Anthology: Behind the Scenes

One of the classiest guitarists in the music world launches a tour next month as Al Di Meola hits the road in support of his upcoming album “Pursuit Of Radical Rhapsody.”

Al Di Meola

Although he’s often described as a jazz guitarist as well as a Latin guitarist, it might be simpler to think of Di Meola as a guitarist’s guitarist since many acclaimed guitarists have cited him as a major influence. What’s more, he’s one of the few artists often praised for achieving artistic and commercial success, two different achievements that don’t always appear in the same sentence when describing musical careers.

Performing with the World Sinfonia, Di Meola launches the tour in Agoura, Calif., at the Canyon Club Feb. 17, plays Henderson, Nev., at Ovation at the Green Valley Ranch Resort Feb. 18 and stops in San Diego for a gig at Anthology Feb. 19. Other dates in the tour running through April 3 include four nights in Seattle at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley Feb. 24-27; three nights in the San Francisco Bay Area at Yoshi’s Oakland March 4-6 and four nights at New York City’s Bluenote.

Also on the schedule are stops in Nashville (March 18), Atlanta (March 19), Albany, N.Y. (March 25), Reading, Pa. (March 27), Fairfield, Conn. (March 29) and Austin (April 3).

Di Meola plans to give audiences a taste of his upcoming album, Pursuit Of Radical Rhapsody, which lands in stores March 15 on Telarc International. For more information, click here for the artist’s website.

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Via pollstar.com

Virtuoso guitarist hitting the road with World Sinfonia

Virtuoso guitarist Al Di Meola will be performing at Anthology, February 3 as part of his national tour and new album release with his new project, Al Di Meola and World Sinfonia. Joining a handpicked group of master musicians for both the tour and album, Di Meola makes a surprising turn into the romantic, producing a collection of moving tango-flavored melodies. Their work is on display on ‘La Melodia Live In Milano,’ available in America for the first time and releases on January 8, 2009, just days before the tour starts. The album features two songs by tango master Astor Piazzolla, for whom Di Meola admits he has been “carrying a torch” his entire career, as well as one each from Ennio Morricone and Andrea Parodi, and four by Di Meola himself.

This shift in tone is perfectly natural for Di Meola. “Although the tango developed in Argentina, it was born in the region of Italy where my parents are from, Napoli,” he explains. “This music connects to my roots. As long as I’m playing music, it will be part of my repertoire.” No wonder, then, that World Sinfonia’s music sounds so effortless: it’s in his blood.

As a member of groundbreaking jazz-fusion group Return to Forever starting in the 1970s, and in his solo work since, Di Meola earned a reputation for being technically brilliant with unbelievable chops. For the past several years, however, he has been spent as much time composing for chamber orchestras in Europe as creating blazing guitar solos. With World Sinfonia, Di Meola moves his audience with the range of emotions in his music, rather than simply blowing them away with his technique.

Website: www.AlDiMeola.com

Show details:

Al DiMeola will perform on Feb. 3 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $39 and are available at the Anthology Box Office, by calling 619.595.0300 and at www.AnthologySD.com.

Anthology is located at 1337 India Street (between A and Ash Streets).