Big Al,can make it happen!! From a musician point of view of this song and his playing.. it's truly remarkable.. what a smooth band he has backing him up...
In 2011 my daughter and I went to the Greek Theatre in LA for a Rodrigo Y Gabriella concert, and one of the guest artists was Al Di Meola! They played Mediterranean Sundance, an all-acoustic set! Rodrigo and Gabriella are terrific in their own right, but Al sitting in just made the evening perfect!!!! I'd never heard of them and my daughter never heard of Al, so we both learned something new!
Intro resembles Montgomery's Without You. Both are beautiful but Dark Eye Tango is so beautiful it hurts. One of my fav Al's songs although the whole Casino album is incredible. In fact, all his albums from this early jazz fusion period are awesome. His best albums imo, although I love other his stuff too. BTW, the bass player is also great here.
My favorite Al era. So full of raw energy and creativity. There's a different Al that starts around the World Symphonia albums where he kind of gets stagnant with a comfortable formula. He's still a titant of guitar anyway.
One of Al's best compositions IMHO. Al deserves so much respect. Sometimes I think people slam him because he's so good. Such BS! What more can you want from a fusion player? He's melodic, his compositions are inspired, his chops are peerless, his tone is totally balls out. We all want to be Al Di Meola.
Holy crap.. This is truly amazing... You know what.. Al deserves alot of credit for inspiring other players to alternate pick the way they do/did example vinnie moore, yngwie..
yeah, who else can like, skip things, and play against-the-space-and-time-that-a-way, man! it's impossible, practic'ly, man~! definitely i was inspired to be a coffee drinker when i was almost eighteen, back in 1982, yup, when uncle jim put parts of 'midnight sun' onto a flippin' tape for me, and bruce cockburn, some roy buchanan, i mean --oh yes! there was 'there and back' on the very other side, the space boogie and really all them tracks have never stopped, hardly ever even slowed down since then, in fact, they're so entrenched now into that 'fabric' of timespace, that it's like, good-luck-gettin'-them-things-outta there now, it's like, gracias, uncle jim, once again, i might add! and uncle al, uncle jeff, uncle bob, uncle larry, uncle kerry! and uncle pat, uncle tim, and all the aunts and the grandparents, and all the other relatives, friends and familia and other whatnots! once again, thanks, and thanks!
@Chris Manzi he's constantly shedding more notes than most can make any sense of or use convincingly in a lifetime, man! like where do they-all-come-from? and where-dooo-they-all-belong!!
I so agree cbtrules. Love watching the artist play his instrument. Love the tango too. ;-))) Delightful click of my finger. :-)))) Umm my fave' bass thrilling me as this delightful tune is being played into my ears--wide open and oh high volume. :-)) Thanks for your shared story. Awesome. Hmmmm and I love Brown Eyes.;-))) Peace!!! Oh soaring ~~~~~~
The first time I saw Al live was 1980, with Jan Hammer, Anthony Jackson, Phillip sasse , Steve Gadd. I never knew how lucky I was, but this is a great reminder of what he was back then. Wierd thing is Jan Hammer, was also collaborating with Jeff Beck around that time. I was lucky enough to see Jeff in 1980 also. WOW. Wish I had a smart phone. Back then.
I wrote Al a fan letter when I was 17 and he personally wrote me back. Still have it to this day! Saw him 3-4 times including RTF and with John, Paco and Steve Morse. Absolutely amazing!
That's hopefully just an Uber ignorant comment; if not you need to overhaul your listening skills. Shawn Lane, Allan Holdsworth, Adrian Belew, Robert Fripp, Jimmy Herring, Jennifer Batton, Mike Seal, Alex Machacek, Tim Miller, Trevor Rabin, Don Mock, John Stowell are just a few still alive and well, that immediately pop to mind each rendering your comment absurd.
Al Di Meola was a child protege that enter the Juilliard School for the performing Arts at the age of 15. At the age of 16 her was recording and touring with Jazz great Chick Corea and Return To Forever. Many people wonder where Yngwie Malmsteen, Stevie Vie, Joe Satriani and John Patrucci get it from, just listen to Al Di Meola.
@OmniscientVirtuosity yes, a tad heavy on the improv, but not too much. I agree the album version is PERFECT. This is the song that turned me on to Al over 30 years ago
"tad heavy on the improv"? But this is jazz related music. Considering that jazz is mainly an improviser's music, and they constantly hammer home the form throughout even the solo, I say the opposite: nice performance, but just like I recall from this period, I left the show feeling like I just watched Al do his best imitation of a jukebox playing his record.
I saw a version of this tour in Tampa Florida- he headlined to a sold out small arena (Jai Alai fronton). The prog rock group Renaissance opened, and the whole show was memorable. I saw DiMeola in Cincinnati about three years ago- still excellent and passionate, but playing in front of about 300 or so in a theater. And yet, Lady Gaga survives. There is no justice.
