Went to see DiMeola Fri nite.....

[IowaGuy]

only about 300 people there, but still an awesome concert....
him and his band really put out, played about 3 hrs.

Took my 2 teenage sons (whose previously held opinions of "Dad's" nusic you could imagine)....they are basically Green Day fans and whatever else the "machine" pushes in front of them. (not that Green Day is all that bad, they are OK at what they do)

They were blown away - really expanded their horizons. They are telling all there friends they just saw the "greatest guitarist in the world".....I'm sure that's an arguable point..but his name sure deserves to be in that conversation.

[ProfessorGAC]

1. Very Cool!

I remember the first time i heard him on the 2nd Return to Forever album. I knew who Chick was, but i clearly remember thinking "Who's the guitar player?!?!?!?" He is a phenomenal player, with a very deep understanding of the music. He's one of my faves and an influence.

Glad you enjoyed it and turned your sons on to something new. (At least new to them.) And, you're right: Greatest guitarist is in the ear of the beholder, but he's got to be in the team picture.
The Professor

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

3. Return To Forever - the heyday of jazz-rock fusion

I saw Return To Forever live in about 1974 when they played Royce Hall at UCLA. Al DiMeola had just replaced Bill Connors on guitar and I remember he was a real young looking guy on stage. At the time, their album "Where Have I Know You Before" was a great favorite of mine, kind of an Emerson Lake and Palmer on acid, in outer space, with a jazz edge. I had an 8-track (remember those?) of it and played it over-and-over-and-over again on my way to gigs. Vulcan Worlds was particularly terrific and a favorite of the live audience, but then every single track was terrific on that album, end-to-end. It's still one of my favorite albums. Live, DiMeola played just like he did on that album, very fast and clean. I have to say that it was very modal playing and kind of machine-like, but I think that's the sound Chick wanted to get after guitarist Connors left. I bought a couple of DiMeola's albums after that when he switched to playing an acoustic Ovation guitar and went for a quieter sound. My favorite album of Return To Forever was the earlier one with Airto on drums, Joe Farrell on sax, and Stanley Clarke on bass. Those were very interesting days, with Return To Forever, Weather Report, and the Mahavishnu Orchestra exploring new avenues in jazz and taking it into outer space. All three of the latter groups owe their influence to Miles Davis, as the groups all contained Miles Davis recording alums. Not only was Miles a great player, but he pushed jazz into new territory towards the latter part of his career. I probably should get hold of some of DiMeola's later work just to see how he's grown and matured after being so young and so famous (I think he was still a teenager when he started out with Chick Corea when I saw him). I'm really behind the times, but then there's so much great guitar playing out there now, it's absolutely frightening.

[alarcojon]

2. VERY arguable point

bit it's still cool that your sons horizons were expanded. I'm sure it was a great show.