Al Di Meola plays the Aladdin Theater
Al Di Meola, a bonafide living Guitar Legend inducted into the Gallery of Greats is among the top guitarists of our time. His ongoing fascination with complex rhythmic syncopation combined with provocative lyrical melodies and sophisticated harmony has been at the heart of his music throughout a celebrated career that has spanned four decades and earned him critical accolades, four gold albums, two platinum albums, more than six million in record sales worldwide, five German gold albums, and various awards including 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, Hungarian Foundation for Performing Arts Lyra Award, and numerous Grammy nominations and awards. Al is the recipient of the most prestigious guitar awards ever given, a total of 12 awards from Guitar Player Magazine polls and as a result, was inducted into their Gallery of Greats.
Not only a guitar hero, but a prolific composer, he has amassed over 30 albums as a leader while collaborating on a dozen or so others with the likes of the fusion supergroup Return to Forever(with Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Lenny White), the celebrated acoustic Guitar Trio featuring fellow virtuosos John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia, and the Rite of Strings trio with bassist Clarke and violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. And while his dazzling technique on both acoustic and electric guitars has afforded him regal status among the hordes of fretboard fanatics who regularly flock to his concerts, the depth of Di Meola's writing along with the soulfulness and the inherent lyricism of his guitaristic expression have won him legions of fans worldwide beyond the guitar aficionado set.
A pioneer of blending world music and jazz, going back to early Latin-tinged fusion outings like 1976's Land of the Midnight Sun, 1977's Elegant Gypsy and 1978's Casino, the guitar great continues to explore the rich influence of flamenco, tango, Middle Eastern, Brazilian and African music with his World Sinfonia, an ambitious pan-global group that he formed in 1991. Their exhilarating world music fusion has been documented on such releases as 2000’s The Grande Passion (featuring the Toronto Symphony Orchestra), 2007’s Live in London, 2011’s Pursuit of Radical Rhapsody and the stunning 2012 DVD, Morocco Fantasia (recorded at the Mawazine Festival in Rabat, Morocco and featuring special guests Said Chraibi on oud, Abdellah Meri on violin and Tari Ben Ali on percussion).
A retrospective of Al Di Meola’s nearly 50 year acclaimed career is expressed through his latest Ear Music release of March 2020 “ACROSS THE UNIVERSE” with his virtuosic arrangements and creative interpretations of 14 Beatles songs with a larger scale full production featuring orchestrations balanced with lavish acoustic arrangements and electric guitar.
Current work includes an autobiography and a new solo guitar record of 13 brand new compositions. Al is also very proud to announce the upcoming April 2022 release of “Saturday Night in San Francisco” from the 1980 tour of the Guitar Trio with John McLaughlin and the late Paco de Lucia.
