“Elegant Gypsy” by Al Dimeola

Phew! Finally a review after quite SOME time.

The striking cover of the beautiful girl in the black gypsy attire and Al DiMeola in his attactive black vest and white shirt, sporting the lovely black Gibson (there’s another and better picture in the inner sleeve or backside of the CD) were the reason I picked up the CD at the MBH music store in Singapore but as I tried the CD out there was no way I was going to leave the store without buying it. The music on the CD was simply mind-blowing though it had just 6 songs on it.

Al was a prodiguous guitarist ever since he picked up the instrument. Too good for his age he had to leave his early band for want of more challenging music-playing. He later joined the reknowned Berkley School of Music where his extended hours of practicing were legendary. No wonder he was recruited at such a young age into Chick Corea’s “Return to forever” with whom he did two classic albums before beginning to record his own.

Released in 1977, “Elegant Gypsy” was Al’s second solo album and one that you musn’t miss. Typical of his guitaring, “Elegant Gypsy” featuring crisp, clear playing with Al producing a wide gamut of tunes on his guitar at varying speeds. I always thought Al had some of the strongest guitar playing hands. Though “Elegant Gypsy” won an annual award for the Best Guitar Album from Guitar Player Magazine and is also considered one of the largest selling guitar albums it is relatively unknown and less heard today.

Another reason why this CD is special is because of the talented musicians on the album besides Al DiMeola, particularly Jan Hammer on Synthesizer and Keyboards, Steve Gadd and Lenny White on drums and Paco De Lucia, the classical guitarist.

1. Flight over Rio – What a brilliant way to start the album. Filled with latino rythms, great licks and fantastic accompaniment from the supporting artistes this is a great opener.

2. Midnight Tango – By the time I heard this beautiful song I had already made up my mind that this CD would be mine. I also used this song while trying out my YAMAHA mini system at the Plaza Singapura in Singapore in early 1997. The reason I write this is because the sales guys were so moved with this song they were enquiring about the artiste on the CD. At 2.5 min the song changes pace and from the slow ballet opening but still very listenable. After 6 minutes there is a small yet beautiful drums/Bongos solo from the percussionists.

3. Midnight Tango – A duet with veteran classical great Paco De Lucia that’s out of this world. Al plays the acoustic guitar at blazing speeds where I was convinced that one could play acoustic guitar faster than the fingerpicking style of the classical guitarists. While speaking to Guitar Prassanna, a fine guitarist from Chennai (now living in Boston and who incidentally also went to Berklee School of Music) playing Carnatic, Jazz and Rock, I was told that even Carnatic music could be played faster on the electric guitar using a pick than the finger picking technique.

4. Race with the Devil on Spanish Highway – This song needs to be checked out for the sheer speed of guitar playing along with the melody that only Al can produce on the Gibson Le Paul. One of Al’s complex pieces and a concert fav, on “Race with Devil on Spanish Highway” Al plays the guitar at blazing speeds and yet not sacrificing the beauty of the tunes. Many think that Al was hugely responsible for the shred guitar genre. Wikipedia reports that Al is a big influence on Swedish guitar ace and super shredder Yngwie Malmsteen.

Here’s a video of Al playing “Egyptian Dance” and “Race with the Devil”. Watch it just for Al DiMeola because the supporting musicians are not the ones from this album and the ones in the video suck real bad, particularly the drummer.

5. Lady of Rome, Sister of Brazil – Small but sweet song, so short making it look like a 5 song album. But good song nevertheless.

6. Elegant Gypsy Suite – Beautiful tunes of the guitar, that varies from soft and smooth to fast and blisteringly furious. A classic with the instrumentalists taking things to the limit.

The personnel on the CD -
Al DiMeola: Electric guitars, Acoustic Guitars, Piano, Percussion.
Paco de Lucía: Acoustic Guitar (track 3).
Anthony Jackson: Bass guitar.
Jan Hammer: Keyboards, synthesizer (tracks 1, 6).
Mingo Lewis: Percussion, Keyboards, Synthesizer.
Barry Miles: Piano, keyboards (tracks 2, 4).
Steve Gadd: Drums (tracks 1, 6).
Lenny White: Drums (tracks 2, 4).