Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 11:21 pm Post subject: Al di meola
Hi Scott, I was wondering what your thoughts were on Al Di Meola's music. I've never heard you mention him and since he's one of your fusion contemporaries, I'm curious as to what you think of his composing and playing style.
I'm sorry, I've never heard one of his records and I don't know anything about his current playing. He opened for Chick Corea when I was in the band - he was playing acoustic guitar and sounded great! I heard him in Return To Forever but to be honest I didn't like his tone on electric guitar - very overdriven sound with the neck pickup of a Les Paul - definitely not my thing. Also, he's kinda known for picking really fast, something which I don't have much interest in.
I'm afraid the answer to that statement is really dark - totally about the money, and I wouldn't say that unless Scientology was involved. And believe me, it is.
Chick is a great player and can be a fine composer, but I've seen first hand what he becomes in one of his "wanna be a pop star" phases. The writing isn't good, and the attitude isn't much different from a bandleader of a Vegas show - dance steps, yuppy clothes and fluff hairstyles. Listen to Light As A Feather if you want to hear the real Chick Corea.
Everything you need to know about Al Di Meola can be summed up in this picture
Behold! Al Di Meola: The Mid-Life Crisis Album.
Now, if this album cover was supposed to be tongue in cheek, that would be one thing, but unfortunately that's not the case. You should definitely recreate this cover for your next album!
So here's a story for you:
I remember very clearly the day I was first introduced to Al Di Meola. It was Valentine's Day, 2000. I was a Junior in high school, and on that particular day, I was incredibly bummed out because this girl I liked was dating this jock asshole (I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, so basically life was like a John Hughes movie). After school I had my weekly guitar lesson, during which I professed my displeasure regarding my love life to my guitar teacher. To make me feel better, he gave me a copy Friday Night In San Francisco with Al, John Mclaughlin, and Paco De Lucia.
To say that I was addicted to that album would be an understatement. So obsessed was I with transcribing every guitar part, that I nearly flunked out of high school. During class, I would write out the rhythmic values for the solos, and then apply the notes later when I got home. It got to the point where one of my teachers confiscated my manuscript book.
Eventually, I had the entire album transcribed. Looking at it now, it's clearly full of huge errors, but at the time I believed that I had achieved something monumental. Of course, the next thing I had to do was record every part by myself. Using a shitty microphone plugged directly into my soundcard, and a very archaic Windows DAW, I recorded every damn part over the course of six months. The final product was super sloppy, as my technical abilities were not really up to par at the time. But damn, I was proud at what I had done.
Then a few months later, my dad told me that Al was coming to the House of Blues in Chicago. My dad had a friend who worked there, and he set us up with box seats and gave us access to the upper lounge area. My dad suggested that I bring a CD of the recording I had done just in case we ran into Al before or after the show. The prospect of Al listening to my recording of his music was unbearably exciting, and as the day of the concert approached, all I could do was fantasize about him listening to my recording and being so impressed, that he had to take me on tour with him.
On the the day of the concert, my dad and I got to the venue early, and who did we see sitting at the bar in the lounge? That's right; Mr. Al Di Meola. I gathered up my courage and with my CD in hand, walked up to him and introduced myself.
He didn't even look at me. When I tried to give him my CD, he said in a curt manner, "Sorry, not interested."
Nearly in tears, I walked back to my dad. He asked what was wrong, and I told him. My dad was understandably furious, and wanted to have a word or two with Al, but I just wanted to leave and go home, so we did. I probably didn't listen to any recording with Al for at least a few years.
As depressed as I was over the whole affair, I learned a very important lesson: Be supportive of the people who support you. I mean, maybe Al was just having a particularly bad day and didn't want to deal with anyone else. We all have days like that. But still, he could have just taken my CD and thrown it out later on. I wouldn't have known, and it still would have made my day.
That's why I appreciate what you do here, Scott. For every person you respond to, I'm certain you make each of their days a little better.
OMG! If I ever do an album cover like that, somebody please shoot me in the head!
I won't elaborate, but he doesn't have a reputation as a nice person. The only story I know about him is that during his tour with John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia, Paco punched Al in the face at an airport and knocked him out, which ended the tour early.
Yes, you should be a nice person in this business, or end up unconscious on an airport floor.
I agree that Al is not very kind to his fans. He does have an incredibly inflated ego. However, I really do like his solo stuff, especially from the time period which you mentioned Scott, when he was playing acoustic guitar in the mid 80's, like the album 'Cielo e Terra', which is truly beautiful music. I really do feel that along with you and just a few others, he is one of the best players and composers in the fusion genre. Without necessarily just talking about him, I've always wondered how an artist who makes such beautiful music can have such an opposite and rude personality, which doesn't fit the feeling you get from their art.
Yeah I just don't enjoy these guys who take their style to the extreme and don't evolve.. I saw Mclauglin once and all it seemed was that he was just vying for oooohs and aahhs from the audience.. Stern is another.. yeah I get it, you can bend a distorted noted up a step and a half.. If you play an album from 2 decades ago you'll hear the same lines.. I'd rather listen to a Thin Lizzy album from the 70's.
You guys: let's collectively watch out. I am guilty of it too.
But Scott probably doesn't want us to talk much about other players on his personal forum. He has to run in to these guys at festivals etc. I don't want to bum Scott out because this forum is so awesome.
Yeah I just don't enjoy these guys who take their style to the extreme and don't evolve.. I saw Mclauglin once and all it seemed was that he was just vying for oooohs and aahhs from the audience.. Stern is another.. yeah I get it, you can bend a distorted noted up a step and a half.. If you play an album from 2 decades ago you'll hear the same lines.. I'd rather listen to a Thin Lizzy album from the 70's.
I know from a friend that ran a venue that McLaughlin was not too nice either. Mike Stern however is a really nice guy! At least he was to me and to my son as well. But I do agree about his lines being very predictable.
It's not really improvising at that point, it's old licks on top of old licks.
I did that speed picking shit for years. Got Oooooo's and Ahhhhh's and then realized I wasn't saying anything. Now I pick less and concentrate on saying something.
Scott is a master improviser. [/quote]
Joined: 09 Oct 2005 Posts: 2 Location: Spokane, WA
Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2015 5:28 am Post subject:
Interesting thread. We probably shouldn't attack people who aren't present, but I think this quote from his recent interview at GP is somehow appropriate:
"At the end of the tour I wanted to take the time to really come up with some more original arrangements of the remaining pieces I wanted to record. I had this idea to rent a house in the Hamptons, a place I’d never been before. But I had this strong sense that I wanted to get away from my house for five or six days and just work on the material. It was like a day or two before Labor Day weekend and there was really nothing that you could find through a realtor—unless you wanted to spend $50,000 a month or something—but I found this little house in the paper.
The owner said to me, “I’ve got to tell you, your next door neighbor is a famous pop star.” I’m thinking Billy Joel or Bon Jovi or somebody like that because they have places out there. Then he told me it was Paul McCartney, and I completely got goose bumps and tears. He’s been the one guy—him and De Niro—who I’ve wanted to meet my whole life. I couldn’t believe it. I had these three songs in the can, and the Beatles and Paul and John had been on my mind constantly through this whole process, because when I get into something, that’s all I think about.
Now I’m renting this house and I find out he’s my next-door neighbor [laughs]! So I drive out there, pull in my driveway, and Paul is standing there in his driveway, which is right next to mine. I’m just completely blown away. It was magic. It wasn’t until maybe the third day that I had the opportunity to meet him. He was pulling out of his driveway and I just waved at him. He rolled down the window and shook my hand and we start talking. I said, “Paul, this is an amazing story, but I’m actually recording your music at Abbey Road right now.” We went on to talking about people that we know and this and that, and that was it, and then he took off. It was like three minutes, but it felt like an hour.
Then this summer, I got the opportunity to present Paul with the finished CD. I can’t honestly say that he’s heard it yet but it was just an amazing experience—almost surreal. It’s a feeling you don’t get very often in life."
Interesting thread. We probably shouldn't attack people who aren't present, but I think this quote from his recent interview at GP is somehow appropriate:
"At the end of the tour I wanted to take the time to really come up with some more original arrangements of the remaining pieces I wanted to record. I had this idea to rent a house in the Hamptons, a place I’d never been before. But I had this strong sense that I wanted to get away from my house for five or six days and just work on the material. It was like a day or two before Labor Day weekend and there was really nothing that you could find through a realtor—unless you wanted to spend $50,000 a month or something—but I found this little house in the paper.
The owner said to me, “I’ve got to tell you, your next door neighbor is a famous pop star.” I’m thinking Billy Joel or Bon Jovi or somebody like that because they have places out there. Then he told me it was Paul McCartney, and I completely got goose bumps and tears. He’s been the one guy—him and De Niro—who I’ve wanted to meet my whole life. I couldn’t believe it. I had these three songs in the can, and the Beatles and Paul and John had been on my mind constantly through this whole process, because when I get into something, that’s all I think about.
Now I’m renting this house and I find out he’s my next-door neighbor [laughs]! So I drive out there, pull in my driveway, and Paul is standing there in his driveway, which is right next to mine. I’m just completely blown away. It was magic. It wasn’t until maybe the third day that I had the opportunity to meet him. He was pulling out of his driveway and I just waved at him. He rolled down the window and shook my hand and we start talking. I said, “Paul, this is an amazing story, but I’m actually recording your music at Abbey Road right now.” We went on to talking about people that we know and this and that, and that was it, and then he took off. It was like three minutes, but it felt like an hour.
Then this summer, I got the opportunity to present Paul with the finished CD. I can’t honestly say that he’s heard it yet but it was just an amazing experience—almost surreal. It’s a feeling you don’t get very often in life."
Hmmmm, interesting thread is right. This quote makes me feel he's not such a bad guy, but who knows. All I can say is for better or worse Al D is one of the most influential guitarists of our time. Trying to trash his sound or achievements is about as dumb as a bag of hammers.
Tone - Well we have to keep in mind the time & state of technology in the early to mid 70's. When I listen to early Santana, Cream, and even Hendrix, the guitar tones aren't very good to my ears. I just keep in mind that it was an experimental time and these guys were groundbreaking at the time.
Technique - As clinical as it is, he set the new standard and was one of the original sparks of shred. A lot of bad, but some good things came from it.
Impact - The RTF lineup of Corea/Clarke/DiMeola/White is by far the most successful and influential presentation of Return to Forever and although Scott endorses "Light as a feather", I found the earliest RTF recordings to be a little unfocused and not as interesting to me. His solo records had some not-so-interesting stuff, yet some landmark guitar work & songs that in some ways has never been eclipsed. On top of that, He, John Mclaughlin & Paco Delucia made acoustic guitar cool again when technology was taking over the music industry.
As for his personality, I've never met the man so I can't say anything to that, but I've read he wrote a song for Santana that Carlos didn't record, so that may say something there, and I read an article that he was a deadbeat dad and didn't make an effort to be part of his son's life. Could be it was the result of a fling or something we don't know, but it did make me want to whoop his azz.
Maybe he's like that "well off" cousin or uncle that you can't stand or want to be around (just look at his solo records, almost all his album covers are stupid cheesy), but have to respect his achievements. To dis Al's music & playing doesn't make much sense to me.
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