Elegant gypsy

Elegant gypsy
Studio album by Al Di Meola
Publication (s)	1977
Label (s)	Columbia Records
Format (s)	LP, vinyl , CD
Genre (s)	Rock , jazz , fusion
Title (number)	6th
running time	37 min 15s
occupation	Guitar , piano, percussion: Al Di Meola E-piano / keyboard : Barry Miles [2, 4] E-piano / keyboard: Jan Hammer [1, 6] Electric bass : Anthony Jackson [1, 2, 4, 6] Percussion , piano, keyboard: Mingo Lewis [1, 2, 4, 6] Drums : Steve Gadd [1, 6] Drums: Lenny White [2, 4] Guitar: Paco de Lucía [3]
production	Al Di Meola

Elegant Gypsy is Al Di Meola's second studio album and, with over 2 million copies sold, his most commercially successful.

At the time of publication, Di Meola was just 23 years old and was a member of Chick Corea's fusion band Return to Forever , where he had already built a reputation as a talented musician. In contrast to his debut album Land of the Midnight Sun , published in 1976, a move away from the pure speed game towards more melodic arrangements can be seen on this album. In addition, influences of Latin jazz , flamenco and rock can be identified: The pieces are very contrasting, with acoustic pieces inspired by Brazilian music and flamenco for Di Meola alone ( Lady of Rome, Sister of Brazil ) or in a duo with the guitarist Paco de Lucía ( Mediterranean Sundance ) to technically extremely demanding jazz rock ( Race with Devil on Spanish Highway ) and rocking heights ( Flight Over Rio with a "devilish sound duel" with Jan Hammers Moog synthesizer ).

The Guitar Player Magazine has named Elegant Gypsy at the best guitar album of the year. For Scott Yanow the album is "almost a classic of the fusion direction"; he gave it five stars.

Track list

The pieces were (except [1]) composed by Al Di Meola.

1. Flight Over Rio (Mingo Lewis) - 7:18
2. Midnight Tango - 7:28
3. Mediterranean Sundance -5: 12
4. Race With Devil on Spanish Highway - 6:20
5. Lady of Rome, Sister of Brazil - 1:46
6. Elegant Gypsy Suite - 9:16 am

Chart successes

The album came in the US charts up to # 58 and in the US charts for jazz albums up to # 5. The album was awarded a gold record on July 24, 1989 for sales in the United States .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Review on ultimate-guitar.com (in English)
2. ↑ Pete Prown, Harvey P. Newquist, Jon F. Eiche: Legends of Rock Guitar Hal Leonard (1997/2003), p. 125. ISBN 0793540429
3. ^ Allmusic review
4. ↑ chart successes