Paul Thorn, Al Di Meola, Isaiah Collier, Jake Shimabukuro Featured in Star Tribune

He was the other New Jersey musician who joined Tom Morello et al. at the historic Concert for Solidarity & Resistance to Defend Minnesota at First Avenue in January. Di Meola is an esteemed jazz guitarist who first gained recognition in Chick Corea’s Return to Forever in the mid-1970s. Di Meola has been inducted into Guitar Player magazine’s “Gallery of the Greats,” having won 14 times in various categories in readers polls. He’s delivered more than two dozen albums, including “Twentyfour” two years ago. And Di Meola grabbed the attention of a heretofore rambunctious First Avenue crowd with his remarkable guitar prowess, including an instrumental interpretation of the Beatles’ “In My Life.”