Al Di Meola offers a moving tribute to The Beatles with Across The Universe

(Image credit: Alexander Mertsch)

With his new album, Across the Universe, jazz-fusion guitar legend Al Di Meola has elected to pay tribute once again to one of his most formative influences, The Beatles.

Released on March 13 via earMUSIC on CD, Digipak, 2LP and Digital, Across the Universe features 14 gorgeous arrangements of Beatles songs both legendary and obscure. To pick up a copy of the album, step right this way.

“I really credit the Beatles for the reason why I play guitar,” Di Meola said. “That was a major catalyst for me to want to learn music, so their impact was pretty strong.”

Di Meola never restricts himself to one style on Across the Universe, embarking on a riveting, hard-rocking journey for Strawberry Fields Forever, showing off his remarkable fingerpicking skills on Dear Prudence and Norwegian Wood, while returning to his jazz-fusion roots on Till There Was You.

Di Meola also offers up a touching, solo version of Here, There And Everywhere and a playful album-closing rendition of Octopus’s Garden.

For more on Di Meola and his music, take a look at his website.

(Image credit: earMUSIC)
Jackson Maxwell

Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.