In case you are unfamiliar with de Lucia's virtuosity and innovative approaches, think Jimi Hendrix mixed with Andres Segovia. Still no? Guitar level = Jedi master. There, that should do it.
De Lucia rocked the flamenco style into mainstream as he crossed over into jazz and blues with the likes of Chick Corea and Eric Clapton. This helped bring the exotic Iberian music into the mainstream and become more of a worldwide phenomenon rather than an obscure intellectual hipster's delight. His great collaboration in the '70s was with singer Camaron de la Isla.
He left us a legacy of amazing recordings and videos as well. His most famous collaboration is arguably the Friday Night In San Francisco (1981) live album with Al Di Meola and John McLaughlin, which is considered one of the greatest live guitar albums in history.
A virtuoso from childhood (he grew up with gypsy flamenco and was musically aware at age five), it is unlikely we will see a musician of this much innovation anytime soon. The mayor of Algeciras, de Lucia's home city, has announced two days of mourning. The music world will probably take it a little further.
Rest in peace, master!
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