Guitar virtuoso Al Di Meola [ tickets ] and his new band, World Sinfonia, will kick off the New Year with a US tour and live album release.

The coast-to-coast outing is set to launch Jan. 10 in New York City and wrap Feb. 8 following a three-night stand in San Francisco. Stops include Austin, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and a four-night engagement in Seattle. An extensive European tour follows. Stateside dates are listed below and those overseas can be found at Di Meola's website.

Fans can get a taste of what to expect from the live shows when Di Meola and World Sinfonia release "La Melodia Live in Milano" in America Jan. 8. The album features four songs by Di Meola, one each by Ennio Morricone and Andrea Parodi, and two by tango master Astor Piazzolla, for whom Di Meola admits he has been "carrying a torch" his entire career. Di Meola said his shift from jazz-rock to the romantic style is perfectly natural.

"Although the tango developed in Argentina, it was born in the region of Italy where my parents are from, Napoli," the guitarist explained in a press release. "This music connects to my roots. As long as I'm playing music, it will be part of my repertoire."

Di Meola has been busy this year, touring his solo work and reuniting with groundbreaking jazz-fusion group Return to Forever. The Grammy-winning outfit, which also features keyboardist Chick Corea, bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Lenny White, mounted a major North American/European run over the summer and released an anthology set.

Di Meola, who is just about to wrap his own European tour, has been supporting a couple of releases: last year's "Diabolic Inventions and Seduction for Solo Guitar, Vol. 1: Music of Astor Piazzolla" and 2006's "Consequence of Chaos," which made it into the Top 10 on Billboard's Top Jazz Albums chart. Last fall, he also released his first electric DVD, "Speak A Volcano - Return To Electric Guitar."

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