Al Di Meola

Di Meola then compared Corea's band to John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, the group that inspired Corea to take Return to Forever into a rockier, high-octane direction. He argued:

His short, two-year period with Return to Forever proved to be the group's career peak. He recorded three albums with the quartet, helping them earn its greatest commercial success as all three albums cracked the Top 40 on the U.S. Billboard pop albums chart.

No Mystery's title track won a Grammy for the Best Jazz Performance By A Group, but the band didn't show up for the event because they firmly believed they wouldn't win. Jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald presented the prize.

Di Meola recorded with Larry Coryell on Lenny White's solo debut album, Venusian Summer (1975). Di Meola and Coryell traded solos on “Prince of the Sea”, the album's last track. The pairing caused a stir in the fusion community, with fans wondering who played what solo. Coryell reveals this was the only time he and Di Meola played together with electric guitars.

In early 1976, Return to Forever released an album Romantic Warrior. Debuting at No. 170, it peaked at No. 35 in May, spending three weeks on the Billboard Top 40 and a total of 15 weeks on Billboard 200. Fourteen years later it won a gold RIAA certification for selling an excess of 500,000 copies. The album, as a whole, has been considered Chick Corea's answer to Rick Wakeman's successful The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (1975), either by its medieval themes or its prog rock leanings.

At the height of Return to Forever's popularity, Chick Corea decided to break up the group. The main reason for its sudden demise was the other band members' involvement in side-projects; White, Clarke and Di Meola were already investing in their solo works, with their labels and management backing up their new career moves, which may have hampered the progress of the main band.

Corea's deep involvement with Scientology might also have played a part in the end of Return to Forever's classic lineup. When asked, band members avoided the issue, although Clarke leaving Scientology at the time could have influenced the turn of events.

As Return to Forever was disbanding around 1976, Di Meola recorded his first solo album, Land of the Midnight Sun (1976). Former members of Return to Forever, and newcomer bassist Jaco Pastorius notably collaborated with the recording. Early on, Di Meola was noted for his technical mastery and extremely fast, complex guitar solos and compositions, and his exploration of Mediterranean cultures and acoustic genres like flamenco and the classical guitar repertoire.

To market his sophomore album, Elegant Gypsy (1977), Di Meola did an American tour with Weather Report, when Jaco Pastorius had joined the band. Both his and Weather Report's Heavy Weather album came out the same week on Columbia Records. Heavily promoted by the label, the tour was a success, with sold-out shows across the country. Elegant Gypsy reached #5 on the Billboard Top Jazz Albums chart, #58 on the Billboard 200 pop albums chart, and eventually went gold.

From 1976 to 1978 he played with Stomu Yamashta in the supergroup Go on three records.

Di Meola's final solo album of the 1970s, Casino (1978), featured the song “Egyptian Danza”, which blended ancient and current Egyptian influences with exotic middle-eastern themes and Latin congas.

1980s

1980 saw Di Meola release the double album Splendido Hotel, which had been recorded throughout 1979.

Shortly after, Di Meola and Paco de Lucía were approached to do a tour with Leo Kottke. Weeks later, a better proposition turned up: a 2-month European tour with John McLaughlin. Di Meola became friendly with Paco, yet he never became quite close to McLaughlin. Di Meola revealed that the British guitarist was fiercely competitive, wary of being replaced as fusion's premiere guitarist. “It was like going into a boxing match and he's out to kill you”, said Di Meola of McLaughlin's ruthless attitude. That fueled a six-stringed rivalry that largely benefited the audience.

In 1980, Di Meola recorded the best-selling Friday Night in San Francisco live album with John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía. Still a popular album, it went on to sell seven million copies worldwide.

The trio reconvened in 1982 to record a studio album, Passion, Grace & Fire (1983). In the Spanish remaster of the album, flamenco scholars José Manuel Gamboa and Faustino Nuñez weigh in their impressions on the liner notes. Though somewhat lacking the “warmth” of the live setting of their debut, Passion, Grace & Fire is a more balanced effort. The three performers contributed with two compositions each.

1982 was also the year Di Meola released his first live album, Tour De Force. It notably featured former Mahavishnu Orchestra keyboard player Jan Hammer on the line-up, with sidemen Anthony Jackson on bass, Mingo Lewis handling the percussion and Steve Gadd on drums. Along with music from preceding albums, it featured a previously unreleased Di Meola track (“Nena”) and two Hammer compositions, “Advantage” and “Cruisin'” from Electric Rendezvous. The studio version was marketed as a single.

After touring straight for ten years the guitarist took some time off in 1984. Di Meola felt he had reached a dead end in his career, both with his fusion work and the acoustic trio. On his words:

Around this time, DiMeola also left Columbia Records. He would release his next three albums on Manhattan Records.

Di Meola produced Magic Touch (1985), Stanley Jordan's Blue Note debut. The record spent 51 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's jazz chart, and went gold almost 20 years after its release. It garnered Grammy nominations in two categories: Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Soloist and Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal Or Instrumental. Di Meola granted Stanley Jordan had a “phenomenal” approach to guitar tapping, taking it “into another dimension.”

The latter half of the 1980s came with noticeable shifts in Di Meola's music. He now incorporated vocals and the Synclavier guitar synthesizer, weaving these into his compositions. Also, since playing with McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía, he rethought “aggressive” and “loud” sets. Di Meola seemed to have left fusion definitely behind after the subdued, all-acoustic Cielo e Terra (1985). That was the start of a “Brazilian” phase of sorts. Already a long-time MPB enthusiast, Di Meola name-checked Egberto Gismonti and Milton Nascimento on interviews. In Cielo e Terra, he collaborated with drummer and percussionist Airto Moreira. By then, Moreira had a stellar track record in jazz fusion, having recorded and performed with Miles Davis and Chick Corea.

Tirami Su (1987) continued Di Meola's infatuation with MPB. This time around Airto Moreira wasn't available, which led the guitarist to a fruitful collaboration with singer and songwriter Zé Renato. The Brazilian composer spent one month in New York City jamming and recording, doing mostly non-lyrical vocalizations to the music. Zé Renato then toured with the Al Di Meola Project across Europe and the USA. Tirami Su also featured guest singer Clara Sandroni, whom Di Meola discovered through Milton Nascimento's Encontros e Despedidas (1985).

Di Meola was one of the select invitees to Les Paul's 72nd birthday celebration on June 8, 1987, at NYC's Hard Rock Cafe. He was invited to an impromtu jam with Les Paul and Jimmy Page, who earlier played over a 12-bar blues progression with Les Pauls' sidemen, playing riffs in the vein of Willie Dixon's “I Can't Quit You Baby”. Other attendees included Bo Diddley, John Sebastian, Rick Derringer, Robby Krieger, Jeff Beck, Nile Rodgers and Elliot Easton. The party generated a buzz that reached mainstream press, and it became a newsworthy topic for weeks to come. Les Paul's birthday helped him become a household name once again.

1990s

Except for the occasional electric guitar foray on albums such as 1991's Kiss My Axe, he spent most of the next fifteen years both exploring acoustic and world music. Di Meola stated that part (“more than 50 percent”) of the reason for stepping away from the electric guitar is due to hearing damage from years of playing at excessive volumes.

In the mid-1990s Di Meola, Stanley Clarke and Jean-Luc Ponty worked for five weeks on what became The Rite of Strings album. Their world tour included a South American leg, starting at Argentinan capital Buenos Aires, where they played for 7,000-strong crowd at the Luna Park stadium. They proceeded to visit Brazil for five dates: two on São Paulo and one each in Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba and Porto Alegre.

The “fearsome threesome” of Di Meola, Paco de Lucía and John McLaughlin reunited for a final time for The Guitar Trio (1996). Although the record and its tour were a successful endeavour, frequent personality clashes ensued due to musical differences. The process was especially challenging for Di Meola as he lost his mother, Theresa, in the summer of 1996. The trio eventually grew used to one another again, and developed a healthy competitiveness that made “life on the road” possible.

2000s

Di Meola continued his successful streak in Germany, being awarded yet another gold album for World Sinfonía III – The Grande Passion (2000).

Di Meola released Super Guitar Trio and Friends (TDK) in 2001.

Di Meola rediscovered his love of the electric guitar in 2006, and the DVD of his concert at the Leverkusen Jazz Festival 2006 is subtitled Return to Electric Guitar.

Return to Forever reunited in 2009. The incentive initially came from Chick Corea's participation on Al Di Meola's Consequence of Chaos (2006). Di Meola pitched the idea to Corea, and the others came on board. Things went sour during the mixing stage of their live album, Returns (2009). Corea and Clarke mixed down Di Meola's guitar.

2010s

On July 10, 2013, Di Meola played at the 33rd edition of Spain's Festival de la Guitarras de Córdoba. Approximately 25,000 people attended the event. Other participants included Michael Schenker, Fito y Fitipaldis, Tomatito Sexteto and Robert Cray.

Di Meola returned to Spain in 2017, to the IV Encuentro Internacional de Guitarra Paco de Lucía. The festival was held in Algeciras, Paco's birthplace, from 17th to 22 July. For Di Meola's only presentation in Spain that year, he made the “World Sinfonia” show.

In 2018, Di Meola was awarded an honorary doctorate of music from his alma mater, Berklee College of Music.

2020s

On January 11, 2023, Di Meola wrote a heartfelt eulogy for Jeff Beck in his official Facebook page. “There was no one like Jeff”, he said, praising his “most unique style.” He reminisced how he grew up listening to Truth (1968) and Beck-Ola (1969). He also remembered how he loved Beck's 1976-1979 visits to his Hammersmith Odeon shows on London.

Di Meola released Twentyfour in 2024.