Guitarist – The Concordian

A pioneer of jazz and world fusion music returns to Montreal to perform his recent album, Elysium

Taking us around the world, one song at a time, is jazz-Latin fusion guitarist and composer, Al Di Meola. Known for blending world music and jazz, Di Meola explores the rich influence of flamenco, tango, Middle Eastern, Brazilian and African music. He is currently touring across North America, performing his most recent album, Elysium. This tour is also a celebration of the 40th anniversary of his record, Elegant Gypsy. The eclectic guitarist will be performing in Montreal on Feb. 25 at Salle Pierre Mercure. Joining him on his tour is Philippe Saisse on keyboards and marimba, Gumbi Ortiz on percussion, Elias Tona on bass, Luis Alicea on drums and violinist Evan Garr.

Di Meola has already performed 11 shows across different cities in the US—the tour began on Feb. 7. He said this tour has been better than his previous ones. “This is the best edition of the band. I put a lot of time into the rehearsals,” Di Meola said. “This isn’t a jam session—it’s people getting the best of fusion, and a lot of work goes into it.” This won’t be Di Meola’s first time performing in Montreal. The Montreal Jazz Festival awarded him the 2015 Miles Davis Award, which honors a great international jazz musician for the entire body of his or her work and that musician’s influence in regenerating the jazz idiom.

Growing up outside of New York City exposed Di Meola to a melting pot of different ethnic music. “My love of Latin music goes on since I was a kid. We had great choices of music, I went to many rock shows, I saw everyone under the sun,” Di Meola said. At 19, his international music career began when he joined a fusion quartet. By chance, a friend of Chick Corea—an American jazz and fusion pianist, keyboardist and composer—sent Corea a tape of Di Meola’s quartet’s live performances. Corea then hired Di Meola in his fusion supergroup, Return to Forever.

Portrait of jazz/Latin fusion guitarist and composer, Al Di Meola. Photo by Erin Cook (Jensen Team).

“Having the good fortune of being 19 years old and touring Europe and getting turned on by other ethnic music from France and Spain—it opened my world,” Di Meola said. Touring in South America, he said, also brought new influences to his music, such as tango. “What you get out of Brazil is so rich. When we are in a certain kind of teenage period, we absorb everything,” Di Meola said. His music teacher also helped him develop his musical style. “I was drawn to popular music, but my teacher was a classical, old-school jazz player. That gave me the best of both worlds,” Di Meola said.

Over the past four decades, Di Meola has released more than 20 solo albums and a dozen collaborative records with the Return to Forever supergroup, John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia’s acoustic guitar group, and the Rite of Strings band

Al Di Meola’s music goes deeper than words could ever express. Photo by Erin Cook (Jensen Team)

with bassist Stanley Clarke and violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. According to Di Meola, his most recent album, Elysium, was written during a difficult period in his life. “What kept me sane was taking the advice of a couple of friends who said I should write music as a way to channel the pain that I was going through,” he said. He locked himself in the studio and played and wrote music, which he said took his mind off the negatives. “What came out from my guitar, as different and strange as it sounded, I wrote it down. Personally, things started to change. I went from one extreme to another, which explains the title of the album, Elysium, which is a beautiful place to be,” Di Meola said. Elysium was written through the experience of automatic writing, he said. “It was like forward motion, no stalling. By doing that, I came up with a ton of stuff.”

At first, Elysium was meant to be an all-acoustic album, until Di Meola decided to play electric guitar again. “The electric guitar gave it a little twist—it’s a very different record than my previous ones,” he said. Di Meola’s key for remaining productive can be summed up in one sentence: “The rule in my life is to never watch TV without a guitar in my hand,” Di Meola said. Sometimes, he said, it is when you are not completely focused that you can come up with things that are unusual.

Di Meola is looking forward to being back in Montreal this Saturday. “Montreal is probably my favourite place to play because I have always felt welcome here. There is a very strong community that appreciates fusion music. I am really excited to play with this band,” said Di Meola.

Di Meola’s show takes place on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 8 p.m at Salle Pierre Mercure. Tickets are available online. Regular tickets start at $69.00

Charles Rangel, rock-based lap guitarist native to Los Angeles

Visiting Los Angeles this summer, I knew I would come across a multitude of talented street performers. The one who marked me most is musician Charles Rangel, also known as the “Dime Store Novelist.” I noticed him on 3rd street Promenade in Santa Monica as he was playing lap guitar while trap tapping to “Eleanor Rigby” by the Beatles. I was in awe. He played lap guitar so naturally and effortlessly, although it looked difficult to do.

Charles Rangel currently performs in the Los Angeles area and in Las Vegas. You would think by the way he plays that he was born with a guitar in hand. Surprisingly, the 27-year-old musician only started street performing at the age of 20. “I was a band geek in high school, and I wanted to be a rock star. When I was around 20, I was getting out of college,” he said. “I was taking these music classes. I wanted to play and start working, no more sitting in a classroom. That’s when I started street performing.”

He said performing on the streets has given him freedom and the ability to control how much money he makes. “The better you get, the more people give you money, the better you feel about your craft,” he explained. “Street performing is a great way for people to be interested in your music. It brings really cool opportunities throughout the years.” It was on the street that he heard about a stage competition by Rolling Stone magazine back in 2011. He submitted his songs, and was featured in four issues of the magazine. He won and got to perform at the Rolling Stone party.

Check out Charles Rangel’s YouTube channel: “The Dime Store Novelist”. Photo by Dmitry Voznesensky

His music can be described as delicate instrumental rhythms that make you want to lay back and enjoy the breeze—they are borderline romantic tunes. Some tracks also have lyrics and a bluesy-rock vibe. Seeing him perform live, I could only wonder where he got those lap guitar moves. “I was just strolling through a music store in Orange County and some guy said ‘Man, you have to go check out this guy here, he plays lap guitar.’ I watched him play and asked him how he does it. I began listening to him and did it,” Rangel said. “I took it to the street and played the same riff over and over again until some bum yelled, ‘play something different!” He said street performing is what keeps him going. “The style I play on my lap is 95 per cent self-taught. I began making things up with it. I have to create techniques on how to play.”

As much as he enjoys street performing, he said his goal is to tour and to make a good living writing songs. “I want to exert a lot of energy on stage. My number one goal is to tour independently or with a band,” said Rangel. His creative process is rather interesting. He said he can write 10 songs in a day if he wanted to. “When I’m driving, I’ll play the instrumental in the car and sing over it, that’s how I wrote most of my songs,” said Rangel. Anything can inspire him, he said. “What I hear in my dreams is f***** awesome and I have no idea how to recreate it so I wake up and hum it into my phone.”

Rangel also performed in Montreal. He toured across Canada with Canadian rapper Nova Rockafeller who hired him as her guitar player in the fall of 2015. They toured with All Time Low and Set it off. “Set it off was like my favourite,” said Rangel. “I really enjoyed watching them perform. That tour was a very good experience—it made me want to be a rapper actually.” When he’s street performing, his favourite spots to play are in Texas at the SXSW music festival and the Santa Monica Pier. “Performing on the Santa Monica Pier, there’s just something romantic about it. The ocean behind you, couples are holding hands… it just creates an atmosphere,” said Rangel.

How does he want his music to make people feel? “I want people to feel really good and take their clothes off. That’s what first came to mind,” he said. His advice to street performers: “Be courteous and respectful to other musicians, have fun and don’t set up in my spot.”

Rangel is currently working on a new album.

Check out Rangel’s music at www.charlesrangelmusic.com.