Al Di Meola - Live at Montreux 1986, 1989, 1993

Starring:Al di Meola
Studio: Eagle Vision USA
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Description
This DVD draws on three of Al Di Meola's performances at the Montreux Jazz Festival. The earliest from 1986 is a solo acoustic performance. The concert from 1989 is by the Super Guitar Trio, which sees Di Meola join forces with fellow guitarists Larry Coryell and Bireli Lagrene. The final concert from 1993 features Di Meola with guitarist Chris Carrington and percussionist Arto Tuncboyaciyan, who also provides vocals on some tracks. This gives a total of over 2 hours of live music.

Description

This DVD draws on three of Al Di Meola's performances at the Montreux Jazz Festival. The earliest from 1986 is a solo acoustic performance. The concert from 1989 is by the Super Guitar Trio, which sees Di Meola join forces with fellow guitarists Larry Coryell and Bireli Lagrene. The final concert from 1993 features Di Meola with guitarist Chris Carrington and percussionist Arto Tuncboyaciyan, who also provides vocals on some tracks. This gives a total of over 2 hours of live music.

Customer Reviews:

Very good album.......2006-08-11

I need some more Albums like...
Al De Meola , John Mc Laughlin, Paco De Lucia
And Drum Solo by Tony Royster Jr (Album Pure Energy)
If you have this kindly quote the Price

Dimeola in Vancouver..........2006-01-03

In response to my compatriot Donald in Van BC, Sr. Dimeola did happen to visit our city on a couple of occasions during the 90's Once with The Rite of Strings in which... if I'm not mistaken they kicked that tour off here in Van with 'Alma Libre' (Locals) as the backup group. The Trio (ROS) didn't have alot of ironing out to do being the calibure players that they are but they were using sheet music and at one point Al's blew away from him on stage at a critical point in a song.. but he nailed it anyway and the crowd went NUTZ! He was also here earlier in the 90's with his own band at the Commodore again a fabulous show and obviously much more "electrified' than that of the acoustic trio of him Ponty and Clarke. I'm looking forward to checking out these Montreaux DVD's thanks for the reviews.

Kung Fu guitar! The most amazing guitar playing ever recorded!.......2005-12-15

The 1986 concert starts out a little rough - they should have edited the intro/sound check and the camera work could be better and the tone is best played through a Surround Sound system. The video is totally clear and there is plenty of fingerwork zoom, though some useless camera angles.
Also, here is a more accurate track list:
Intro/sound check
Orient Blue
Vertigo Shadow
Atavism of Twilight
Enigma of Desire
Medley/improv:
Untitled (but published in Guitar Player on a floppy record)
Soaring Through a Dream (quote)
Rhapsody of Fire
Etude (quote)
Passion, Grace & Fire
percussion
Cielo e Terra
Mediterranean Sundance
Encore:
Etude
Capoeira
This music is so unusual it requires an explanation. The 1985 album Cielo e Terra - the basis of this 1986 concert - features compositions inspired by (and titled after) Salvador Dali paintings - so this is 'surreal guitar' - characterized by strange and beautiful chord voicings (not found in any chord dictionary or elsewhere) played with fast, smooth arpeggiation and intricate scalar runs with frequent rhythm and tempo changes. There is copious melodic and percussively rhythmic improvisation throughout. The percussively rhythmic picking is another of His specialties. No one demonstrates such a high level of mastery of the three musical dimensions - harmony, melody and rhythm - intertwined across such a wide range of musical styles all executed with creative improvisation, precision and ever-present grace as Al Di Meola.
He's the Bruce Lee of Kung Fu guitar!
Bottom-line:
Fans: Buy it, of course.
Guitarists: required listening/viewing to witness what is possible on the instrument. (See also his lesson video with excerpts mercifully dumbed-down for mere mortals.)
Virtuosi (of any instrument): Absolutely worthy addition.
General audience: The World Sinfonia concert will be more 'accessible'.

Two great Di Meola performances at Montreaux, 86 and 93.......2005-07-10

Don't let the reviews put you off altogether. I would actually rate this as four and a half stars if I could but based on the amount I have enjoyed this release I have few qualms about giving this five. Although there are some flaws, let's look at the positives. These are performances at Montreaux Jazz festivals which make them events in and of themselves. The Montreaux DVD issues all have excellent 5.1 sound as well as DTS at a great price and this one is no exception. Possibly the edits could have focused more on Al's fingers but really there is lots of close ups of his playing and the truth is Jazz is not "visual" the way rock is. Reading some of the reviews I expected to just see his back and face. Both shows are crystal clear. There are the two performances as stated on the packaging. The "missing" third show is just an apparent Amazon error as there is no suggestion of it on the packaging. The first show is of course solo from 86 and Al was touring the Cielo album so of course there is a fair amount of music from that release.I always found these melodies haunting and the playing is of course, flawless. The second show is the World Sinfonia trio with two guitars, percussion and some ethereal vocals, and again is flawless and inspired. I assume some of the others reviewers must have had the fortune of seeing Al many times but I never have in my part of the world (Vancouver B.C) so I am thrilled to have some footage of one of the all time guitar greats. The other Di Meola release "One of These Nights" from 2004 is stunning in it's beauty and of "higher" quality than this but if you are a fan you will surely want and enjoy both. Hats off to Eagle Rock for the care they have seemed to put into all the Montreaux releases. All so far have great visuals, DTS sound as well as informative liner notes including the Montreaux poster art for the year of that particular show. Nice touch folks !

No Trio, but still pretty good........2005-03-18

I love Al Di Meola's music but was VERY disappointed to see that there was no 1989 performance with the trio. I really bought this DVD for that performance but was very, very, very disappointed that the trio wasn't on here. I did enjoy the other two concerts but the second set (1993) wasn't mixed very well.

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