Al Di Meola "Consequence of chaos" (2006)

Bob Marley "A rebel's dream" (1999)

The Al Di Meola Project "Kiss my axe" (1991)

Al Di Meola "Elegant gypsy" (1977)

Al Di Meola

A bona fide guitar hero, perennial poll-winner and virtuoso of the highest order, Al Di Meola has also been recognized over the past 30 years as a prolific composer and respected artist with over 20 recordings as a leader. His creative output to date is staggering, whether it's with his current World Sinfonia band or past musical endeavors like his electric Tour de Force group with Jan Hammer, Anthony Jackson, Steve Gadd and Mingo Lewis, the internationally acclaimed Trio with fellow guitar superstars John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia, the Rite of Strings trio with Stanley Clarke and Jean-Luc Ponty or the '70s fusion supergroup Return To Forever with Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Lenny White. And while his dazzling technique on both acoustic and electric guitars has afforded him regal status among the hordes of fretboard aficionados who regularly flock to his concerts, the depth of Di Meola's writing along with the soulfulness and his inherent lyricism of his guitaristic expression have won him legions of fans worldwide beyond the six-string set.
A pioneer of blending world music and jazz, going back to early Latin-tinged fusion outings like 1976's Land of the Midnight Sun, 1977's Elegant Gypsy and 1978's Casino, the guitar great continues to reflect the rich influence of flamenco, tango, Middle Eastern, Brazilian and African musics on more recent outings like 1998's The Infinite Desire, 2000's The Grand Passion, 2006's Consequence of Chaos and 2008's La Melodia, Live in Milano.
Coming off of 2008's triumphant 25-year reunion tour by Return To Forever, which produced the live two-CD set Returns and the concert DVD Live at Montreux, Di Meola began rehearsing new music with his New World Sinfonia band in preparation for a coast-to-coast tour of the States in the early part of 2009, followed by whirlwind tours of Europe and the Middle East. Di Meola calls his bandmates in the New World Sinfonia --Fausto Beccalossi on accordian, Peo Afonsi on acoustic guitar, Peter Kaszas on percussion, Gumbi Ortiz on percussion, Victor Miranda on bass -- "the best group of musicians so far in my career."
Di Meola's ongoing fascination with complex rhythmic syncopation combined with provocative lyrical melodies and sophisticated harmony has been at the heart of his music throughout a celebrated career that has earned him critical accolades, three gold albums and more than six million in record sales worldwide. He has been particularly enamored over the past 20 years by the tango music of the late Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla, whose compositions he has interpreted over time, beginning with 1990's Di Meola Plays Piazzolla, continuing to 1993's Heart of the Immigrants, 2002's Flesh on Flesh and right up to 2007's Diabolic Inventions and Seduction for Solo Guitar. "Piazzolla had a profound effect on my development as a musician and as a person,” says Al. “We became close friends, often communicating by mail. And during the course of this friendship my admiration and desire to learn more about this great man intensified.”
A native of New Jersey who still resides in the Garden State, Di Meola was born in Jersey City on July 22, 1954. Growing up in Bergenfield with the music of Elvis Presley, The Ventures and The Beatles, he naturally gravitated to guitar as a youngster and by his early teens was already an accomplished player. Attaining such impressive skills at such a young age didn't come easy for Al but rather was the result of focused dedication and intensive periods of woodshedding between his junior and senior years in high school. “I used to practice the guitar eight to ten hours a day,” he told Down Beat. “And I was trying to find myself, or find the kind of music that suited where I was going with the guitar.”
His earliest role models in jazz included guitarists Tal Farlow and Kenny Burrell. But when he discovered Larry Coryell, whom Al would later dub “The Godfather of Fusion,” he was taken with the guitarist's unprecedented blending of jazz, blues and rock into one seamless vocabulary on the instrument. “I used to ride the bus from New Jersey to see him at little clubs in Greenwich Village,” he recalls. “Wherever he was playing, I'd be there.”
In 1971, he enrolled at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and by the second semester there began playing in a fusion quartet led by keyboardist Barry Miles. A gig tape of that band was later passed on to Chick Corea by a friend of Al's and in the early part of 1974 the 19-year-old guitarist was tapped to join the fusion superband as a replacement for guitarist Bill Connors. “I was just sitting around my apartment in Boston on a Friday afternoon when Chick called and asked me to come to a rehearsal in New York,” he recalls. “I couldn't believe it. But in 10 minutes I packed some clothes in a bag, got a ride to New York and never saw that apartment in Boston again.”
Following a weekend of rehearsals with Chick, Stanley Clarke and Lenny White, Di Meola made his RTF debut at Carnegie Hall, offically launching his career into the stratosphere. "Playing with Chick in Return To Forever was the first significant step in my development as a player,” says Al. “Chick is another major influence in my life. He has always been a wonderful supporter, major musical inspiration and a friend.” After three landmark recordings with Return To Forever -- 1974's Where Have I Known You Before, 1975's Grammy Award winning No Mystery and 1976's Romantic Warrior -- the group disbanded and Al subsequently started up his career as a solo artist. His 1976 debut as a leader, Land of the Midnight Sun, was a blazing showcase of his signature chops and Latin-tinged compositions that featured a stellar cast including drummers Steve Gadd and Lenny White, bassist Anthony Jackson and Jaco Pastorius, keyboardists Jan Hammer, Barry Miles and Chick Corea and percussionist Mingo Lewis. Over the course of six more albums with Columbia Records -- Elegant Gypsy, Casino, Splendido Hotel, Electric Rendezvous, Tour De Force and Scenario -- Al established himself as an influential force in contemporary music.
1980 marked the triumph of the acoustic guitar Trio with Paco De Lucia and John McLaughlin. Their debut recording on Columbia Records, Friday Night in San Francisco, became a landmark recording that surpassed the two million mark in sales. The three virtuosos toured together from 1980 through 1983, releasing the studio album Passion, Grace & Fire in 1982. In 1995, they reunited for a third recording, Guitar Trio, follow by another triumphant world tour. In early 1996, Di Meola formed a new trio with the violinist Jean-Luc Ponty and RTF bandmate Stanley Clarke called The Rite of Strings. He subsequently recorded with the likes of opera superstar Luciano Pavarotti, pop stars Paul Simon and Dave Matthews, classical guitarist Manuel Barrueco and Japanese jazz pianist Yutaka Kobayashi. Over the course of his career, Di Meola has also worked and recorded with Phil Collins, Carlos Santana, Steve Winwood, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, Herbie Hancock, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Milton Naciemento, Egberto Gismonti, Stevie Wonder, Les Paul, Jimmy Page, Steve Vai, Frank Zappa and many more.
But for now Al's main focus remains his New World Sinfonia. “I'm just totally involved with the new group,” he says. “Everybody's happy and totally into the music. The RTF reunion tour was fun and it was great for the fans, but it was more of a nostalgic thing. I'm more interested now in moving forward with the New World Sinfonia, which has really developed into something beautiful. For me, it's the most rewarding thing I've done in a long, long time, all the way around. You don't have the overbearing volume with this band. Instead you have a rich harmonic kind of music with lots of improvisation, you have a music that is emotional, which really reaches far beyond the almost head-banging male crowd that electric fusion attracts.”
The prolific Di Meola plans to document his latest batch of new compositions with both live and studio recordings in the coming year with the New World Sinfonia. “What I'm doing now is just completely satisfying, like a phenomenal meal and a great glass of vintage wine. The fusion thing is kind of a blast from the past and is kind of assaulting on the ears. And there's a cool aspect to that, but it's not where I'm going musically as a composer.”
Meanwhile, Di Meola may be expanding his world music vocabulary even further after touring Morocco with his New World Sinfonia. “We'll be there a whole week and that will afford me the chance to jam with some of the local musicians there. I'm wide open to that kind of collaboration now. I've done some jamming back in New York at a world music club in the East Village called Drom. I have a very successful jam there with a Turkish clarinet virtuoso named Husnu Senlendiric. I find that I have a real affinity for the music of the Middle East. So we'll see how it goes in Morocco. Maybe there's something that can come out of this.”
Clearly, there are many chapters yet to come in the story of Al Di Meola. But so far, in his 35 years as a professional musician, he's already established a rich legacy that has secured a place for him in the Gallery of Guitar Greats. Stay tuned.

Source: Al Di Meola.com.

Aka Moon "Invisible sun" (2000)

Aka Moon

The unique place Aka Moon occupies in todays music scène is down to the fact that they, independent of any particular trends, combine art with inspired musical craftsmanship. This allows the musical personalities of saxophonist and composer Fabrizio Cassol, electric bassist Michel Hatzigeorgiou and drummer Stéphane Galland to explore all kinds of musical traditions and merge them into their own musical universe.

Since their first encounter with the Aka Pygmées in 1992, Aka Moon’s focus has shifted towards various different African, Indian, Maghrebian, Cuban, Arab, Afro-Amercican and European traditions. Aka Moon juggles with polyrhythms and polyphonies like mad DJ’s. They slide from one phrase into another, opening up new harmonic and rhythmic paths. As a trio or in larger formations they cross over in a kaleidoscopic and elusive way creating a whirlwind of unclassifiable, transcending and cosmic music. Aka Moon’s virtuoso way to approach musical styles have inspired great choreographers who have invited Aka Moon to create and perfom their music within their productions.

The journeys of Aka Moon have been registered in more than 15 CD’s and therefore these mark always a touchstone in their musical evolution.
Aka Moon - as a trio or in other constellations - has played all over the world in over then 30 different countries an at festivals as North Sea Jazz, Montréal Jazz festival, Vancouver Jazz festival, New York Jazz festival, Jazz Middelheim, Gaume Jazz, Moers Jazz, Jazz à la Vilette, Dublin Jazz, London Jazz, Cluzone Jazz, Porto Jazz, Dimajazz, Carthage Jazz, etc.

They have worked together with the most virtuoso musicians, groups and other artists of this era all over the world amongst who: Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman, Doudou N'diaye Rose, Marc Ducret, Benoit Delbecq, David Gilmore, Joe Lovano, Robin Eubanks, Magic Malik, Philippe Catherine, Mark Turner, David Linx, Fabian Fiorini, Toots Thielemans, Baba Sissoko...

Source: Aka Moon.com.

Agustin Pereyra Lucena Quartet "La rana" (1980)

Agustin Pereyra Lucena "Climas" (1973)

Agustin Pereyra Lucena "Agustin Pereyra Lucena" (1970)

Agustin Pereyra Lucena

Agustin’s style finds its roots in brazilian music but has grown encomprising other musical forms such as jazz and french impresionism. The musical achivements that he has reached are profoundly atractive to those interested in the cultural evolution of Latin America and its music.
He did unacountable tours with his guitar. He has performed concerts in Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Holland, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Uruguay. He was invited to several international jazz festivals, such as Lillehammer, Bergen, Mar del Jazz and others. He has appeared also in several TV programs in Europe and South America.
During his career, he performed concerts with artists such as Dori y Nana Caymmi, Vinicius de Moraes, Toquinho, Cuarteto EM CY, Mauricio Einhorn, Carlos Lyra, Horacio Larumbe, Miucha Buarque de Hollanda,  Sebastiao Tapajos, Juarez Moreira, Horacio Molina, Lucho Gonzalez, and many others. Among his recordings, he released an album with percusionist Nana Vasconcellos, which was a great success, and added to his well known prestige.

Source: Super FM.com.pl

Hindugrass (1998)

Hindugrass

The sound of Hindugrass is a fresh new voice for Indian fusion, a surprising and engaging festival for the ears in an age where everything has “already been done.” Alternately haunting and soaring sarod melodies intermingle with the sweet twang and bite of instruments from the Smoky Mountains and a driving bed of percussion instruments from around the world, all delivered with delightful virtuosity. Hindugrass was founded in Los Angeles in 1998 by John Heitzenrater and friends as an acoustic vehicle to explore the commonalities between the classical and folk music of Northern India and the folk and bluegrass styles of Appalachia. Mr. Heitzenrater’s mastery of the sarod and intricate compositions are the core thread of this exciting collective of diverse and talented musicians.

John Heitzenrater is a multi-instrumentalist, whose performance career spans more than two decades and multiple genres. The instrument on which he is featured in Hindugrass is sarod, but he has also appeared performing and in recordings on tabla, bassoon, guitars, bass, ghatam, keyboards, and voice. On sarod, Mr. Heitzenrater is a product of the celebrated Maihar-Allaudin Gharana, which traces its lineage to Mian Tansen, court musician of Akbar the Great and the principle progenitor of modern Hindustani classical music. He studied sarod with Pandit Rajeev Taranath, distinguished disciple of Maestro Ali Akbar Khan and one of the world's leading exponents of the sarod. He studied tabla with Lucknow Gharana Maestro Swapan Chaudhuri. He is also versed in the folk music traditions of Macedonia and Bulgaria, in Western classical music, and in various American popular traditions including rock, folk, jazz, and bluegrass. In his diverse performance career, he has shared the stage with an array of talented musicians from around the globe. He performed at the Dalai Lama's World Festival of Sacred Music with master South Indian drummer Poovalur Srinivasan, at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles with chitravina virtuoso N. Ravikiran and master drummers Glen Velez and John Bergamo, and he accompanied tabla master Pandit Anindo Chatterjee on harmonium. Mr. Heitzenrater earned his Master of Fine Arts degree in Composition and Performance (on sarod, guitar, and bassoon) and his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Multi-Focus Guitar performance from California Institute of the Arts. In addition to his performance career, John recently finished scoring the short film “A Soaring Life” by Lucas Ridley and the feature film “20 Years After,” the latter with Chris Johnson.

Chris Johnson is a multi-talented musician/ audio engineer/ sound designer/ composer and producer with over 15 years experience covering a diverse range of projects from live performances and workshops to studio recordings. As a multi-instrumentalist, Chris has spent the last 10 years expanding his knowledge and performance skills on instruments from around the globe. Included among these are many percussion instruments from India such as dholak, kanjira, moorsing, and pakawaj with an in-depth study of the Delhi and Lucknow style of tabla in the tradition of Taranath Rao and Swapan Chaudhuri. Chris has also been a maker and teacher of the Australian aboriginal instrument, the didgeridoo, for 13 years and has performed with many different artists in both live and studio situations. Recent projects include regularly performing tabla alongside distinguished  North Indian classical musicians such as Pandit Debi Prasad Chatterjee (sitar), John Heitzenrater (sarod), Viswas Chitnis (sitar), and Jay Manley (Saraswati guitar). Chris performed with and designed soundscapes for the Paperhand Puppet Intervention band in the "I Am Insect" and "Hungry Ghost" productions in 2008. Chris also co-produced the score for the independent feature film "20 Years After" with composer John Heitzenrater.

Jay Manley is a guitarist, producer, composer, and music instructor in Chapel Hill, NC.  Manley received his first guitar at eighteen months old and has devoted his life to the instrument. Classical, Hindustani, rock, blues, country, and jazz all live happily side by side and emerge in his playing style.  Manley was an A.J. Fletcher Scholar and received a B.A. in music from the University of North Carolina Wilmington. He studied classical guitar under Robert Nathanson, jazz with Frank Bongiorno, and composition with Dr. Steven Errante.  For three years, Jay studied the Hindustani or North Indian classical musical tradition under vocalist Madhu Mita Sen Saha.  This has led to tremendous musical involvement in the Indian community of Raleigh, Apex, and Morrisville, NC. He is often spotted accompanying Bengali groups and performing Hindustani influenced music on a custom built 21-string “Saraswati” guitar.  He is currently studying with sarodist John Heitzenrater of the Maihar Gharana.

Branavan Ganesan is a tabla player and percussionist from the Chapel Hill area.  He started his percussion studies on the mridangam, in the South Indian (Carnatic) tradition.  He switched to tabla in his teens, first studying with tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain and then Pandit Anindo Chatterjee.  Branavan is also a standing member of the acoustic group Jaffna, based in Philadelphia.  He plays percussion instruments from many traditions, primarily Hindustani classical, flamenco, and Middle Eastern music. 

Source: Reverbnation.