WINTER NIGHTS

Winter Nights is the 16th full-length studio album by American artist Al Di Meola. The album was released in 1999 through Telarc.

And yes the title of the album fits the music like a glove. All 15 tracks on the album are instrumental mellow and acoustic tracks which definitely could be nice to listen to by the fireplace on a cold winter´s night ( or as background music to a romantic candlelight dinner). The tracks are a bit too similar in style though and if I have to be honest the album becomes background listening after only a few tracks. The quality of the tracks and the playing is high enough but the music is a bit too easy listening in style to really excite me beyond finding the album pleasant.

The production is warm and natural which suits the acoustic instrumentation well.

I usually enjoy Al Di Meola´s acoustic albums and while Winter Nights certainly isn´t a bad album there are few highlights on the album and I generally find it forgettable. If you´re interested in listening to the acoustic part of Al Di Meola´s discography I´d recommend picking up either Al Di Meola Plays Piazzolla (1990) or Heart of the Immigrants (1993) instead. Still the quality of the material and the excellent musicianship warrants a 2.5 - 3 star rating IMO.