Al Laurence Dimeola (aka Al Di Meola) was born on 22 July 1954 in Jersey City, New Jersey, and grew up in Bergenfield, New Jersey, attending Bergenfield High School. In 1971 he enrolled in Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, and in 1974 he joined Chick Corea's band, Return To Forever, playing with the band until a major lineup shift in 1976, which was the year that saw the release of their masterpiece album 'Romantic Warrior', featuring the classic line-up of Corea, Di Meola, Stanley Clark, and Lenny White. At the beginning of his career he 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, and he continued to explore Latin music within the jazz fusion genre on albums like 'Casino' and 'Splendido Hotel', as well as guesting on a number of albums by Greek musician George Dalares. He also exhibited a more subtle touch on acoustic numbers like 'Fantasia Suite For Two Guitars' from his 'Casino' album, and on the best-selling live album with John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia, 'Friday Night In San Francisco'. With Scenario he explored the electronic side of jazz in a collaboration with Jan Hammer, and this led to him expanding his horizons further with the acoustic album 'Cielo e Terra'. Because of his technique on his early recordings, Di Meola became arguably the most important pioneer of shred guitar, leading to him being invited to sit in with Frank Zappa and The Mothers Of Invention at one of their gigs in 1981, which luckily was recorded. In addition to a prolific solo career, he has engaged in successful collaborations with bassist Stanley Clarke, keyboardist Jan Hammer, violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, and guitarists John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía, as well as guesting on a select number of records from former band-mates and friends.
01 Prince Of The Sea (from 'Venusian Summer' by Lenny White 1975)
02 Stellar (from 'Go' by Stomu Yamash'ta 1976)
03 Clownz On Velvet (from live concert with Frank Zappa November 1981)
04 Compadres (from 'Touchstone' by Chick Corea 1982)
05 Allergies (from 'Hearts And Bones' by Paul Simon 1983)
06 Perasmenes Mou Agapes (from 'Latin' by George Dalares 1988)
07 Tangos (from 'Jazzpana' by Vince Mendoza & Arif Mardin 1993)
For MAC users
Press command+shift+period (to show hidden files) and a grayed out folder '...and on guitar" will appear and the mp3s will be inside. Either drag those to another folder OR rename the folder without any periods at the beginning. Press command+shift+period to once again hide the hidden files.
I don't think i've ever heard of this man so i am looking forward to listening to this. Thanks PJ. Also, might i suggest Jesse Ed Davis for the series. Influenced Duane Allman, palled around with Clapton and was a highly sought session musician for years.
ReplyDeleteGood call on Davis. He certainly played on loads of albums in the early 70's, although more as a session guitarist than as a guest musician, but if I can find enough good stuff from him then he could be an addition to the series.
Delete... and how about "... and on bass" with (e.g.) John Wetton (King Crimson, Asia, Uriah Heep, Wishbone Ash and Districht 97 come to mind)?
ReplyDeleteIt has been suggested before to expanf the series to other instruments, such as keyboards (Rick Wakeman would be the first in that one), but as Wetton was actually a member of all those bands rather than just guesting on one album then I would have had to omit them anyway. I think bass players or drummers who were actually invited to play on one or two tracks of a album would be quite few and far between, so if I did expand the series it would probably have to be keyboards or saxophone.
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