Al Di Meola facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Al Di Meola
Al Di Meola at the Granada Theater, Dallas, Texas, December 6, 2006
Background information
Birth name	Albert Laurence Di Meola
Born	(1954-07-22) July 22, 1954 (age 70) Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S.
Genres	Jazz jazz fusion world music world fusion Latin jazz
Occupation(s)	Songwriter composer musician
Instruments	Guitar
Years active	1974 – present
Labels	Columbia Telarc Tomato earMUSIC Manhattan Atlantic Concord

Albert Laurence Di Meola (born July 22, 1954) is an American guitarist. He is famous for his work in jazz fusion and world music. His big break came in 1974 when he joined Chick Corea's band, Return to Forever. He is also known for working with Russian pop star Leonid Agutin and for his cooking skills.

Since 1976, Al Di Meola has had a very successful solo career. People know him for his amazing guitar skills, complex songs, and his love for Latin music. Some of his most famous works include Elegant Gypsy, his album Friday Night in San Francisco with other guitarists, and the World Sinfonia series.

Al Di Meola went to Berklee College of Music and has won a Grammy Award. He has worked with many famous musicians like Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Paco de Lucía, and John McLaughlin.

Early life and influences

Al Di Meola was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, United States. His family came from Italy. He grew up in Bergenfield and later lived in Old Tappan, New Jersey.

When he was eight years old, he started playing guitar. He was inspired by Elvis Presley and the Ventures. His teacher helped him learn jazz songs. He looked up to jazz guitarists like George Benson and Kenny Burrell, and country guitarists like Clarence White and Doc Watson.

Career highlights

1970s: Joining Return to Forever

Di Meola with Return to Forever at Onondaga Community College, Syracuse, New York, 1974

In 1971, Al Di Meola went to Berklee College of Music. He practiced guitar for up to eight hours every day. When he was 19, Chick Corea asked him to join his jazz fusion band, Return to Forever. He played with Stanley Clarke and Lenny White.

Al Di Meola loved being in the band. He said it was a dream come true because it was his favorite group. He felt Chick Corea wrote amazing music for electric guitar, and he got to play the coolest guitar parts.

He recorded three albums with Return to Forever. These albums became very popular and sold well. The song "No Mystery" from their album No Mystery won a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance By A Group.

In 1976, Return to Forever released Romantic Warrior. This album was very successful and later sold over 500,000 copies. Around this time, Chick Corea decided to end the group. The band members were also starting their own solo projects.

As Return to Forever was ending, Di Meola released his first solo album, Land of the Midnight Sun (1976). He became known for his fast and complex guitar playing. He also started exploring music from Mediterranean cultures and acoustic styles like flamenco.

His second album, Elegant Gypsy (1977), also became very popular and sold a lot of copies. He toured with the band Weather Report to promote it. From 1976 to 1978, he also played with the supergroup Go.

1980s: Guitar trio and new sounds

Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, and Paco de Lucía performing in Barcelona, Spain in the 1980s

In 1980, Al Di Meola recorded the famous live album Friday Night in San Francisco with guitarists John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía. This album sold seven million copies around the world.

The three guitarists made another album together in 1983 called Passion, Grace & Fire. In 1982, Al Di Meola released his first live solo album, Tour De Force.

He also produced Magic Touch (1985) for guitarist Stanley Jordan. This album was a big hit on the jazz charts.

In the late 1980s, Di Meola's music began to change. He started adding vocals and using a guitar synthesizer. He also began to play more acoustic music and explore Brazilian music. He worked with famous Brazilian musicians like Airto Moreira and Zé Renato.

In 1987, Al Di Meola was invited to Les Paul's 72nd birthday party. He even played an unplanned jam session with Les Paul and Jimmy Page.

1990s: Acoustic and world music

Al Di Meola spent most of the 1990s focusing on acoustic and world music. He sometimes played electric guitar, like on his 1991 album Kiss My Axe. He mentioned that playing electric guitar at very loud volumes for many years caused some hearing challenges.

In the mid-1990s, Al Di Meola, Stanley Clarke, and Jean-Luc Ponty formed a group called The Rite of Strings. They released an album and toured the world, including South America.

The famous guitar trio of Al Di Meola, Paco de Lucía, and John McLaughlin reunited one last time for the album The Guitar Trio (1996). Even though they sometimes had different ideas about music, they made a successful album and tour.

2000s to 2020s: Return to electric and recent work

Al Di Meola continued to be successful in the 2000s. His album World Sinfonía III – The Grande Passion (2000) won a gold album award in Germany.

In 2006, Al Di Meola started playing electric guitar more often again. In 2009, Return to Forever reunited for a tour.

In 2013, Al Di Meola played at a guitar festival in Spain for a large crowd. He returned to Spain in 2017 for another festival honoring Paco de Lucía. In 2018, his old school, Berklee College of Music, gave him an honorary music degree.

In 2023, Al Di Meola shared a tribute to fellow guitarist Jeff Beck after he passed away. Al Di Meola released a new album called Twentyfour in 2024.

Personal life

Al Di Meola has experienced a ringing sensation in his ears, called tinnitus, since he was a child. Touring a lot made it worse, but he has not lost his hearing.

He says growing up in New Jersey was great because he was close to New York. He could visit record stores and music clubs to see many different bands.

In July 2016, Al Di Meola married Stephanie Kreis. He has two daughters, Oriana and Valentina, from a previous relationship. He also has a daughter named Ava with Stephanie. He is a grandfather to Valentina's daughter, Orion.

Since 2019, the Di Meola family has hosted special "A Fine Taste and Music" events at their home. Al Di Meola cooks Italian dishes, and guests can enjoy dinner and a private show. Some special packages even let guests play one of Al's famous guitars.

In September 2023, Al Di Meola had a sudden health issue while performing in Romania. He received treatment and took some time off. He started performing again in January 2024.

Artistry

Songwriting style

Al Di Meola describes his music as a mix of Latin music, which he loves, and beautiful Italian melodies. He also adds energy from rock 'n' roll and complex ideas from jazz.

He uses special musical scales from different parts of the world in his songs. For example, "Egyptian Danza" uses a Phrygian dominant scale. He also likes to use elements from other modes like dorian and myxolydian.

Speed picking and palm muting

Al Di Meola is known for how fast and accurately he picks notes. Another special part of his style is called palm muting. This is when he rests his palm on the guitar strings near the bridge to make the notes sound shorter and clearer.

He learned this technique when he was younger because he didn't want his neighbors to hear him practice too loudly. He also liked how it made the notes "pop" and kept the sound clean, especially on electric guitar with a lot of amplification.

Other techniques

Al Di Meola believes it's important to pick every note when playing guitar. He usually avoids techniques like sweep picking and hammer-ons, which he sees as "shortcuts." He feels that picking every note helps him play more complex music. This makes his style different from many blues or shred guitarists who use those techniques often.

He also has different ideas about tapping, a technique where you tap the strings with both hands. While he finds it impressive, he thinks it can sometimes make a player sound fast without actually being fast in the traditional sense.

Al Di Meola is also skilled at crosspicking. This technique combines arpeggios (playing notes of a chord one after another) with string skipping (moving quickly between non-adjacent strings). An example is his song "Vertigo Shadow."

Legacy

Al Di Meola has inspired many guitarists in hard rock and heavy metal, including Paul Gilbert, Nuno Bettencourt, and John Petrucci. Even the late Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Randy Rhoads said Di Meola was his favorite. Other famous guitarists like Yngwie Malmsteen and Tony MacAlpine also admire him.

His influence reaches other music styles too. Toto guitarist Steve Lukather said Al Di Meola's sound and style greatly influenced him.

Al Di Meola has won many awards from Guitar Player magazine. He was inducted into their "Gallery Of The Greats" for winning in different categories five times or more. He has won 14 awards in total for "New Talent," "Jazz Guitarist," "Guitar LP," and "Acoustic Steel-String."

Guitar World magazine included Al Di Meola on their list of the top 50 fastest "shredders" of all time. However, Di Meola himself doesn't like the term "shredder" because he sees himself more as a composer than just a fast player.

In 2008, Al Di Meola and Return to Forever received the BBC Jazz Awards "Lifetime Achievement Award." In the same year, he received an honorary doctorate degree from his old school, the Berklee College of Music.

Discography

You can find a full list of Al Di Meola's albums in the main article.

Awards and nominations

Grammy Awards

• 1976: Best Jazz Performance By A Group – "No Mystery" with Chick Corea & Return to Forever

Guitar Player Magazine

Berklee College of Music

• 2008: Honorary Doctorate Degree

BBC Jazz Awards

• 2008: Lifetime Achievement with Chick Corea & Return to Forever

Latin Grammy Awards

• 2011: Best Instrumental Album – "Pursuit of Radical Rhapsody"

Equipment

Al Di Meola has often used Gibson guitars throughout his career. He also helped advertise the L6-S guitar model in the late 1970s.

He was also an early user of DiMarzio guitar pickups.

In 2008, PRS Guitars created a special signature model guitar for Al Di Meola called the Al Di Meola Prism. This guitar was known for its colorful design. It was designed to be a mix between a Gibson Les Paul and a Fender Stratocaster. It has a 25-inch neck and special pickups. Al Di Meola used this guitar on the 2008 Return to Forever reunion tour.

Images for kids

• 

  Di Meola with Chick Corea in Rochester, New York, 1976

See also

In Spanish: Al Di Meola para niños