Al Di Meola The Grande
Passion Rating: 4 estrellas y media A rich, moody tapestry with flashes of fire, this CD incorporates elements of jazz, fusion, classical, Latin, tango and Middle Eastern music. Sounding like the romantic soundtrack to an excellent foreign film, it's full of splendid moments, like the wash of colors on "Double Concierto," a sinuous composition by DiMeola's "musical father and friend" Astor Piazzolla, which begins simply with piano, guitar, and percussion and goes on to unexpected, wonderful places. Di Meola interprets two more beauties from the late Argentinian legend (the tender "Soledad" and the churning, incendiary "Libertango," where he uses MIDI technology to approximate the classic bandoleon sound) and offers six of his own. One of them ("The Grande Passion") gets my vote for the most gorgeous, soulful melody of the year, stated in ways alternately delicate and powerful. When it finally crescendos it's like the ocean lifting, with the sun sparkling on it. Flowing seamlessly into it is "Prelude: Adagio for Theresa," a minute-and-change of pure symphonic loveliness. There's also the vibrant "Asia de Cuba" with its whirling rhythms, guitar and horn trades, and John Patitucci supplying the heartbeat - somehow, it turns into a Caribbean breeze, then a flamenco club, then revs back up before ending as calmly as a sunset. Di Meola, who first gained wide attention when he joined Return to Forever in 1974 at the age of 20, has wonderful chops and a gift for unhackneyed composition; his famous blistering runs are here, but only when they further the music, not gratutiously added for their own sake. ("Opus in Green," written with the fine Argentinian pianist Mario Parmisano, is very RTF-like.) The arrangements by Di Meola and Parmisano make optimal use of the orchestra and soloists, creating an organically textured whole rather than the stringy soup that too often drowns such collections. The only piece that is less satisfying comes at the end: "Azucar" (sugar) is a short conversation between DiMeola and percussionist Arto Tuncboyacian that suddenly trails off into space. After all the previous Passion, it seems like an odd choice for a last track. But that's a minor quibble. This is gorgeous, exciting stuff. JS |