Al Di Meola

Al Di Meola was born Albert Laurence Di Meola on July 22, 1954, in Jersey City, New Jersey, into a family with roots in southern Italy, and he grew up in Bergenfield, New Jersey, discovering guitar as a child before immersing himself in jazz, bossa nova, and rock influences. He attended Berklee College of Music in the early 1970s. While still a student, he enrolled at Boston's Berklee College of Music, where he joined a quartet featuring keyboardist Barry Miles, and a tape of the group eventually landed in the hands of keyboardist Chick Corea, who quickly offered Di Meola a chance to replace outgoing guitarist Bill Connors in his fledgling fusion ensemble Return to Forever. He hurried to New York and rehearsed with the legendary lineup (keyboardist-composer Chick Corea, drummer Lenny White, bassist Stanley Clarke) for a few days before they appeared at Carnegie Hall. That opportunity became Di Meola's breakthrough. It was with Di Meola that Return to Forever achieved their greatest commercial success, releasing albums like 1974's Where Have I Known Before, 1975's Grammy-winning No Mystery, and 1976's Romantic Warrior, all of which cracked the U.S. Top 40. After Return to Forever disbanded, Di Meola, then only 22 years old, embarked on a solo career, starting with 1976's Land of the Midnight Sun. Albums such as "Elegant Gypsy" and "Friday Night in San Francisco" earned him both critical and commercial success, and records like "Land of the Midnight Sun," "Elegant Gypsy," and "Casino" were among the highest selling records of any instrumental artist at that time. His acoustic work with flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia and fusion pioneer John McLaughlin proved especially significant: in 1980 he was integral to the "Super Guitar Trio" with Paco De Lucia and John McLaughlin, and the record "Friday Night in San Francisco" became a landmark recording resulting in wide acclaim, surpassing two million records in sales. Di Meola's career arc through the 1980s and beyond was marked by relentless stylistic expansion and industry recognition. He went on to dominate the Best Jazz Guitarist category, winning five consecutive years through 1981, while also earning "Best Guitar LP" awards in 1978 for "Casino" and in 1980 for "Splendido Hotel." With those impressive credits, he was instantly inducted into Guitar Player's Gallery of the Greats, becoming the youngest player in the magazine's history ever accorded that honor. He later formed the World Sinfonia ensemble, exploring tango, flamenco, and Middle Eastern textures, and as part of an all-star acoustic guitar trio with John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia, Di Meola has also collaborated with Stanley Clarke, Larry Coryell, Paul Simon, Luciano Pavarotti, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Charlie Haden, and many others. Over the decades his honors grew to include four gold albums, two platinum albums, more than six million in record sales worldwide, five German gold albums, an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Berklee College of Music, the Honorary Miles Davis Award presented by the Montreal Jazz Festival, a BBC Lifetime Achievement Award presented by Sir George Martin in 2008, and the Hungarian Foundation for Performing Arts Lyra Award. Di Meola has remained remarkably active into his seventies, continuing to record and tour. He continued to expand his sound on 1990's World Sinfonia, 2011's Pursuit of Radical Rhapsody, and 2018's Opus, balancing his fusion roots with forays into Argentinian tango and Spanish flamenco, as well as Middle Eastern, North African, and Afro-Cuban tradition. In 2020 he released a retrospective project reinterpreting Beatles songs, and he is widely regarded as one of the defining guitar virtuosos of the jazz fusion era, with a technique and rhythmic sophistication that continue to influence generations of guitarists worldwide.