Al Di Meola with Steve Vai

[thisguy]

I like this version Di Meola and Vai did a while back.

 

[charvelstrat81]

I like this version Di Meola and Vai did a while back.

that is better

 

[IntenseJim]

Watched some Al and Steve the other day.

Tha Vai cat is all smoke and mirrors.

Well, Di Meola just hides behind all that alternate picking and fancy strumming so he's no better!

and the friggin' percussionist is worse. ...hiding behind the plexi-glass. So dumb...everybody can still see him.

 

[charvelstrat81]

Watched some Al and Steve the other day.

Tha Vai cat is all smoke and mirrors.

Well, Di Meola just hides behind all that alternate picking and fancy strumming so he's no better!

and the friggin' percussionist is worse. ...hiding behind the plexi-glass. So dumb...everybody can still see him.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Not gonna sugar coat it here fellas.. to be honest, the whole performance was as interesting as watching paint dry. Both are accomplished players and both lose my attention after 60 seconds.. that's the reality of most guitar centric music. (unless you are Malmsteen or Vinnie Moore)

 

[messenger]

Not gonna sugar coat it here fellas.. to be honest, the whole performance was as interesting as watching paint dry. Both are accomplished players and both lose my attention after 60 seconds.. that's the reality of most guitar centric music. (unless you are Malmsteen or Vinnie Moore)

I agree to some extent. I can usually do a few songs. And I have to be in a certain mood to listen. And I'd put both Yngwie and Vinnie in there

 

[lettmusic]

one of the things that most overlook with Al D is something that he has that not many great guitarist have, rhythm and musical sense. Vai has it as well.

You can play perfectly with/on the beat, but he actually plays against it, around it, et al rhythmically. A good youtube video exists with him explaining how he weaves in and out against foot taps with an internal sense of timing. I did not pick up on this idea until a ballroom dancing coach of my wive and I told me that my feet are always on beat and the moves are technically correct, but it lacks real rhythmic movement or in this case "actually dancing". When you decode this it translates to real music instead of a pile of mechanical notes in metronome time. Same for the dreaded dotted eight notes problem that my Berklee teachers used to point out to me in my playing when doing jazz work. It's not jazz until you fix that.

with that said, those two really need to practice more lol

these are great points, man. I agree totally, just Ian Paice, he has a certain swing to his rock playing, even when they play straight 8ths. That's the thing about the Purple sound that people seldom talk about, Ian Paice and Jon Lord groove like muthafuckers.
I saw Al on the Tirami Su tour, 89? He has Latin clavier down too, great sense of rhythm.

 

[Red_Label]

You definitely have to be in the mood for that kind of thing. It would appear that I am not in the mood this morning... as that didn't do much for me at all right now. Just a latin-flavored jam session. BO-RING!

BUT... I picked-up a turntable last week and have been scrounging through used LPs at the local record store and found Al's "Elegant Gypsy" and "Casino" albums. I enjoyed listening to those quite a lot over the weekend (I have them on cassette in a box somewhere). Also got a bunch of old John Williams, Christopher Parkening, and Rick Foster albums. All were purchased for $1-2 each. Not a bad haul!

 

[daddyo]

Vai is a great player but when you stand next to Al Di Meola, you are at another level. Al played in the trio with Paco and McLaughlin. Can you imagine trading off with those guys night after night? Steve Morse opened for the trio for one tour and played with them on some songs. In an interview, Steve said Al, John, and Paco would each play something amazing and then he felt like he was responding with a Chuck Berry lick. But Vai seemed to do fine and they both seemed to be having fun.

 

[charvelstrat81]

Not gonna sugar coat it here fellas.. to be honest, the whole performance was as interesting as watching paint dry. Both are accomplished players and both lose my attention after 60 seconds.. that's the reality of most guitar centric music. (unless you are Malmsteen or Vinnie Moore)

and that is why a band like KISS sold millions of records and even grandmothers knew who they were.
say what you want about a band like KISS but they did play for the fans and gave them their money's worth live.
guys like al d and really super accomplished players are usually playing for themselves
and i get that.
I happen to love al dimeola's music and playing but my girlfriend hates it with a passion.
and vai? well he is just from another planet

 

[skoora]

I actually thought they complimented each other very well. Al's staccato runs and Vai's more loopy riff, hammer-tap, whammy combo worked well off each other. I think Morse would have made it redundant. Al D with Jeff Beck would have been interesting too.

 

[DrewJD82]

I knew I heard that riff somewhere in my younger days...4:15

Petrucci is the REAL smoke and mirrors player, he doesn't even write his own riffs!

 

[nigelpkay]

That weird late 70's latin jazz thing is just not for me, but yeah he can play Funny I was checking out this video several weeks ago, and if you start from about 4:20 on, he's doing back and forth with his Dimarzio'd Les Paul and the keyboards and it's something that sounds right out of early Yngwie, like Little Savage or Far Beyond the Sun... you wonder if Yngwie picked up some influence there.
Funny cause I've read that Al Di Meola is the "Yngwie" of the jazz world in terms of attitude

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Wow, I totally hear the Yngwie vibe in that minute of jamming. Not note for note, but the trade off and even some of the runs. A bit Evil Eye'ish for sure. Except that Malmsteen's tune is muuuuuuuuch cooler and something i can listen to with identifiable melodies... maybe just a little less cocaine fueled.

 

[Red_Label]

Vai is a great player but when you stand next to Al Di Meola, you are at another level. Al played in the trio with Paco and McLaughlin. Can you imagine trading off with those guys night after night? Steve Morse opened for the trio for one tour and played with them on some songs. In an interview, Steve said Al, John, and Paco would each play something amazing and then he felt like he was responding with a Chuck Berry lick. But Vai seemed to do fine and they both seemed to be having fun.

I can only imagine. Playing with game-changers and guitar gods has got to be SCARY... even if you are one of them.

 

[Red_Label]

Wow, I totally hear the Yngwie vibe in that minute of jamming. Not note for note, but the trade off and even some of the runs. A bit Evil Eye'ish for sure. Except that Malmsteen's tune is muuuuuuuuch cooler and something i can listen to with identifiable melodies... maybe just a little less cocaine fueled.

I'll always prefer Yngwie to DiMeola and Vai. Al's definitely been doing his thing for a LONG time. And so was Uli. But Yngwie was the guy who really spoke to me back in the day and I still enjoying listening to his early stuff, up through Magnum Opus when I'm in the mood. Uli still knocks me out too. DiMeola is someone that I listen to more rarely. His palm-muted staccato style gets tiresome to me quicker. If I'm going to listen to a jazz god from that era, I'll go for Holdsworth. But then again... he's pretty out-there like Vai and a little goes a long ways there too.

I was listening to the radio today and Boston's "Peace of Mind" came on for the billionth time (literally) and I found myself loving it every bit as much as I did in the late 70s. Just SO damn timeless and bitchin'. Couldn't listen to any virtuoso wanker that many times and not want to kill puppies! As much as I was influenced by the techno-monsters as a youngster, I'd rather listen to the songwriters and tonekings most of the time in my old age.

 

[War Admiral]

Wow, I totally hear the Yngwie vibe in that minute of jamming. Not note for note, but the trade off and even some of the runs. A bit Evil Eye'ish for sure. Except that Malmsteen's tune is muuuuuuuuch cooler and something i can listen to with identifiable melodies... maybe just a little less cocaine fueled.

I always had trouble playing when I did too much cocaine

 

[charvelstrat81]

Funny cause I've read that Al Di Meola is the "Yngwie" of the jazz world in terms of attitude

When i met al at a show in philly he was super cool with me?
Very serious but cool

 

[thiswaythatway]

Pretty awesome and glad to see Al with a LP again. He still has his amazing speed and chops.

DId he in fact leave PRS? There pics of him with Gibsons all over his website. Funny, I've heard people complain that PRS guitars are only good for that fusiony DiMeola tone. Well, he's getting the same tone with his Gibsons.

 

[Shawn Lutz]

Pretty awesome and glad to see Al with a LP again. He still has his amazing speed and chops.

DId he in fact leave PRS? There pics of him with Gibsons all over his website. Funny, I've heard people complain that PRS guitars are only good for that fusiony DiMeola tone. Well, he's getting the same tone with his Gibsons.

I don't know the endorsement status but he is playing bot PRS and Les Pauls on the electric tour.