Artist: Al Di Meola, Paco de Lucía, John McLaughlin
Album: Saturday Night In San Francisco (earMUSIC)
The coming together of three giants of flamenco and jazz-fusion guitar on the 1981 live album Friday Night In San Francisco was an era-defining moment. Al Di Meola was one of the hottest players in the world of jazz fusion, while John McLaughlin was already an established master. With flamenco firebrand Paco de Lucía to complete the triangle, it was no wonder the trio’s acoustic odyssey became a hit record. Few knew, however, that a second recording was made the following night, capturing yet more of the intensity and fire of their extraordinary meeting. Now, those recordings finally have been released, so we joined Al Di Meola to learn how it all went down…
How did these recordings get discovered after 40 years?
“We finished our tour back in 1980. It was a two-month tour, the initial one, and we finished in San Francisco. We felt like the last
