Al Di Meola is no stranger to crossing musical boundaries. As a boy, the New Jersey native grew up listening to the Ventures, the Beatles and Elvis Presley. But it was his first guitar teacher, Bob Aslanian, who introduced him to bossa nova, jazz and classical music. In his teenage years, Di Meola regularly took the bus into Greenwich Village to check out guitarist Larry Coryell, whom he has since dubbed "The Father of Fusion." Little did he know of the impact he himself would have on the genre.

In 1971, Di Meola enrolled at the prestigious Berklee School of Music in Boston, where by his second semester he was playing in a fusion quartet led by keyboardist Barry Miles. He received a phone call from a keyboardist named Chick Corea in early 1974, and--with bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Lenny White--they formed the seminal fusion group Return to Forever. After the Grammy Award winning albums "No Mystery" and "Romantic Warrior," RTF broke up in 1976, launching Di Meola's solo career.

Di Meola's electric efforts like "Elegant Gypsy," "Splendido Hotel," and 1998's "The Infinite Desire" are now joined by a distinctively acoustic record, "The Grande Passion," the third project recorded with his acoustic group, World Sinfonia, and recently released on Telarc Records.

LiveDaily correspondent Don Zulaica spoke with Di Meola about "Passion," "Desire," and America's musical scene.

LiveDaily: When did you put the World Sinfonia together and make "The Grande Passion"?

Al Di Meola: I wrote the music last January and we recorded between February and April, and added the symphony at the end of the recording.

Can you talk about the writing of the opening tune "Misterio"?

Probably from just being inspired by certain classical music, also some opera music. Andrea Bocelli in particular. Just kind of soaking in that inspiration, that led to the writing of this record. "Misterio" is my favorite piece.

How long had you been writing in this style?

I think it was evident on "Infinite Desire," even though that record was generally electric in nature. There were hints of this kind of development going on from at least two or three records ago. Certainly, World Sinfonia, this is the third record of this group in this format. So it's really a combination of my music and [the late guitarist/composer] Astor Piazzolla's influence. And at the time, there was even more influence from the operatic and classical worlds.

What can you tell me about Piazzolla's impact on you?

Basically, it's a music that is extremely emotional in every way. It's a music that really hits the heart, but at the same time, it's intelligent and challenging, to the player and the listener. A little different than a lot of other fusion musics that were mostly challenging, that didn't have the emotional aspect where you have absolute feelings about times, places and people. This is a lot deeper, in my opinion.

Were you composing music back in Return to Forever days?

I was composing soon after I joined the group. It was not something I wanted to do. I was really a huge fan of Chick's writing, but it was Chick that got us all to grow and develop as quick as we did--which I thank him for. First of all, I didn't even know that I had the ability to do it. But we didn't have a choice, he actually made us write. A pretty big gesture coming from a guy who is one of America's greatest composers.

Did you see a specific growth over the years, from RTF through the solo career? ...

Oh, yeah, every record I felt there was some growth going on. It's an ongoing process. Back then, it was a far-away dream to do something with a symphony that I actually wrote the music for. So it's come up to this. And it seems that the more interesting the music gets from an aesthetic viewpoint, the less mainstream it becomes. It's unfortunate, but that's just the way it is. If you get more interesting with your music and you develop and you grow, it's almost a double-edged sword, I think.

Is this a full-time thing now, or do you still want to make electric albums in the future?

I don't think I could make electric albums in the future, like the way I used to make them. I mean, it was so kick-ass, so high-energy, so damaging to the ear drums. But I really don't feel that the audience wants that anymore. That's my general opinion. I think that they've had it. They want music that's going to be intelligent, soothing, emotional--but they don't want to be bombarded. They want to be seduced. It's just a sign of maturity.

However, I totally go against the whole industry. And I'm talking about the thoughts of how radio thinks and record companies generally think, and that is, I think they way underestimate the listeners and kids out there, who could also enjoy this kind of thing if they got a chance to hear it. I don't say that's true for other kinds of jazz, older forms of jazz--I don't think there is that possibility, unfortunately.

Really, I don't have a tremendous desire to do electric. Although with my acoustic guitar, I make MIDIed guitar sounds that sound better than my electric guitar alone.

It certainly seems there's not the burgeoning scene that you came up in, the early '70s.

Yeah, that was a fortunate time. We were doing things that were new, and it was a good era in which to showcase it. Now, when you get guys that have something new to say, it's a much more difficult era. Because what is popular now is the reverse of virtuosity. If it's sloppy, horrendous, and weird, it becomes more popular with the kids. In the '70s, if you had virtuosity, you were put in a really good light. Not anymore.

I've had this same conversation with [guitarist] Steve Vai and [drummer] Terry Bozzio.

And Vai, look at him. He's nowhere near where he was ten years ago, he's evolved so much. And he's struggling at this point. People just don't care anymore about virtuosity. They care about ridiculous forms of hip hop and people like Eminem, who are destructive--and zero talent.