One of the true members of Mount Rushmore’s fusion guitarist, Al DiMeola proved to be a master when going acoustic or plugged in. This album catches him back in 2004 at Scala, Germany, right on the heels of his Flesh On Flesh release, but covering material from his early solo albums as well as his famed summit meeting with Paco De Lucia and John McLaughling.
The team of Mario Parmisano/p-synth, Gumbi Ortiz/perc, Ernie Adams/dr, Andras Sturcz/cel, Gyula Benko/va, and Gabor Gsonka-Victor Uhzik/vi mix folk, gypsy and Nuevo tango like masters, creating electricity without necessarily plugging in. The material on the two disc set ranges from a richly exotic Middle Eastern caravan on “Rhapsody Of Fire” to the gentle and dreamy “Azzurra”. But nothing on this album stays mellow for olong, as Di Meola is in a high octane mood, overwhelming at times as on the rapid fire of “Egyptian Danza” or the fierce picking on “Libertango”. The intricate work of DiMeola’s strings veer around the percussion like a Maseratti around Neopolitan traffic on “Innamorata” and “This Way Before”, while the lyricism of “One Night Last June” is awe inspiring in its ease of grandisimo. Magical strings.