a greater or lesser degree, but his last couple have been truly exceptional. A genuine affection for the Beatles permeates All Your Life (In-Akustik, 2013) and the comparably deep, lush textures of the ever-so-appropriately titled Elysium are rooted in a spontaneity that is unusual for a musician so technically adept he sometimes has to fight to play with genuine abandon. Not ...

Al Di Meola at the Soiled Dove Underground, Denver

By Geoff Anderson

Al Di Meola Soiled Dove Underground Denver, CO October 19, 2015 Jazz and rock began their courtship in the late 1960s. For a while, it seemed like they would never get together. From the beginning of rock 'n' roll in the '50s, the two genres had kept their distance from one another, each professing its distaste for the other. Yet despite their initial antipathy, despite their feelings that they had nothing in common, that they ...

Al Di Meola: Pursuit of Radical Rhapsody

By Stephen Wood

Those who follow the guitar world are likely to be familiar with Al Di Meola, either from his stint with Return to Forever or his own,four-decade solo career. As wide-reaching as the possibilities of his fretboard, from electric jazz fusion to acoustic world music, Di Meola has built a reputation as a fantastic guitarist. Unencumbered by any particular genre, he remains true to form on Pursuit of a Radical Rhapsody; his exciting Pat Metheny-meets-Baden Powell-meets-Joe Satriani-meets-Andres Segovia style in full ...

Al Di Meola: Consequence of Chaos

By Doug Collette

After graduating from the Berklee School of Music, Al Di Meola gained visibility as the electric guitarist in Chick Corea's best-known version of Return to Forever. With the dissolution of that jazz-rock fusion band, Di Meola pursued a variety of avenues, many of which he seamlessly recapitulates on Consequence of Chaos.

The title may refer to the recording process of the disc or world events, but it may also be intended ironically. The atmosphere of the music in its varied ...

Al Di Meola: One Of These Nights

By Mark Sabbatini

Al Di MeolaOne of These Nights Music Video Distributors 2005

Guitarist Al Di Meola proved it's possible to evolve from raw groundbreaking fusion to mellow contemporary arrangements and still excel. His 2005 concert DVD One Of These Nights takes the concept to a visual level, offering a minimalist view of an exceptional performance instead of capturing viewers by showing off.

DI Meola works a range between chamber music and symphonic rock, all ...

Al Di Meola: Live at Montreux 1986/1993

By Jerry D'Souza

Al Di Meola Live at Montreux 1986/1993 Eagle Eye Media 2004

Al Di Meola has been a contrast in terms of music. He has taken his guitar into various streams with different levels of success. His playing has been marked with a gentle lyrical air just as it has been infiltrated with an abundance of technique; the latter at times at the expense of an emotional connect. The two performances captured here show both ...

Dance of the Infidels: Some Jazz Musicians Take Aim at Critics

By Marshall Bowden

There have been a couple of incidents recently of jazz musicians striking back at critics who they feel have wronged them that have gained some degree of notoriety, at least in the small circle of people who are avid jazz fans or who actually read jazz criticism. While it is not new for musicians and critics to be at loggerheads, the particularly vitriolic nature of the responses in these cases seems shocking, at least at first glance. ...

Al Di Meola: Flesh on Flesh

By Dave Nathan

Pioneering fusion of rock and jazz more than 25 years ago, guitarist/composer/arranger Al Di Meola continues to bring his special brand of music to the recording studio. For his third CD for the Telarc label, the electric guitarist has put together a play of list of eight melodies, five of which he wrote. One of the more interesting is “Innamorata" which features jagged rhythms interspersed among long lyrical lines produced by a wide variety of instruments, including different guitar models ...