“There’s so much good and there’s some very weird experiences,” Al Di Meola told Prog in 2018 as he looked back on his career. It had begun when he was 20 with a call-up to Chick Corea’s band Return To Forever in 1974, which quickly cast Di Meola as a pioneer of fusion music.
“One of the positive experiences was Chick’s idea for all of us to go and do our own solo records,” he recalled. “I was like, ‘Really? Why do you want to do that?’ I wasn’t really thinking in terms of writing or being a composer, but everybody else was very enthusiastic about doing their own record.
“Then I got an offer from Columbia Records. The same day Return To Forever signed a multimillion-dollar deal, I signed a deal as a solo artist. Still living with my parents, I went home and said, ‘Dad, look at these cheques! I just signed two times to Columbia!’”
Di Meola remembered feeling uncertain with his first solo release. “But it became the bestselling debut record for CBS that year! Then the second record is when I started to feel like, ‘Okay, now I think I’ve got something.’ I could see who I am with Elegant Gypsy and that became my biggest record to date.”
He added: “It’s still my most popular work, but that was 40-something years ago; and as a composer, I’ve needed to and wanted to evolve. As I grew, hopefully my writing was growing along with it.”
A revered master of both electric and acoustic guitar – who mainly focuses on the latter style today – in 2012 Prog presented five albums that illustrate the best of his progressive tendencies.
Return To Forever: Romantic Warrior (1976)
By his third album with Chick Corea’s group, Di Meola had the confidence to match his huge chops, and it shows in an epic album, from the stuttering passages of Medieval Overture to the complex-yet-catchy rock of his own Majestic Dance, and the insane shredding of Duel Of The Jester And The Tyrant.
Al Di Meola: Elegant Gypsy (1977)
With its exciting, exotic blend of Latin-inspired rhythms and fret-melting guitar lines, Meola’s calling-card hit solo album also displayed his growing sense of himself as a composer. His duet with Paco de Lucía, the gorgeous flamenco-tinged Mediterranean Sunset, pointed to his later direction, and remains a fan favourite.
Al Di Meola, Paco De Lucía & John McLaughlin: Friday Night In San Francisco (1981)
The relationship between McLaughlin and Di Meola has palled since, but they’re in blistering tandem on Chick Corea’s Short Tales Of The Black Forest as the trio bounce off each other thrillingly on Fantasia Suite. Before a rapturous audience, three masters feed off each other’s disparate brilliance.
Al Di Meola: Kiss My Axe (1991)
Though dated in parts, this eclectic mid-period album shows Di Meola’s music in fascinating flux. The world influences begin to hold sway, post-fusion guitar influences are assimilated and those dazzlingly fast electric guitar chops can be dialled up when needed.
World Sinfonia: Pursuit Of Radical Rhapsody (2011)
With his World Sinfonia, Di Meola became a rounded global citizen, making complex, beautiful music grounded in his technical past yet also steeped in international influences. With contributions from Weather Report’s Peter Erskine and bass legend Charlie Haden, this is a deceptively progressive record from a truly progressive mind.
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