Al DiMeola Biography
One of the premiere guitarists of the jazz-fusion era, Al DiMeola’s staggering technical mastery and complex, intricate solos helped to establish him at the forefront of the fusion movement, both as a member of Return to Forever and as a celebrated solo artist. Although he’s widely identified with the fusion style, DiMeola’s musical interests are too broad and eclectic to be fully contained by that subgenre, and his evolution has led him to explore other styles and textures in the decades since he first rose to fame.
The New Jersey-born DiMeola studied at Boston’s Berklee School of Music, and was only 20 when he joined the pioneering fusion combo Return to Forever, in which he played alongside fusion heavyweights Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Lenny White. DiMeola’s addition to the band coincided with its greatest commercial and critical success, culminating in the 1976 classic Romantic Warrior, and this incarnation of Return to Forever is generally considered to be the group’s classic lineup.
DiMeola left Return to Forever after Romantic Warrior, launching a solo career that got off to a flying start with such acclaimed albums as Land of the Midnight Sun, Elegant Gypsy, Casino, Splendido Hotel, Electric Rendezvous, Scenario and the live Tour de Force. He also teamed with fellow fusion guitar heroes John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía for 1980’s Friday Night in San Francisco. While those albums showcased DiMeola’s fiery electric playing, they also found him demonstrating his acoustic skills and exploring a broad range of international influences, including Latin and Mediterranean touches.
In the 1980s, DiMeola branched out into acoustic and electronic territory on his own albums, as well as working with his old cohorts Corea, Clarke, de Lucía, and McLaughlin. He also recorded with Paul Simon, Jan Hammer, Stanley Jordan, Jean-Luc Ponty, Carlos Santana and Japanese prog-rock conceptualist Stomu Yamash’ta. In the ’90s, DiMeola concentrated largely on acoustic music, exploring a variety of world styles including flamenco, and collaborating with a variety of artists from various musical traditions. The lightning speed of DiMeola’s playing has also made him something of a hero to hard-rock guitar shredders like Yngwie Malmsteen, with whom he recorded in 2003.
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