In
1971, he enrolled in the
Berklee College of Music in
Boston, Massachusetts. In
1974 he joined
Chick Corea's band,
Return to Forever, and played with the band until a major lineup shift in
1976.
Di Meola went on to explore a variety of styles, but is most noted for his Latin-influenced jazz fusion works. He is a four time winner as Best Jazz Guitarist in Guitar Player Magazine's Reader Poll.
In addition to a prolific solo career, he has engaged in successful collaborations with bassist
Stanley Clarke, synthesizer player
Jan Hammer, violinist
Jean-Luc Ponty, and guitarists
John McLaughlin and
Paco de Lucía. He also guested on "Allergies" from
Paul Simon's "Hearts and Bones" album (1983).
In the beginning of his career, as evidenced on his first solo album
Land of the Midnight Sun (1976), Di Meola was noted for his technical mastery and extremely fast, complex guitar solos and compositions. But even on his early albums, he had begun to explore Mediterranean cultures and acoustic genres like flamenco. Good examples are "Mediterranean Sundance" and "Lady of Rome, Sister of Brazil" from the
Elegant Gypsy album (1977). His early albums were very influential among rock and jazz guitarists alike. Di Meola continued to explore Latin music within the jazz-fusion genre on albums like
Casino and
Splendido Hotel. He exhibited a more subtle touch on acoustic numbers like "Fantasia Suite for Two Guitars" from the
Casino album, and on the best-selling live album with McLaughlin and de Lucia,
Friday Night in San Francisco. In 1980, he also toured with fellow Latin rocker,
Carlos Santana.
With
Scenario, he explored the electronic side of jazz in a collaboration with Jan Hammer (of Miami Vice theme fame). Beginning with this change, he further expanded his horizons with the acoustic album
Cielo e Terra. He began to incorporate
guitar/synthesizers on albums such as
Soaring Through a Dream. Beginning in the 1990s, Di Meola recorded albums closer to World music and modern Latin styles than jazz.
He has continued to tour, playing in smaller venues like
The Birchmere in
Alexandria, Virginia, and House of Blues in Las Vegas, Nevada. Recent concerts have included a sampling of his newer material (an engaging mix of acoustic, "distorted acoustic", and guitar/synthesizer with a looser format than the songs on the early solo albums) along with a selection of electric guitar numbers from the early albums. Di Meola often closes out shows with an energetic rendition of one of his most challenging (to play, that is) pieces, "Race with Devil on Spanish Highway", from the
Elegant Gypsy album. Even in technical showcases like this, he combines blindingly fast scalar runs with subtle, dazzling rhythms, and melodic phrases. Because of his early recordings, Di Meola became arguably the most important pioneer of
shred guitar, influencing guitarists such as
Yngwie Malmsteen (with whom he appeared on keyboardist
Derek Sherinian's 2003 solo album
Black Utopia). However, in most cases after the early 1980s, Di Meola has largely distanced himself from this approach.
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