Review: Al Di Meola – Twentyfour
Al Di Meola – Twentyfour
Format CD – Vinyl LP – Digital / Label: earMUSIC
Release: 2024
Text: Tom Wouters
‘Twentyfour,’ Al Di Meola’s 24th solo album, was going to be an acoustic album, which Di Meola started working on in 2020. But because of the corona pandemic artists like Di Meola had little choice but to make music in their own home studio, so the ‘simple’ acoustic solo project grew into a four-year project, in which Al Di Meola explored the outer limits of his musical abilities.
A number of songs still remain from the original acoustic design of the album, in which Di Meola plays solo acoustic guitar, always accompanied by the Latin percussion that is an integral part of his sound. Beautiful songs, in which Di Meola’s guitar music never sounds contrived, but always has an improvisational character in beautiful pieces such as Close Your Eyes, Esmeralda, For Only You, Precocious and the three-piece composition Immeasurable Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
Also very beautiful are the pieces where Di Meola chooses a classical theme over which he improvises, such as Fandango and Capriccio Suite. In Testament 24 it is a classical waltz theme, where we hear the Al Di Meola of his early days, the Latin jazz fusion (electric) guitarist. In two other pieces (the fabulous Paradox Of Puppets and Genetik) we hear that Al Di Meola again.
But perhaps the most beautiful pieces of ‘Twentyfour’ are the two drawn-out orchestral pieces, in which Di Meola pulls out all the stops of his musical abilities. First there is Tears Of Hope, which sounds like an orchestral soundtrack from a 1930’s movie, over which Di Meola improvises beautifully loosely and then there is the breathtaking Ava’s Dance In The Moonlight (about his youngest daughter Ava), which is a monumental romantic composition, in which he duets with a beautiful violin on both acoustic and electric guitar.
What was planned as a ‘simple’ acoustic project has become a fascinating album that showcases Al Di Meola in all its glorious musical prowess. Breathtaking!
Tracks:
01. Fandango
02. Tears Of Hope
03. Esmeralda
04. Capriccio Suite
05. Ava’s Dance In The Moonlight
06. Immeasurable Part1
07. Immeasurable Part2
08. Eden
09. Close Your Eyes
10. Immeasurable Part3
11. Paradox of Puppets
12. For Only You
13. Genetik
14. Testament 24
15. Precocious
Website: https://www.aldimeola.com/