I was playing keys in the Air Force rock band out of San Antonio when RTF came to the Majestic Theatre (what an incredible venue!). Of course, lots of us went. C'mon! Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Al DiMeola, Lenny White? What a delicious concert. The visual image of Al wearing a sleevless black t-shirt, jeans and cowboy boots (not a Texas look) made us smile. But Al would come to the front of the stage and solo with the most incredible virtuousity while just looking around the audience, as if his hands and fingers were moving by themselves. He never looked down at his fretboard at all. We were all shaking our heads. And yes, the late 70's, early 80's were AMAZING.
When Jaco joined Weather Report that was one of the best things that happened for jazz fusion, the album Heavy Weather played consistently on the radio, was one of the most memorable music albums ever.
Great to hear some background from Al Di Meola. Columbia Records in the seventies had a lot of great fusion. And the jazz-rock was all over the place with Di Meola, John McLaughlin, Steve Khan, Larry Coryell, Jeff Beck, and even Santana. There was an edge to it that was great, and with Weather Report, Return to Forever, Mahivishnu Orchestra, and early seventies Miles Davis, you had new, groundbreaking sounds. I was a teenager in the seventies just getting into jazz, so I had a lot I could delve into and man what a joy it was to listen to all of those early albums. Love the jazz I hear today, but sometimes it lacks the bite of that fusion from the seventies and early eighties.
@@2timothy23 al is not jazz, i don’t hear anything jazz in his playing, unless you mean fusion …..as rock guitar and other latin styles. Jazz had so many era, but they are main vibes that makes it jazz, it’s the blues, upper extensions and of course the impro….to say the least. Fusion from these years 70’s was technical , and melodic at some degree, not for thé disco boys or plain rockers. I love all of the bands you mentioned, specially Larry Coryell, what a cool cat, wished he lived older, I can’t get enough of his interviews , love Mike Sterns too, what a great player in the 80’s
@@sega62s of course there's some Latin elements in jazz. Romantic chords like Min9ths and maj9ths feature prominently in some Latin music like Bosa Nova and Samba. Al plays in a flamenco, neo-classical style.
He's completely amazing and so were RTF of course!. :) Regarding Hendrix, he was in a period of transition at the time of his tragic death in 1970, with many roads opening ahead in creative terms. He was planning guest appearances with Miles Davis' band (w/ Jack DeJohnette and Keith Jarrett!), and I've long felt that if Jimi had survived beyond 1970, he would also have interacted with the jazz fusion wave that was coming on at that time.
The best fusion record is for me Agharta .Miles always wanted to play with Hendrix. Playing rock with jazz musicians (Bitches Brew) served it's purpose for a while, but Miles wanted a band that could really rock, as well as play jazz, avant-garde and world music as well. The icing on the cake for Miles is that he finally found a guitar player who could do what the departed Jimi Hendrix could do, plus so much more. Pete Cosey is probably one of the greatest guitar players to ever play rock/fusion/blues etc and the fact that he remains mostly unknown is nothing short of criminal. Another guitar player was Reggie Lucas so two guitars used to sound as Hendrix . This album finally brings together all the influences that Miles had been trying to bring together for years; Stockhausen's Asiatic suspended musical moments in time (moment form), Sly Stone's dramatic take it to the streets call to action world revolutionary party funk, searing acid rock guitar, Sun Ra's disciplined approach to group improvisation, Herbie Hancock's futuristic fusion and timeless classical music from Africa.
For me, the "gateway drug" into jazz was Al's "Casino" album. I was 15 or 16, and a typical Hendrix/Led Zep/ZZ Top fan, then I heard that, which led to Coltrane, and Miles Davis, etc. I didn't find out about RTF, or Weather Report until after I was totally ruined forever by Allan Holdsworth.
I am 48 and thought I was alone listening to UK/Bruford, Hendrix, Brand X, RTF and Di Meola's records constantly. . Fusion was my rabbit hole to Miles and everything Jazz.
Creme de la creme. I concur with Al on the 70's being the high life of artists who took us for a ride that left us spellbound. A true Renaissance period that made me appreciate my special time hearing this. Very organic, mystifying & provocative music that challenged the listener.
Jimi once told an interviewer in eary 1969 that he didn't like jazz. Jimi did have friends who were jazz musicians like Roland Kirk, Larry Young and Larry Coryell. There was also his drummer Mitch Mitchell who was a quasi jazz drummer and Buddy Miles who played with John McLaughlin on a couple of proto Mahavishnu albums. So with songs like Third Stone From The Sun, If 6 was 9 and some of his associations Jimi was in the vanguard of early fusion music. One thing I would like to stress is that Jimi would never practice scales and whatnot and as a guitarist ( who has his guitars in storage); it's really tough to be proficient when you're not regularly practicing different drills like scales, chords and appreggios (sic?).
Jimi would rarely make rapid chromatic runs like Mahavishnu or Al. He stuck mostly to minor, pentatonic, and major scales, or invent some of his own stuff. I think he was more concerned about phrasing and groove than running up and down scales.
@@bradnelson4778 I bought that album when it first came out!! I'm not criticizing Jimi at all but I'm just being objective. Jimi would have humbly said he wasn't the best guitar player in the world.
@@KennyBlackbird-oo1pt You are right that Jimi, being Jimi, probably would say that but he is by far the greatest electric guitar player ever IMHO, the GOAT, AS A WHOLE. The Beatles were very good musicians but not as good as Zeppelin technically but still the even greater band for their CREATIVITY and VISION like Jimi vs other scale athletes. Though Jimi's technique was AWESOME and it changed Miles Davis' ideas on what he wanted to do with jazz.
There's a place that I call inside the music. When you're inside you don't really have to practice, but it can be hard to stay inside, and, like the dude says, even harder when your gear is in storage.
If there was ever an actual birth of Fusion-Jazz, in my humble opinion, it was Bitches Brew from Miles Davis. That astounding album gave everyone the permission, to stretch out as far as their talents could take them. Miles took off the cuffs.
@@fritzkabeano1969 It was an incredibly diverse time for music. It's also no surprise, that Bitches Brew was on the cusp of the golden age of Prog. So much was intertwined in the early 70's.
Bitches Brew was actually titled Witches Brew it was given its title by Davis's then wife Betty Davis.Bitches Brew is a musical concoction consisting of various takes and tape loops massively edited together by producer Teo Macero with added reverb and echo effects. It has more to do with the conceptual music of Karlheinz Stochausen than jazz fusion. It is more about post-production than actual playing in real time and marketing.Larry Coryell recorded his Spaces album at the same time and features the ensemble playing of John Mclaughlin,Chick Corea and Billy Cobham who would record the Spaces sessions after playing with Miles on the Bitches Brew sessions in 1969. The Spaces album was recorded in real time with minimal post-production both records were released in 1970. Coryell later released the Planet End record that contained some more tracks from the Spaces sessions as well as some Eleventh House tracks.
Glad you are humble. Bitches Brew was avante garde electric jazz. First true fusion was Mahavishnu Orchestra. But fusion of rock and jazz started with Jimi Hendrix and Mitch Mitchell.
@@michaeljamsmithband Larry Coryell is known as the Godfather of fusion if you listen to his playing with Gary Burton in 1967 you can hear him rocking out on his solos - there are some clips on TH-cam. Jimi Hendrix was not able to read and score music which was probably to his advantage in some ways as his playing was limitless but in 1970 he was at a crossroad regarding his musical progression. There was talk about collaborations with Gil Evans as well as Miles Davis but unfortunately Hendrix passed in very controversial circumstances. The record that turned me on to jazz fusion was Miles Davis's album Pangaea recorded live in Japan in the early seventies. Sorry about the typo - should read as Stockhausen - actually Miles used to refer to him as Steakhousen.
I started playing guitar at 11 and have been in bands all my life.My first band covered the pop music of the middle 60’s. When the whole fusion thing happened I was in my middle 20’s and playing in a more progressive cover band with some original music thrown in. Fortunately everyone in the band started listening to and loving all these fusion bands that Al Di Meola is talking about. I remember at our practice s we would usually jam for about 20 minutes or so and try to imitate what we were listening to. If we played something we really liked we would stop and start to work out a more arranged version. Because of the venues we were playing we never had a chance to perform them live. The closest we came was doing a couple of Zappa songs. That didn’t last long because the crowd looked at us like we all had two heads. We all loved Steely Dan and did a couple of songs off Aja. This brings back memories and I’m going to have to go back and start listening to some of these fusion bands again.
In 1959 Tom Dissevelt & Kid Baltan made an electronic album that sounds very much like what later became Fusion. Especially the track 'Whirling' sounds a lot like Weather Report and RTF.
Love Al's work with RTF, 70's solo albums, Guitar Trio, & his World Sinfonia. But he misspoke, Jaco's first tour was 1976, the Black Market tour. He's right about that Hendrix stuff being fusion, especially when you consider Third Stone from the Sun in 1967, and it's that kind of stuff that inspired Jaco to transfer it into his bass solo.
You're right: I saw Jaco in Austin with WR in '76, and wondered why Johnson was gone. They played Birdland, and Shorter couldn't get Jaco to leave the stage after the show...
He’s right about Hendrix being the total package- he was the first “Guitar Hero” , and in many ways Hendrix is the source of all the Heavy Metal genres and split genres simply because the first album was the first to take distortion to that level and create that atmosphere and aura : mass distorted sound, like thunder.
I was 20 in 1978. It was a music lovers heaven on earth in those days many genres of talent and endless tours. I was blessed with health and youth and I should have been studying more but oh the music!
Went to Louisville to see Al Di Meola and Weather Report on that 1976 tour. For some reason, Al didn't show, but WR did an extended set for us. They were great.
Great music, concerts for only a few dollars in those days. I saw Jaco, Steve Gadd and the Word Mouth band at a small venue in a small L.A. suburb. Also saw Al Di Meola with Steve Gadd, Jan Hammer in L.A. somewhere.
Weather Report Notably, the band lacked electric guitar, which was central to other successful fusion bands like the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Return to Forever. This was a conscious decision, as Zawinul noted in a 1973 article, “There is a certain chemistry in the band which would be destroyed by adding another melodic instrument.” And so, crunchy EPs and searing synth lines (along with driving electric bass) would become sonically aggressive signature elements of the Weather Report sound; however, the music’s keyboard-based structure and saxophone lead voice automatically made it more jazz-centric than other ’70s “jazz-rock” outfits.
We had never heard anything like Hendrix, before Hendrix! Johnny Winter's was outrageous, but, mainly blues(he did get fusiony), but Hendrix broke all the scales, arpeggios down and "reassembled them". He was just barely lifting off the launching pad, when he crashed!!!
So much great music on Columbia Records in those days. Miles, Herbie, John McLaughlin, Di Meola, Weather Report. The Internet is great but it killed the record business and local radio. I heard all of this stuff and more on my local college radio station over 40 years ago.
Yea we loss some things, and then we gain some things with modern technology and the internet. For instance with the internet, people can see videos from the 70's era and before of legendary artist at the click of a button. Before that it was hard to gain access to those performances caught on video. They would be in people's personal collection. Also you can have individuals that can showcase their talents online to get seen. The record business was a bit of a problem also when considering they desired record sales more than artistic freedom. CBS didn't want Mclaughlin going acoustic after Shakti, or Warner Bros. didn't like Jaco's big band approach in word of Mouth, or Shawn Lane putting orchestra pieces in the middle of his Powers of Ten album.
@@flame-sky7148 I'd still go back to the old days of numerous clubs and record stores and local audio shops where I could buy great used equipment and listen to speakers before buying. Since the Internet engulfed everything, I hardly see any of my old friends and acquaintances anymore. There's no place to go. But I realize it's better for independent artists who can connect with their fans.
When I saw Al live at the Miami auditorium in 1976, He was burning like a Blow torch , through two Marshall full stacks - But he is right about Hendrix being a great all around master entertainer. Players who play like Al used to, are too wrapped up in maximum technique to actually entertain, and interact with the Crowd. Al always had Killer Latin rhythms happening, and his own unique approach to phrasing , all delivered with astonishing speed and accuracy.
I can't tell you how many outdoors festivals I've been where entertaining Hendrix style guitarists build their solos up above the 12th fret and the crowd goes crazy. To me, very boring. Just as boring as a Malmsteen type player shredding the stuffing out of the guitar.
Fusion was, to a degree, an offshoot of prog rock. Virtuosity was gaining popularity and McLaughlin was the first one to take jazz chops and showcase them in a complex rock styling. After that, everyone else followed suit. And Di Meola was perfect for the time.
Jimi made them all turn to fusion he was the first step, its like Parker did what he did and a lot of musicians got switched on. What Jimi had over all of them is he created something totally unique.
Okay none of these replies are in order so I don't know what the hell's going on but purgatory kid Stephanie McMahon Trump shut the hell up about everything
@@hesch-tag Frank Zappa made a complete fool out of Jimi Hendrix if you'd like to see a video of it look at Frank Zappa at the Royal Albert Hall where he makes a fool out of Jimi Hendrix
There is a group of musicians that are taking "Jazz" fusion seriously. These dudes that opened for Plini in LA last year at "The Venue" actually played a Return To Forever cover. Can't remember their band name!
Jimi's 'voice and look' is what made him special? Seriously?! Sorry Al but you missed the whole point of Jimi's greatness: every note note he played dripped with pure EMOTION and spontaneity. He resisted the urge to polish his playing to the point of loosing it's raw vitality, always cultivating that quality of living flow. I'm convinced this was a conscious choice on his part, just like Miles did.
Yes I concur. Jimi had an artistic vision that transcended his genre/form, he was what I would call "extra-musical"..there was something going on in his expression that was beyond music. Al is a phenomenal instrumentalist, but honestly, I don't really get into that kind of bag. With Jimi you get a feeling that he was aware of something greater than himself--can't say that for many virtuosos. Jimi also had a symphonic sense and was a master of motivic variation. I honestly see him as one of the most important and unique creative artists for all time. There was something inevitable in his music, not unlike Beethoven.
When Mikes Davis had replaced the swing beat with the rock back beat and experimented for a few years he looked out into the crowd and realized the female audience had greatly diminished. He said to himself uhh ohh something ain’t right then he stopped playing altogether to recuperate. Thankfully Jimi Hendrix never went full rock fusion, none of his recordings on his albums have rock fusion songs at all. Frank Zappa had more fusion in it than Hendrix because he studied composers and so did the jazz greats.
Yes. Jimi could sing and act out his Shredding guitar playing. Alot of stunt work that don't come easy. I Saw Steve Vai play and SING Hendrix as well as can be done. On the Hendrix Family tour with Billy Cox. Other than Randy Hansen. Who had Al's complete support early on. Randy sounds best with his European UFO bass player and drummer. It takes real talent to back Hendrix. In the bass and drums department. It is essentially the beginning of Fusion right there Read, "Electric Gypsy" Hendrix was headed for Fusion without a doubt. He saw and heard Frank Zappa, Carlos Santana, John McLaughlin, Mike Stern and Miles Davis' direction His next recording sessions were booked with sold Jazz and Fusion session guys. He died before he could start down that path. He would have bumped into Allan Holdsworth, Al DiMeola, Steve Vai, Satriani, he loved Billy Gibbons, he loved Soft Machine and King Crimson. Hendrix was ready to storm FUSION. without a doubt. In the early 1970's...
Jimi only lived long enough to dabble in jazz/rock fusion but certainly would have done more with it. For my money Frank Zappa did it better and earlier than most, Hot Rats came out in 69, followed by Waka Jawaka and Grand Wazoo in 71.
@MIKKELIRAWK12 0 seconds ago Sorry, Al is right. Jimi was a great musician and his voice added a lot. To be the "greatest guitarist" you have to have technique. As an all around artist Jimi beats Eddie Van Halen, but as a Guitarist EVH beats him by a country mile. The test? Eddie could play Jimi, Jimi would not be able to play Eddie. Also, Al is like Yngwie before Yngwie, among the best pickers ever. Jimi could never pick like Al.
In the 6os at the time no Jimi was not a music theory jazz player but he could play jazz as he was heading in that direction near the end playing with many Jazz guys but you can say he couldn't pick like AL & Al could not do what Jimi did plus what would Jimi sound like during all the years from his passing till now , that's just something we will never get to know or hear . I can imagine as good as he was then how much better he would be today. Sorry but it's just silly to compare Jimi & Eddie, way too many years in between them as Eddie was just a little kid when Jimi was at his peak. Just my opinion but i believe Al is speaking rather metaphorically as he knows to be great it's more than just technique which he does say that. We that play are all different & that will never change.
Sorry fan boys. There are many real professional musicians...aka session players...who.knew that Hendrix was not a skilled technical player. He was laughably sloppy. Great innovator sure. But far from the genius that he was ordained to be. As a late teenager Al could play circles around pop star Jimi in his sleep.
Rubbish. Tighter scales and practiced riffs are less than total spontaneous creation that transforms the very instrument itself. You substitute genius and vision for well practiced performances. Personally I could not careless about Jimi's rock star antics. They are the boring bit. Holdsworth could NEVER come up with something as profound and powerful as the Band of Gypsies 'Machine Gun'. It changed Miles Davis and he changed modern jazz. Hendrix will be remembered for his creation of modern guitar music. Holdsworth will be just another forgotten 'show off' talent if better than most others, like Steve Vai, Ingvar Malmsteen and show off Eddie Van. Hendrix created beautiful deep MUSIC and was also an incredibly fluid rhythm guitar player which he intuitively and seamlessly blended with his uniquely passionate solos. You are deeply ignorant about what music is. It is NOT a SPORT. It tells stories!
He was sloppy at times (mostly whilst playing live and under the influence of psychedelics) but to say he was sloppy ALL the time is unfair, his playing on his studio albums was never sloppy in my opinion, songs like Little Wing and The Wind Cries Mary are testament to that. There is also many incredible "real professional musicians... aka session players" that cite Hendrix as one of their greatest influences. He was an incredible songwriter and as far as rock/blues/psychedelia in the 60's goes he was a skilled technical player, it's just a different ballpark to jazz. Part of Hendrix's charm live was his untamed wild explosive playing on stage and all the crazy sounds he could get out of his rig, it wasn't about clean perfect playing. I agree that Al easily is the more technical player, I don't think anyone would deny that, but to call Jimi a "pop star" or "far from the genius he was ordained to be" is insulting to his legacy! He was a genius in the sense that he revolutionised how people played the electric guitar. If music for you is only about technical skill then I feel sorry for you! Rock and blues is rooted in feel not technicality, that's why it resounds with more people than Jazz ever will, you don't need to know music theory to enjoy Hendrix's music. You have highlighted exactly why Jazz fans are considered snobby and pretentious
@@ChromaticHarp Well said to one stupid comment. WTF & why would you compare players with huge gaps in years as if they were still alive or were around at the same time. Jimi even was friends with Mike N . True Jimi was not always on his best game but those were not really such good times for him as fame crept in. To call him sloppy well that's just an opinion some share some do not. 🎸
I clicked that title bait was hoping to like Al's comments here, I really was, but he is still, sadly , the same narcissistic braggart he has always been, and a well known fact among musicians that have played w him, several of whom I know. He intentionally leaves out Larry Coryell, an old friend, who was THE primary Jazz Rock guitar superstar / latest new thing circa 1967 - 68 into 1969 when McLaughlin came over and then Larry and John were the top two new innovators in Jazz rock guitar. This was FIVE years before Al started w Chick and RTF. Also convenient to leave out Larry as Chick had to send Al to Larry in late 1974 to get a LITTLE soul in his playing as he sounded like a type writer! Al could read like a mofo, which Chick needed for his complex compositions, but his first set of gigs , some of which I and friends in the scene attended, he was BALTANTLY lacking soul. He also leaves out Herbie Hancock! just wow! .. in 1969 - 72, BEFORE RTF the top Jazz Rock innovation groups were Maha, Larry Coryell, Herbie Hancock, Herbie had no guitars but def Jazz rock just like Weather Report , the 4th of the originals. Both Itzhak Perlman (the greatest classical violinist of the century, so MORE technical than any jazz rockers) and Erich Leinsdorf (conductor of Boston Symphony ) have said Jimi Hendrix was the greatest pure musical talent of the 20th century, across genres. Al is sadly unable to distinguish between pure musical genius, and "Jimi had great presence and stage swag, "ROCK STAR moves!!" type BS .. Al did NOT make up for lack of stage presence and pure musical talent and soul that Jimi had. He is OFTEN mentioned by true musical talents, in the jazz rock history .. and people that played w him, as inferior to Bill Connors in RTF from MANY musical perspectives. Different decade, same old pompous poser Al.. Sad to say .. I was hoping to like his comments!
Have to agree that the Coryell omission is just plain wrong. Same goes for not mentioning what Herbie Hancock was doing w/ Mwandishi and the early Headhunters period. Al also seems oblivious to the fact that the Mahavishnu Orchestra broke new ground and moved the needle quite a bit more than RTF. It's not hard to see that Zappa, Holdsworth, Hendrix, King Crimson and Miles Davis were in terms of evolution bigger than later period Weather Report or RTF. Al is superficially impressive as a guitarist, but maybe not a brilliant composer. In the mid 70's there were fewer amazingly skilled facile guitarists to check out. A lot of his recorded output seems less impressive than it did a few decades ago.
I agree with Al. I love Hendrix, but don't think he's that great of a guitarist. And I think he is a far better singer than guitarist. Don't get me wrong! He's a very good guitarist (not to mention an innovator), he's just not the GOAT that so many people make him out to be (albeit mostly non-musicians who don't know shit from Shinola). But of course this headline turned out to be misleading (as so many TH-cam videos are) as Al didn't really talk much about Hendrix anyway, which is kind of why I did.
Fact is that guitar playing in terms technique has gone through the roof in the last 40 years and Al Di Meola sounds mundane on electric , he has often come across as a narcissist , criticising people who sweep pick as cheating , bad mouthing Santana as being unable play his stuff , very unnecessary
I agree. I really lost respect when Al totally trashed Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and the RTF band after the second reunion tour I believe in 2010. Totally unnecessary how he disrespected Chick.
You can't fuse rock and jazz as they are opposites. Rock is repetitive, it's all rhythm that is louder than the other instruments (primarily guitars). Rock has no dynamics - it's all LOUD. Rock has not tension and release. Rock doesn't swing. Everything jazz is, rock is not. Everything rock is, jazz is not. It's like trying to make flaming ice cubes.
Clueless. You werent there. I saw Return to Forever Weather Report Santana and McLauglin Welcome Borboleta Caravan Serai Amazing DYNAMICS amazing compositions Miles Davis Bitches Brew started it all. The 1979's were stuffed with great Fusion artists. They all play loud. They used dynamics 100 % more and better than straight ahead Jazz bands. Besides after Bee Bop or even the Wes Montgomery and the Larry Young or Cream experiments of extended loud soloing over 3/4 and 6/8 s sections, the electric bass changed everything. Un fortunately 100 watt Marshalls did ruin a lot of mediocre music and playing. But, Fusion gave drummers and bassists a huge leg up. And, then George Benson saved Jazz from the depths if musical Purgatory with Breezin. Most Jazz and Folk purists couldnt crack the amplifier, bass and drum codes. As a result most of them I saw were always whinging and basically starving musicians.
Scale jockey heaven - DiMeola thinks Hendrix was voice and image and like other members of the scale hacking fraternity fails to see that it was his musical (melodic) control of electricity and energy that set him apart. Composition? Don’t make me laugh - jazz rock tunes & especially fusion tunes (they are not worth a more serious designation) are basically complicated maps to nowhere. Who listens to McLaughlin& Co now? This dreadful genre spawned an army of scale jockeys playing on TH-cam from their sofas (Mancuso, Gilbert, etc) without an ounce of charisma- as for Vai & co - it is awful as far a music goes - degenerate hyper performance far far removed from beautiful music. And so boring - Christ almighty no one will care about it in 20 years.
@@zandel_zandel I am not even close to wrong. my criticism stings because this genre hasn’t aged well. Fusion is a dead form. And how can anyone argue for this utterly dated and boringly repetitious and lifeless music? The stunning brilliance and rawness of Hendrix'z sets at Woodstock and Isle ofWight have no equivalent in tbe sterile clean room that is any jazz fusion record of gigever reciorded. stunning technical prrformance is évidence of competence not genius. btw I was at Softmachine gig 1976 (I think) in Dublin - Holdsworth blew us all away - what followed was degenerate - a complicated and dare I say it again a complicated and pretentious map to nowhere (Mancuso, Gilbert & co and the rest of the hyper-dérivatives)
This was a perfect interview and Al was perfect in answering every question
I was playing keys in the Air Force rock band out of San Antonio when RTF came to the Majestic Theatre (what an incredible venue!). Of course, lots of us went. C'mon! Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Al DiMeola, Lenny White? What a delicious concert. The visual image of Al wearing a sleevless black t-shirt, jeans and cowboy boots (not a Texas look) made us smile. But Al would come to the front of the stage and solo with the most incredible virtuousity while just looking around the audience, as if his hands and fingers were moving by themselves. He never looked down at his fretboard at all. We were all shaking our heads. And yes, the late 70's, early 80's were AMAZING.
Wow. You were lucky to see those four on stage.
Yes the 70's and early 80's were amazing, and at the time I thought the music would never end...the naivety of youth.
When Jaco joined Weather Report that was one of the best things that happened for jazz fusion, the album Heavy Weather played consistently on the radio, was one of the most memorable music albums ever.
Great to hear some background from Al Di Meola. Columbia Records in the seventies had a lot of great fusion. And the jazz-rock was all over the place with Di Meola, John McLaughlin, Steve Khan, Larry Coryell, Jeff Beck, and even Santana. There was an edge to it that was great, and with Weather Report, Return to Forever, Mahivishnu Orchestra, and early seventies Miles Davis, you had new, groundbreaking sounds. I was a teenager in the seventies just getting into jazz, so I had a lot I could delve into and man what a joy it was to listen to all of those early albums. Love the jazz I hear today, but sometimes it lacks the bite of that fusion from the seventies and early eighties.
@@2timothy23 al is not jazz, i don’t hear anything jazz in his playing, unless you mean fusion …..as rock guitar and other latin styles.
Jazz had so many era, but they are main vibes that makes it jazz, it’s the blues, upper extensions and of course the impro….to say the least.
Fusion from these years 70’s was technical , and melodic at some degree, not for thé disco boys or plain rockers.
I love all of the bands you mentioned, specially Larry Coryell, what a cool cat, wished he lived older, I can’t get enough of his interviews , love Mike Sterns too, what a great player in the 80’s
@@sega62s of course there's some Latin elements in jazz. Romantic chords like Min9ths and maj9ths feature prominently in some Latin music like Bosa Nova and Samba. Al plays in a flamenco, neo-classical style.
@@KennyBlackbird-oo1pt never heard him play jazz, latin is not jazz, unless you mean latin fusion?
I have loved Al since I first saw him at williams college during the where have I known you before tour of return to forever.
He's completely amazing and so were RTF of course!. :) Regarding Hendrix, he was in a period of transition at the time of his tragic death in 1970, with many roads opening ahead in creative terms. He was planning guest appearances with Miles Davis' band (w/ Jack DeJohnette and Keith Jarrett!), and I've long felt that if Jimi had survived beyond 1970, he would also have interacted with the jazz fusion wave that was coming on at that time.
The best fusion record is for me Agharta .Miles always wanted to play with Hendrix. Playing rock with jazz musicians (Bitches Brew) served it's purpose for a while, but Miles wanted a band that could really rock, as well as play jazz, avant-garde and world music as well. The icing on the cake for Miles is that he finally found a guitar player who could do what the departed Jimi Hendrix could do, plus so much more. Pete Cosey is probably one of the greatest guitar players to ever play rock/fusion/blues etc and the fact that he remains mostly unknown is nothing short of criminal. Another guitar player was Reggie Lucas so two guitars used to sound as Hendrix . This album finally brings together all the influences that Miles had been trying to bring together for years; Stockhausen's Asiatic suspended musical moments in time (moment form), Sly Stone's dramatic take it to the streets call to action world revolutionary party funk, searing acid rock guitar, Sun Ra's disciplined approach to group improvisation, Herbie Hancock's futuristic fusion and timeless classical music from Africa.
For me, the "gateway drug" into jazz was Al's "Casino" album. I was 15 or 16, and a typical Hendrix/Led Zep/ZZ Top fan, then I heard that, which led to Coltrane, and Miles Davis, etc. I didn't find out about RTF, or Weather Report until after I was totally ruined forever by Allan Holdsworth.
When Alan worked on the UK with Bill Bruford, I finally figured out what they were up to.
I am 48 and thought I was alone listening to UK/Bruford, Hendrix, Brand X, RTF and Di Meola's records constantly. . Fusion was my rabbit hole to Miles and everything Jazz.
Al spitting facts here. Saw him live back in May of this year, excellent show.
Billy Cobham's "Spectrum." 1973.
Tommy Bolin !!!!!
Tommy Bolin - Fusion Pioneer & guitar genius.
Creme de la creme. I concur with Al on the 70's being the high life of artists who took us for a ride that left us spellbound. A true Renaissance period that made me appreciate my special time hearing this.
Very organic, mystifying & provocative music that challenged the listener.
On just a couple minutes, Al's comments almost completely encapsulate the rise and peak of the jazz/fusion idiom.
Jimi once told an interviewer in eary 1969 that he didn't like jazz. Jimi did have friends who were jazz musicians like Roland Kirk, Larry Young and Larry Coryell. There was also his drummer Mitch Mitchell who was a quasi jazz drummer and Buddy Miles who played with John McLaughlin on a couple of proto Mahavishnu albums. So with songs like Third Stone From The Sun, If 6 was 9 and some of his associations Jimi was in the vanguard of early fusion music. One thing I would like to stress is that Jimi would never practice scales and whatnot and as a guitarist ( who has his guitars in storage); it's really tough to be proficient when you're not regularly practicing different drills like scales, chords and appreggios (sic?).
Jimi would rarely make rapid chromatic runs like Mahavishnu or Al. He stuck mostly to minor, pentatonic, and major scales, or invent some of his own stuff. I think he was more concerned about phrasing and groove than running up and down scales.
@@bradnelson4778 I bought that album when it first came out!! I'm not criticizing Jimi at all but I'm just being objective. Jimi would have humbly said he wasn't the best guitar player in the world.
@@KennyBlackbird-oo1pt You are right that Jimi, being Jimi, probably would say that but he is by far the greatest electric guitar player ever IMHO, the GOAT, AS A WHOLE. The Beatles were very good musicians but not as good as Zeppelin technically but still the even greater band for their CREATIVITY and VISION like Jimi vs other scale athletes. Though Jimi's technique was AWESOME and it changed Miles Davis' ideas on what he wanted to do with jazz.
Lots of killer guitarists never practice scales, etc. They just pick up the guitar and play. Do you think EVH “practiced”? Hell no.
There's a place that I call inside the music. When you're inside you don't really have to practice, but it can be hard to stay inside, and, like the dude says, even harder when your gear is in storage.
had both "elegant gypsy" and "heavy weather" lp's and seen them both on that tour that summer
Props my man - would have loved to have seen that billing!
If there was ever an actual birth of Fusion-Jazz, in my humble opinion, it was Bitches Brew from Miles Davis. That astounding album gave everyone the permission, to stretch out as far as their talents could take them. Miles took off the cuffs.
And amazingly it was recorded at the exact same time Woodstock was happening......
@@fritzkabeano1969 It was an incredibly diverse time for music. It's also no surprise, that Bitches Brew was on the cusp of the golden age of Prog. So much was intertwined in the early 70's.
Bitches Brew was actually titled Witches Brew it was given its title by Davis's then wife Betty Davis.Bitches Brew is a musical concoction consisting of various takes and tape loops massively edited together by producer Teo Macero with added reverb and echo effects. It has more to do with the conceptual music of Karlheinz Stochausen than jazz fusion. It is more about post-production than actual playing in real time and marketing.Larry Coryell recorded his Spaces album at the same time and features the ensemble playing of John Mclaughlin,Chick Corea and Billy Cobham who would record the Spaces sessions after playing with Miles on the Bitches Brew sessions in 1969. The Spaces album was recorded in real time with minimal post-production both records were released in 1970. Coryell later released the Planet End record that contained some more tracks from the Spaces sessions as well as some Eleventh House tracks.
Glad you are humble. Bitches Brew was avante garde electric jazz. First true fusion was Mahavishnu Orchestra. But fusion of rock and jazz started with Jimi Hendrix and Mitch Mitchell.
@@michaeljamsmithband Larry Coryell is known as the Godfather of fusion if you listen to his playing with Gary Burton in 1967 you can hear him rocking out on his solos - there are some clips on TH-cam. Jimi Hendrix was not able to read and score music which was probably to his advantage in some ways as his playing was limitless but in 1970 he was at a crossroad regarding his musical progression. There was talk about collaborations with Gil Evans as well as Miles Davis but unfortunately Hendrix passed in very controversial circumstances.
The record that turned me on to jazz fusion was Miles Davis's album Pangaea recorded live in Japan in the early seventies. Sorry about the typo - should read as Stockhausen - actually Miles used to refer to him as Steakhousen.
I started playing guitar at 11 and have been in bands all my life.My first band covered the pop music of the middle 60’s. When the whole fusion thing happened I was in my middle 20’s and playing in a more progressive cover band with some original music thrown in. Fortunately everyone in the band started listening to and loving all these fusion bands that Al Di Meola is talking about. I remember at our practice s we would usually jam for about 20 minutes or so and try to imitate what we were listening to. If we played something we really liked we would stop and start to work out a more arranged version. Because of the venues we were playing we never had a chance to perform them live. The closest we came was doing a couple of Zappa songs. That didn’t last long because the crowd looked at us like we all had two heads. We all loved Steely Dan and did a couple of songs off Aja. This brings back memories and I’m going to have to go back and start listening to some of these fusion bands again.
Al seems so chill! Seems like a great guy to hang with over a few beers!
Love that Al!! Guitar God! Supreme
In 1959 Tom Dissevelt & Kid Baltan made an electronic album that sounds very much like what later became Fusion. Especially the track 'Whirling' sounds a lot like Weather Report and RTF.
Love Al's work with RTF, 70's solo albums, Guitar Trio, & his World Sinfonia. But he misspoke, Jaco's first tour was 1976, the Black Market tour. He's right about that Hendrix stuff being fusion, especially when you consider Third Stone from the Sun in 1967, and it's that kind of stuff that inspired Jaco to transfer it into his bass solo.
You're right: I saw Jaco in Austin with WR in '76, and wondered why Johnson was gone. They played Birdland, and Shorter couldn't get Jaco to leave the stage after the show...
LOL that's a cool story about Jaco and Shorter.
Doesn't get any better than this.....
Al Di Meola is a master of his art and an all around class act.
He’s right about Hendrix being the total package- he was the first “Guitar Hero” , and in many ways Hendrix is the source of all the Heavy Metal genres and split genres simply because the first album was the first to take distortion to that level and create that atmosphere and aura : mass distorted sound, like thunder.
I was 20 in 1978. It was a music lovers heaven on earth in those days many genres of talent and endless tours. I was blessed with health and youth and I should have been studying more but oh the music!
Went to Louisville to see Al Di Meola and Weather Report on that 1976 tour. For some reason, Al didn't show, but WR did an extended set for us. They were great.
What few people know about Hendrix is that he was an avid reader of the Urantia Book. He took it everywhere with him.
Gotta give a shout out to RTF’s first guitarist Bill Connors. There was something transcendent about that guy.
Great music, concerts for only a few dollars in those days. I saw Jaco, Steve Gadd and the Word Mouth band at a small venue in a small L.A. suburb. Also saw Al Di Meola with Steve Gadd, Jan Hammer in L.A. somewhere.
You were very lucky
Al forgot to mention the Soft Machine and Tony Williams Lifetime as early proponents of "fusion" music.
Yes.yes..
Hendrix was a visionary on a path into the higher consciousness. Much more than a “Rock Star”
You say something hard to appreciate. Hendrick was out of time. If one listens to some of his rare stuff, he definitely shifted time.
@@2visiondigital
H E N D R I X, junior 🍼
💤
Weather Report Notably, the band lacked electric guitar, which was central to other successful fusion bands like the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Return to Forever. This was a conscious decision, as Zawinul noted in a 1973 article, “There is a certain chemistry in the band which would be destroyed by adding another melodic instrument.” And so, crunchy EPs and searing synth lines (along with driving electric bass) would become sonically aggressive signature elements of the Weather Report sound; however, the music’s keyboard-based structure and saxophone lead voice automatically made it more jazz-centric than other ’70s “jazz-rock” outfits.
End of the 70's...that's a long long time ago!...those were the days!...
We had never heard anything like Hendrix, before Hendrix! Johnny Winter's was outrageous, but, mainly blues(he did get fusiony), but Hendrix broke all the scales, arpeggios down and "reassembled them". He was just barely lifting off the launching pad, when he crashed!!!
Hit the nail on the head Al
I saw RTF in London in 2008 and shook Al's hand on his birthday!
So much great music on Columbia Records in those days. Miles, Herbie, John McLaughlin, Di Meola, Weather Report. The Internet is great but it killed the record business and local radio. I heard all of this stuff and more on my local college radio station over 40 years ago.
Yea we loss some things, and then we gain some things with modern technology and the internet. For instance with the internet, people can see videos from the 70's era and before of legendary artist at the click of a button. Before that it was hard to gain access to those performances caught on video. They would be in people's personal collection. Also you can have individuals that can showcase their talents online to get seen. The record business was a bit of a problem also when considering they desired record sales more than artistic freedom. CBS didn't want Mclaughlin going acoustic after Shakti, or Warner Bros. didn't like Jaco's big band approach in word of Mouth, or Shawn Lane putting orchestra pieces in the middle of his Powers of Ten album.
@@flame-sky7148 I'd still go back to the old days of numerous clubs and record stores and local audio shops where I could buy great used equipment and listen to speakers before buying. Since the Internet engulfed everything, I hardly see any of my old friends and acquaintances anymore. There's no place to go. But I realize it's better for independent artists who can connect with their fans.
ADM's 'Suite: Golden Dawn' with Jaco was amazing!
When I saw Al live at the Miami auditorium in 1976, He was burning like a Blow torch , through two Marshall full stacks - But he is right about Hendrix being a great all around master entertainer. Players who play like Al used to, are too wrapped up in maximum technique to actually entertain, and interact with the Crowd. Al always had Killer Latin rhythms happening, and his own unique approach to phrasing , all delivered with astonishing speed and accuracy.
I can't tell you how many outdoors festivals I've been where entertaining Hendrix style guitarists build their solos up above the 12th fret and the crowd goes crazy. To me, very boring. Just as boring as a Malmsteen type player shredding the stuffing out of the guitar.
@@JamesWalker-ky5yr
From u.k.
100% agree!
Fusion was, to a degree, an offshoot of prog rock. Virtuosity was gaining popularity and McLaughlin was the first one to take jazz chops and showcase them in a complex rock styling. After that, everyone else followed suit. And Di Meola was perfect for the time.
Jimi made them all turn to fusion he was the first step, its like Parker did what he did and a lot of musicians got switched on. What Jimi had over all of them is he created something totally unique.
Jimi Hendrix album “Nine to the Universe”
By saying Jimi Hendrix was the complete package that is like the biggest compliment in the world
Okay none of these replies are in order so I don't know what the hell's going on but purgatory kid Stephanie McMahon Trump shut the hell up about everything
Jimmy was very special and good but Frank Zappa made a fool out of him many times okay explain that
@@TommyguitargibsonNobody made a fool out of Jimi. What are you blabbering about?
@@hesch-tag Frank Zappa made a complete fool out of Jimi Hendrix if you'd like to see a video of it look at Frank Zappa at the Royal Albert Hall where he makes a fool out of Jimi Hendrix
Furthermore you don't even like Jimi Hendrix you bad mouth him all the time and now you're trying to get kudos with this stupid little video
AL Di Meola total class musician innovative artist.
There is a group of musicians that are taking "Jazz" fusion seriously. These dudes that opened for Plini in LA last year at "The Venue" actually played a Return To Forever cover. Can't remember their band name!
Great guitarist. I wish more people talked about Bill Connors.
Not sure if the Dixie Dregs were considered fusion but they were close to it and probably one of the first bands to record it
Jaco was the Hendrix of bass.
He frequently played Purple Haze or 3rd Stone From The Sun during his solo spots.
No, he was the Frank Sinatra of Spaghetti 🍝
He didn’t seem too enthusiastic talking about this topic until his eyes turned big and he said: 1:55
I always thought the Dixie Dregs were the most formidable fusion band and their "What If" album the world's pre-eminent fusion recording.
I thought Iron Maiden were the greatest blues/Jazz combo!
4 bands Al, gotta put in Herbie's Headhunters with Mahavishnu, Return to Forever & Weather Report!
Al is the greatest, 👂 💚
I know all of this stuff of course I grew up with it but I've never found any band that comes close to weather report
Jimi's 'voice and look' is what made him special? Seriously?! Sorry Al but you missed the whole point of Jimi's greatness: every note note he played dripped with pure EMOTION and spontaneity. He resisted the urge to polish his playing to the point of loosing it's raw vitality, always cultivating that quality of living flow. I'm convinced this was a conscious choice on his part, just like Miles did.
WELL said!!
Yes I concur. Jimi had an artistic vision that transcended his genre/form, he was what I would call "extra-musical"..there was something going on in his expression that was beyond music. Al is a phenomenal instrumentalist, but honestly, I don't really get into that kind of bag. With Jimi you get a feeling that he was aware of something greater than himself--can't say that for many virtuosos. Jimi also had a symphonic sense and was a master of motivic variation. I honestly see him as one of the most important and unique creative artists for all time. There was something inevitable in his music, not unlike Beethoven.
@@brandonterzic Nice. So true! His playing WAS nature.
Well he said what indeed was truth, Hendrix was great as a phenomenal, musically he did something that was less intended than cobain songs
@@dominiknowak2137 English?
"Flambuoyancy" That's when you combine floating and flash.
He comes across as an ordinary guy, your neighbor in Jersey. But he's a genius. Always was.
When Mikes Davis had replaced the swing beat with the rock back beat and experimented for a few years he looked out into the crowd and realized the female audience had greatly diminished. He said to himself uhh ohh something ain’t right then he stopped playing altogether to recuperate. Thankfully Jimi Hendrix never went full rock fusion, none of his recordings on his albums have rock fusion songs at all. Frank Zappa had more fusion in it than Hendrix because he studied composers and so did the jazz greats.
Yes. Jimi could sing and act out his
Shredding guitar playing.
Alot of stunt work that don't come easy.
I Saw Steve Vai play and SING Hendrix
as well as can be done. On the Hendrix Family tour with Billy Cox.
Other than Randy Hansen.
Who had Al's complete support early on.
Randy sounds best with his European
UFO bass player and drummer.
It takes real talent to back Hendrix.
In the bass and drums department.
It is essentially the beginning of
Fusion right there
Read, "Electric Gypsy" Hendrix was
headed for Fusion without a doubt.
He saw and heard Frank Zappa, Carlos Santana, John McLaughlin, Mike Stern and Miles Davis' direction
His next recording sessions were booked with sold Jazz and Fusion session guys.
He died before he could start down that path. He would have bumped into Allan Holdsworth, Al DiMeola, Steve Vai, Satriani, he loved
Billy Gibbons, he loved Soft Machine and King Crimson.
Hendrix was ready to storm FUSION.
without a doubt. In the early 1970's...
Actually it kind of began with 3rd Stone from the Sun.
If you were to break that song down it really has a fusion feel to it
Di Meola has always been a cool cat
Have a listen to Nine to the Universe
Chicago Transit Authority
Good one, thy were phenomenal
I did like Jaco. But I also preferred Elegant Gypsy to Heavy Weather by quite a margin. The songwriting and execution was just better.
Jimi only lived long enough to dabble in jazz/rock fusion but certainly would have done more with it. For my money Frank Zappa did it better and earlier than most, Hot Rats came out in 69, followed by Waka Jawaka and Grand Wazoo in 71.
fusion came before Jimi! Just check Gary Burton’s albums with Larry Coryell, first one 1967
I preferred the earlier Weather Report. A lot more experimental and raw.
"Jimi Hendrix had a great voice..."?! Admit it, Al: you had a couple of whiskeys right before the interview, right... ? 😃
Jimi did have a great voice though?! It perfectly suited his music and that's all that matters
dude is 70 years old and looks 50
As a guitarist if you did not study VILLANOVA JUNCTION, RED HOUSE and 4 MINUTES SOLO IMPROVISATION from Woodstock you can not understand Hendrix.
Al is looking more and more like a middle aged Eric Clapton . ✨🎸✨🎸☮️😇
@MIKKELIRAWK12
0 seconds ago
Sorry, Al is right. Jimi was a great musician and his voice added a lot.
To be the "greatest guitarist" you have to have technique.
As an all around artist Jimi beats Eddie Van Halen, but as a Guitarist EVH beats him by a country mile.
The test?
Eddie could play Jimi, Jimi would not be able to play Eddie.
Also, Al is like Yngwie before Yngwie, among the best pickers ever. Jimi could never pick like Al.
In the 6os at the time no Jimi was not a music theory jazz player but he could play jazz as he was heading in that direction near the end playing with many Jazz guys but you can say he couldn't pick like AL & Al could not do what Jimi did plus what would Jimi sound like during all the years from his passing till now , that's just something we will never get to know or hear . I can imagine as good as he was then how much better he would be today. Sorry but it's just silly to compare Jimi & Eddie, way too many years in between them as Eddie was just a little kid when Jimi was at his peak. Just my opinion but i believe Al is speaking rather metaphorically as he knows to be great it's more than just technique which he does say that. We that play are all different & that will never change.
Two words:
Hot Rats
Sorry fan boys.
There are many real professional musicians...aka session players...who.knew that Hendrix was not a skilled technical player.
He was laughably sloppy.
Great innovator sure.
But far from the genius that he was ordained to be.
As a late teenager Al could play circles around pop star Jimi in his sleep.
Rubbish. Tighter scales and practiced riffs are less than total spontaneous creation that transforms the very instrument itself. You substitute genius and vision for well practiced performances. Personally I could not careless about Jimi's rock star antics. They are the boring bit. Holdsworth could NEVER come up with something as profound and powerful as the Band of Gypsies 'Machine Gun'. It changed Miles Davis and he changed modern jazz. Hendrix will be remembered for his creation of modern guitar music. Holdsworth will be just another forgotten 'show off' talent if better than most others, like Steve Vai, Ingvar Malmsteen and show off Eddie Van. Hendrix created beautiful deep MUSIC and was also an incredibly fluid rhythm guitar player which he intuitively and seamlessly blended with his uniquely passionate solos. You are deeply ignorant about what music is. It is NOT a SPORT. It tells stories!
He was sloppy at times (mostly whilst playing live and under the influence of psychedelics) but to say he was sloppy ALL the time is unfair, his playing on his studio albums was never sloppy in my opinion, songs like Little Wing and The Wind Cries Mary are testament to that. There is also many incredible "real professional musicians... aka session players" that cite Hendrix as one of their greatest influences. He was an incredible songwriter and as far as rock/blues/psychedelia in the 60's goes he was a skilled technical player, it's just a different ballpark to jazz. Part of Hendrix's charm live was his untamed wild explosive playing on stage and all the crazy sounds he could get out of his rig, it wasn't about clean perfect playing. I agree that Al easily is the more technical player, I don't think anyone would deny that, but to call Jimi a "pop star" or "far from the genius he was ordained to be" is insulting to his legacy! He was a genius in the sense that he revolutionised how people played the electric guitar. If music for you is only about technical skill then I feel sorry for you! Rock and blues is rooted in feel not technicality, that's why it resounds with more people than Jazz ever will, you don't need to know music theory to enjoy Hendrix's music. You have highlighted exactly why Jazz fans are considered snobby and pretentious
Al Jolson played Circles around Mike Nesmitb I. His underwear!
@@ChromaticHarp Well said to one stupid comment. WTF & why would you compare players with huge gaps in years as if they were still alive or were around at the same time. Jimi even was friends with Mike N . True Jimi was not always on his best game but those were not really such good times for him as fame crept in. To call him sloppy well that's just an opinion some share some do not. 🎸
I clicked that title bait was hoping to like Al's comments here, I really was, but he is still, sadly , the same narcissistic braggart he has always been, and a well known fact among musicians that have played w him, several of whom I know. He intentionally leaves out Larry Coryell, an old friend, who was THE primary Jazz Rock guitar superstar / latest new thing circa 1967 - 68 into 1969 when McLaughlin came over and then Larry and John were the top two new innovators in Jazz rock guitar. This was FIVE years before Al started w Chick and RTF. Also convenient to leave out Larry as Chick had to send Al to Larry in late 1974 to get a LITTLE soul in his playing as he sounded like a type writer! Al could read like a mofo, which Chick needed for his complex compositions, but his first set of gigs , some of which I and friends in the scene attended, he was BALTANTLY lacking soul. He also leaves out Herbie Hancock! just wow! .. in 1969 - 72, BEFORE RTF the top Jazz Rock innovation groups were Maha, Larry Coryell, Herbie Hancock, Herbie had no guitars but def Jazz rock just like Weather Report , the 4th of the originals. Both Itzhak Perlman (the greatest classical violinist of the century, so MORE technical than any jazz rockers) and Erich Leinsdorf (conductor of Boston Symphony ) have said Jimi Hendrix was the greatest pure musical talent of the 20th century, across genres. Al is sadly unable to distinguish between pure musical genius, and "Jimi had great presence and stage swag, "ROCK STAR moves!!" type BS .. Al did NOT make up for lack of stage presence and pure musical talent and soul that Jimi had. He is OFTEN mentioned by true musical talents, in the jazz rock history .. and people that played w him, as inferior to Bill Connors in RTF from MANY musical perspectives. Different decade, same old pompous poser Al.. Sad to say .. I was hoping to like his comments!
Have to agree that the Coryell omission is just plain wrong. Same goes for not mentioning what Herbie Hancock was doing w/ Mwandishi and the early Headhunters period. Al also seems oblivious to the fact that the Mahavishnu Orchestra broke new ground and moved the needle quite a bit more than RTF. It's not hard to see that Zappa, Holdsworth, Hendrix, King Crimson and Miles Davis were in terms of evolution bigger than later period Weather Report or RTF. Al is superficially impressive as a guitarist, but maybe not a brilliant composer. In the mid 70's there were fewer amazingly skilled facile guitarists to check out. A lot of his recorded output seems less impressive than it did a few decades ago.
I agree. Al's ego is a bit too big.
@@bakeone4406
From u.k.
Agree with your comment.
Not sticking up for Al but, most do go off the boil.
Don’t listen to much these days.
Wow! Sounds about right. ..."sounded like a typewriter"...😄
I agree with Al. I love Hendrix, but don't think he's that great of a guitarist. And I think he is a far better singer than guitarist. Don't get me wrong! He's a very good guitarist (not to mention an innovator), he's just not the GOAT that so many people make him out to be (albeit mostly non-musicians who don't know shit from Shinola). But of course this headline turned out to be misleading (as so many TH-cam videos are) as Al didn't really talk much about Hendrix anyway, which is kind of why I did.
If only Al could be on time. Tory Slusher, a girl in a sun dress is a better guitarist than you.
If only Al could write a song worth listening to without his shredding. Take away his shredding & he makes elevator music.
Not into Al per se except on acoustic guitar but he’s dead on here…
He really wasn't that good
Fact is that guitar playing in terms technique has gone through the roof in the last 40 years and Al Di Meola sounds mundane on electric , he has often come across as a narcissist , criticising people who sweep pick as cheating , bad mouthing Santana as being unable play his stuff , very unnecessary
I agree. I really lost respect when Al totally trashed Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and the RTF band after the second reunion tour I believe in 2010. Totally unnecessary how he disrespected Chick.
Hendrix was advancing the blues into the cosmos. All these other cats…… not sure what they were attempting.
mofo looks like cliff richards
Hey Maaannnn! You don't like Herbie Hancock? Watermelon Man? Huh! Huh! Huh!?.....
You can't fuse rock and jazz as they are opposites. Rock is repetitive, it's all rhythm that is louder than the other instruments (primarily guitars). Rock has no dynamics - it's all LOUD. Rock has not tension and release. Rock doesn't swing. Everything jazz is, rock is not. Everything rock is, jazz is not. It's like trying to make flaming ice cubes.
Clueless. You werent there.
I saw Return to Forever
Weather Report
Santana and McLauglin
Welcome
Borboleta
Caravan Serai
Amazing DYNAMICS amazing
compositions
Miles Davis Bitches Brew started it all.
The 1979's were stuffed with great
Fusion artists. They all play loud.
They used dynamics 100 % more and better than straight ahead Jazz bands.
Besides after Bee Bop or even the
Wes Montgomery and the Larry Young or Cream experiments of extended loud soloing over 3/4 and 6/8 s sections,
the electric bass changed everything.
Un fortunately 100 watt Marshalls did
ruin a lot of mediocre music and playing. But, Fusion gave drummers and bassists a huge leg up. And, then
George Benson saved Jazz from the depths if musical Purgatory with Breezin.
Most Jazz and Folk purists couldnt crack the amplifier, bass and drum codes.
As a result most of them I saw were always whinging and basically starving
musicians.
"Rock has no dynamics" Did you really just say that lmao. Yet another pretentious jazz snobs ignorant opinion shining through
Yeah, this dude really went out on a limb with that statement. Anything can be fused!
Scale jockey heaven - DiMeola thinks Hendrix was voice and image and like other members of the scale hacking fraternity fails to see that it was his musical (melodic) control of electricity and energy that set him apart. Composition? Don’t make me laugh - jazz rock tunes & especially fusion tunes (they are not worth a more serious designation) are basically complicated maps to nowhere. Who listens to McLaughlin& Co now? This dreadful genre spawned an army of scale jockeys playing on TH-cam from their sofas (Mancuso, Gilbert, etc) without an ounce of charisma- as for Vai & co - it is awful as far a music goes - degenerate hyper performance far far removed from beautiful music. And so boring - Christ almighty no one will care about it in 20 years.
The song is e everything.
@@zandel_zandelwho?
@@zandel_zandel I am not even close to wrong. my criticism stings because this genre hasn’t aged well. Fusion is a dead form. And how can anyone argue for this utterly dated and boringly repetitious and lifeless music? The stunning brilliance and rawness of Hendrix'z sets at Woodstock and Isle ofWight have no equivalent in tbe sterile clean room that is any jazz fusion record of gigever reciorded. stunning technical prrformance is évidence of competence not genius. btw I was at Softmachine gig 1976 (I think) in Dublin - Holdsworth blew us all away - what followed was degenerate - a complicated and dare I say it again a complicated and pretentious map to nowhere (Mancuso, Gilbert & co and the rest of the hyper-dérivatives)
From u.k.
Agree with every word!
Scale jockey heaven!
THAT made me laugh!😂
Some great comments on here about fusion.
@@zandel_zandel
From u.k.
Agreed.