June 10, 1977: Interview with Al Di Meola
A
glimpse of a jazz fusion guitar legend starting to put it all together.
June 10, 1977 Gusto
Al Di Meola
It’s hard to catch up with Al Di Meola.
The Columbia Records publicity people, for the sixth time, think they’ve nailed
him down for sure. He’s home right now, they say. Here’s the number. Area Code
201.
What’s more, he’s only 22.
He has a handsome, deeply-polished
tone and blinding speed, along with a feel for the quiet, resonant sounds an
acoustic guitar can make. His preference for melody and structure charms
jazz-rock fans and casual listeners alike. His rise may signal a drift away
from the made riffing that built jazz-rock fusion.
His first touring band is a
sextet. Three percussionists. Billed as a “special guest” of jazz-rock pioneers
Weather Report, Di Meola proved a tough act to follow here in
The reason
When Di Meola answers the phone, he
says he thinks his new manager is going to be Dee Anthony of Bandana
Productions. He’d be Anthony’s fifth act – after Peter Frampton, Gary Wright, the
J. Geils Band and Peter Allen.
“It’s not that easy because of the
complex contract that was given to me,” he says. “Until it’s signed, I can’t
refer promoters to anyone. I’ve been handling it myself. I’ve been so busy that
I have a band rehearsal today and I can’t even make it.”
To this point, Di Meola has handled
his own affairs. But he never dreamed becoming a headliner would get like this.
He never thought it would all happen so fast.
“I haven’t pushed for it,” he says. “There
just seems to be a demand for it. That’s why I’m going back out on the road.
The new album, ‘Elegant Gypsy,’ sold over 100,000 the first two weeks. It took
the other one a year. But it needs another push. It’s a strong enough record to
sell 250.”
Di Meola’s first – “Land of the
Midnight Sun” – went to 115,000, making him the biggest-selling artist debuting
in any category for
“I never had any idea of going in and
doing a solo album so soon,” he says. “He wanted me to cut an album because
everybody else in Return to Forever was. I went into the album very quickly.
When I took it to
What finally launched his solo career
was Chick Corea’s stinging decision to disband Return to Forever last summer
and start a new group with his girlfriend.
He’d been with RTF through three
albums since leaving the Berklee School of Music in
One reason he made it so far so young
is that he started so early.
“I wanted to make it in music,” he
says, “and I wanted to make it at a young age. I’ve been saying it since I was
8. I didn’t want to struggle for 20 years, you know what I mean?
“And I knew I could make it in music
if I spent all my time doing it. I knew this even before asking anyone. My
parents didn’t mind me playing, but they said I had to have something to fall
back on.
“To me, that was like saying: ‘Put a
gun to your head.’ It would be a nightmare to think about doing anything but
music. I never did anything is school. Algebra? What’s that? I knew that this
is the thing that’s going to be making me money in the future, not algebra.
“My theory worked. I worked hard, very
hard. I knew if you spend ALL your time on the thing you like the most while
everybody else went off in different directions, you could excel at it. There
was a chance in a million of making it, but not in my eyes.”
He first was turned on by the
Ventures. After a couple rock bands, he plunged heavily into jazz in high
school in Bergenfield, N.J., and occasionally played hooky to haunt New York
City record stores and jam with the likes of Larry Coryell.
Once he reached the esteemed
Corea compelled him into taking a solo
stance. It was a band of soloists. Di Meola doesn’t accept that in his band. He’ll
tell someone how he wants the solos.
“It’s different,” he says. “You don’t
have everyone going at once. A real solid bass player can’t be doing the things
Stanley Clarke would do. With Corea, a lot of things I would play or the
keyboard would play would just get washed away in the mud.”
It’s a successful sound, so successful
that Di Meola is doing everything but music. There’s been no songwriting since
he went on tour. There’s little time to practice.
“There’s a lot of work that goes into
the business side,” he says. “I have lawyers, a bookkeeper, a corporation, a
production company. You get clued in on what to do if you’re making so much
money. No, I had no idea it was like this.”
* *
* * *
IN
THE PHOTO: Al Di Meola on the cover of February 1978 issue of Guitar Player
magazine.
* *
* * *
FOOTNOTE:
Al Di Meola played the Century Theater on Monday night in a promotional show with
tickets priced at $1.98, put together by Columbia Records in conjunction with
WGRQ-FM, which also broadcast it. Opening were a couple of the label’s rock
acts.
Reviewer Jim Bisco noted that when Di Meola
mentioned the station, the audience booed. When he asked them if the station
was playing his record, they yelled “No!” He remarked that they would be soon –
that was the deal.
His band on this tour included five
guys who went on to be well-traveled
session musicians – Stu Goldberg on keyboards, Eddie Colon on timbales and
percussion, Lee Pastora on congas, Eric McCann on bass and Chuck Burgi on
drums.
For Burgi, it was his first serious gig, leading to stints
with Hall & Oates, Meat Loaf, Ritchie Blackmore, Blue Oyster Cult and,
since 2005, with Billy Joel. Turns out that when I saw the musical “Movin’ Out”
on Broadway in 2002, with music by Billy Joel and choreography by Twyla Tharp,
he was in the band.
Here’s what they played June 17 at the El Mocambo in
Mediterranean
Sundance
Flight
over
Midnight
Tango
Elegant
Gypsy
The
Wizard
Race
with the Devil on the
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