Al Di Meola

Soon after I started playing guitar, I heard Jeff Beck, and he became just, like, a huge inspiration and influence on me.

And there were guys like Al Di Meola, Larry Carlton, Robben Trower.

Mm-hmm.

Of course, Hendrix, Frank Marino, Van Halen.

I know that name.

He played with, like, Wayne Shorter and Al Di Meola.

Man, I, that guy was rehearsing the other day next to my rehearsal room with this beef three player in town, and it's ...

I just quit playing and went-

Mm-hmm

... and King Crimson and, and then fusion, you know, John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola, all this stuff.

And then I went to Berklee College of Music, you know, expand upon more of my, uh, studies, and while I was there I st- I actually started working for Frank Zappa transcribing music.

I was 18.

Gypsy jazz, as prescribed by his gypsy elders, ironically lacked freedom of expression for him.

Lagraën would eventually tour in groups alongside John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola, Larry Coryell, Victor Joris, Stanley Clarke, the Gil Evans Orchestra, Stanley Jordan, Danilo Perez, and Charlie Haden.

And in 1986, Lagraën would record for the first time with electric bassist Jaco Pastorius.

Lagraën's amazing experiences have contributed to what is possibly the freshest take on Reinhardt-style playing.

I immediately could see myself fitting into that.

You know, it's like if someone wants you to play, like, Al Di Meola or something, like, I'm like, "Oh, no, I, I definitely don't wanna do that.

I can't do that."

Right.

They said, "Oh, it's not one of those, you know, I- Italian guitar players, you know, with their last names ending in a vowel.

You know, it's not Al Di, Di Meola, or Steve Vai, or Joe Satriani.

You wouldn't like it." I was like, "No, I'm, no, I wanna check it out." So I, I went ahead and on, on the fly just picked up the CD, and I put it on, and it, it covered the things I wanted in a, in a pop record.

Uh, it wasn't your typical '80s overly produced record.

And I've always liked that because not everything needs to be...

Al DiMeola, Sterl.

Sorry,

Al.

And we have Stanley Clark on acoustic bass.

Al DiMeola on guitar.

Acoustic guitar at that time.

Lenny White on the drums.