AL DI MEOLA AT ETHNO JAZZ FESTIVAL

28 OCTOBER 2013

50 years after Beatlemania swept the world, guitar master Al Di Meola decided to return to his musical roots and record an exceptionally personal tribute to the Fab Four from Liverpool. “All Your Life”, featuring his own arrangements of Beatles songs, was recorded in analogue at the famous Abbey Road Studio, where most of The Beatles’ recordings were made, and could become one of the most important works of Al Di Meola’s long career.

In the 1960s, Meola, like most of his contemporaries, was fascinated by Lennon and company, and it was they who persuaded him to pick up a guitar. “If the Beatles had not existed, who knows, perhaps I would be a firefighter or something else now,” says the guitar master. “They changed not only me but the whole world. What they did for modern pop music in the 1960s changed everything.” In Wrocław, he will be accompanied by World Sinfonia musicians Kevin Seddiki and Peo Alfonsi on guitars, Peter Kaszas on drums and Fausto Beccalossi on accordion.

Al Di Meola belongs at the very top of the international jazz scene and is widely regarded as one of the world’s most interesting guitarists. His superb technique, combined with passion and intelligence, earned him no fewer than 13 prestigious Guitar Player Poll awards between 1976 and 1992, the most awarded to an individual artist in the magazine’s 20-year history. He became the youngest guitarist in its “Gallery of Greats”.

Al Di Meola debuted in 1974 with the famous Return to Forever, alongside Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Lenny White. He recorded 3 legendary albums with them, receiving a Grammy and Gold Records for “No Mystery” and “Romantic Warrior”. Immediately after finishing his work with Chick Corea, he began a solo career producing more than a dozen albums and two with the famous guitar trio John McLaughlin – Al Di Meola – Paco De Lucia.