
When it comes to jazz-rock, few Les Pauls are as storied as Al Di Meola’s 1971 Les Paul Custom – famously held on the cover of his groundbreaking 1977 album Elegant Gypsy.
By that point of his career, Al was already well-known for his breathtaking virtuosity. At the tender age of 19 he had been recruited by Chick Corea in fusion supergroup Return To Forever, with whom he’d go on to record three Top 40 Billboard albums in the mid-’70s.