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Born in 1954, Al DiMeola was lauded early on for his speed, technical skills, and complicated soloing. He became known for his Latin, flamenco and tango-influenced playing. He joined Return To Forever as the replacement for Bill Connors and helped them to achieve great commercial success. The 1976 album Romantic Warrior was a top 40 album. He went solo in 1976 and released a string of landmark fusion albums, such as Land of the Midnight Sun and Elegant Gypsy. Towards the early part of the 90s, he began to focus more on world-music influenced recordings, such as World Sinfonia Trio and Heart of the Immigrants. Keyboardist Monty Alexander tickled the ivories for the encore of “Song To John.” While he’s a fine player, I can honestly say that I have never enjoyed the sound of the electronic piano. It just doesn’t as good as a real acoustic piano. Still, Alexander’s prescence adds to this number in a positive way. I almost wish the Jamaican-born pianist had been there from the begining. It’s to be expected that you can throw a group of experienced jazz musicians together and have them play as if they had been rehearsing and playing together as a group for years. Fusion jazz very much flows freely, without the usual tension and counterbalance heard in straight ahead jazz. In many places, the players seem to wander off on their own, creating the lack of a common theme to bind the music together. |
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