Guitarist Al Di Meola Storms Billboard Charts

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Al di Meola, Guitar, Jazz

Al Di Meola, Pursuit of Radical Rhapsody

Al Di Meola’s latest release ‘Pursuit of Radical Rhapsody‘ (Telarc), reaches #2 on Billboard’s Jazz Charts this week and is a fitting addition to the extensive body of work he has produced over the course of his prolific career. An experiment in international fusion, the album shows the dexterous Di Meola maneuvering his way through an old world-new world synthesis of electrified earth music.

Joined by the immensely gifted World Sinfonia and a number of acclaimed special guests (including the legendary Cuban pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba and bassist Charlie Haden), Di Meola has created a progressive, textured collection of ambitious guitar rock with an indigenous latin flair. His thrilling acoustic solos are grounded in organic rhythms on the tango-inspired “Fireflies”, while touches of distortion and synth layers add tremendous depth on the aptly titled “Brave New World”.

With “dazzling technical prowess” (NY Times), Di Meola and his ensemble let loose a “big, melodic, percussion heavy sound” (Drum!) that is both innovative and accessible, flowing effortlessly from tango to gypsy swing to classic pop, and back again.

Over the last nearly four decades, Di Meola has garnered three gold albums and more than six million record sales worldwide, appearing alongside luminaries such as Paul Simon, Phil Collins, Steve Winwood, Chick Corea, Les Paul, Jimmy Page, Frank Zappa, and many more in addition to his critically-acclaimed solo work.

..:: SOURCE: JazzNews ::..

New Jazz Releases for the Week of 3/15/2011

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Al di Meola, Jazz, New Releases, Yellowjackets

New Jazz Releases for 3/15/2011

Greeting’s jazz enthusiasts, as always it’s a pleasure to return with more new music releases. With each visit, you’ll discover a montage of new jazz recordings featured at Amazon.com that encompasses a generous diet of nuances which includes a wealth of complex and distinctive styles, textures, melodies, and rhythms exalted by a host of definitive and creative voices in the world of jazz.

For more details, please visit Amazon.com for a complete list of this week latest jazz releases!

..:: SOURCE: Amazon.com ::..

Flux Music [Jazz] Essentials … featuring [Blanchard, Brecker, & Di Meola]

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African American, Al di Meola, Jazz, Michael Brecker, Terence Blanchard

Flux Music Essentials

Greeting’s jazz connoisseurs, it’s great to return with another intriguing palette of creative music from some of today’s most unique, adventurous and inspiring voices known and unknown artists alike in the world of jazz.

Terence Blanchard - Flow

Terence Blanchard -][- Flow – [BLUE NOTE, 2005]

Terence Blanchard’s “Flow” may seem from the title to be some sort of easy-going smooth jazz effort. Instead, it’s a fairly strong mainstream jazz CD. The core group is a sextet, though it switches around, and Herbie Hancock evens plays on two songs. The three “Flow” songs are all fairly loose quartet jams — just trumpet, guitar, bass and drums. Blanchard lets his bandmates bring the tunes, and despite variations in style the CD flows nonetheless. “Wadagbe” is a good Lionel Loueke song which includes Lionel’s wordless yelps. I could do without the intro, though. “Benny’s Tune” is a slow song, also by Loueke, but it sounds more like a song from a Blanchard album than a Loueke album. “Wandering Wonder” is strong uptempo, mainstream stuff. “The Source” is by drummer Kendrick Scott and builds and gathers song parts like so many eighth notes laying in the grass. Bassist Derrick Hodge’s “Over There” is strong enough to get revisited in Blanchard’s 2007 “A Tale Of God’s Will” CD. Brice Winston wrote “Child’s Play” and it reminds me of something Wayne Shorter might have written. “Harvesting Dance,” by Aaron Parks, is another long, strong tune to close the CD.

“Flow” is a modern, mainstream CD, but there’s much more to it than its title indicates. There’s strong writing and improvisation. Pretty much any jazz fan ought to like this CD. —Anthony Cooper | Amazon.com

Return to Forever | Live at Montreux 2008

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Al di Meola, Chick Corea, Jazz, Lenny White, Return to Forever, Stanley Clarke

Return to Forever | Live at Montreux 2008 – [Eagle Rock Ent, 2008]

Return to Forever - Live at Montreaux 2008

Return To Forever were at the forefront of jazz/rock fusion in the seventies and like their contemporaries Weather Report and Mahavishnu Orchestra were formed by a former Miles Davis sideman, in this case the great Chick Corea. Return To Forever hit their commercial and artistic peak with a string of albums in the mid-seventies featuring the line-up of Chick Corea on keyboards, Stanley Clarke on bass, Al Di Meola on guitar and Lenny White on drums.

In 2008 this classic line-up reunited for their first tour in 25 years and proved that their musicianship and the chemistry within the band were as strong as ever. This concert was filmed at Montreux in July 2008 with the bonus tracks being filmed in Clearwater, Florida later the same month.