Paco De Lucia, John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola

Flamenco is not improvised: everything is carefully rehearsed. Every falseta, every step of the dance, although it may appear spontaneous is based on conscientious preparation. Flamenco artists are not fans of improvisation in their public performances; only in the dance are small spaces left. In the singing and above all the guitar there is no place for improvisation. This is something Paco de Lucía knows well. He was concerned with learning the tricks of improvisation in order to put them into practise, first alongside McLaughlin and Di Meola and then in his own music. In an interview which Paco gave to Miriam Davison he declared: “I thought the best way for me to learn was to get together with musicians, from Jazz, for example, who are always very much at the harmonic vanguard. As always I was curious and inquisitive… I never tried to stop being a Flamenco artist, nor to dedicate myself to Jazz, nothing like that. I went with the clear idea that I was going to learn in order to later bring something new to my Flamenco and try to grow in some way.”
Fifteen years before this recording, they had made Friday Night in San Francisco 1980. Recorded live, it soon became a Jazz classic of the time. The Guitar Trio recorded in Peter Gabriel’s studios, Real World. This is an album which when compared to the previous is more introspective, more reflective: although they share the great frequency of notes per second. The declaration of virtuosity characterises this successful experiment.
With the exception of ‘Manha de Carnaval’ the rest of the tracks come from the individual back catalogues of each of the guitarists. None of the three tried to take the lead: each one had his role and the solos are well-distributed so that no one is brought out above any of the others, they strictly took turns in making them while the others accompanied. It is like a conversation between three good friends who know each other inside out. In this sense, Paco says: “On my work with Larry Coryell, John Mclaughlin or Al di Meola, it was neither Flamenco nor Jazz, it was a fusion of musicians not of music”.
Paco De Lucía plays a Conde Hermanos guitar, as does Al Di Meola, who also plays, along with McLaughlin, an Ovation acoustic guitar.