al Dimeola

Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music
Al DiMeola is what so many shred metal guitarists wish they could be. He can play a ridiculous number of notes per second yet he plays with a musicality seldom rivalled by the genre he helped to inspire.

Any time the likes of Stanley Clarke, Al DiMeola and Jean-Luc Ponty are assembled, there is a good chance the results are going to be impressive. Clarke and DiMeola had played together in the legendary Return to Forever, producing some of the most intense playing in all of fusion; Jean-Luc Ponty had also made several excellent, very diverse recordings…

Two years after they recorded Friday Night in San Francisco, John McLaughlin, Al di Meola and Paco de Lucía reunited for another set of acoustic guitar trios, Passion, Grace and Fire, If this can be considered a guitar "battle" (some of the playing is ferocious and these speed demons do not let up too often), then the result is a three-way tie. This guitar summit lives up to its title.

In 2008 the world famous guitarist, Al DiMeola and the virtuoso Hungarian flute player, Eszter Horgas played together in Hungary to perform the remake of Bizet's "Carmen." The concert was recorded and leadto a remarkable album called "He & Carmen." The music combines classical, Latin and jazz elements to create a unique, atmospheric and passionate concert. The guitar and the flute, two very exciting instruments make a beautiful pair. The variety of the musicians, the American Al DiMeola, the Cuban Gumbi Ortiz, the Italian Peo Alfonsi, the Hungarian Eszter Horgas and the others made the performance even more original, bringing their own culture, adding their own personality to create a truly unique album.

Having grown a bit weary of playing loud fusion, Al DiMeola recorded a largely acoustic set on his debut for Manhattan. DiMeola, who augments his acoustic guitar with the orchestral Synclavier guitar, plays five unaccompanied solos and is joined on the other four numbers by percussionist Airto Moreira. Other than Keith Jarrett's "Coral," all of the moody selections are by the guitarist.

Loose and spontaneous, this (mainly) live album is a meeting of three of the greatest guitarists in the world for an acoustic summit the likes of which the guitar-playing community rarely sees. Broken up into three duo and two trio performances, Friday Night in San Francisco catches all three players at the peaks of their quite formidable powers.

Essential: a masterpiece of fusion music
The day I heard these three musicians, I was literally "combed back." Well, is that this concert became part of the essential in guitar history (long before fashion "unplugged").

Excellent addition to any fusion music collection
Somehow passed over and nearly forgotten, languishing in the shadow of the 'Friday Night in San Francisco' set, is this great album from the guitar hero team.