The Roper Theater just recently started having concerts. Yngwie Malmsteen, a heavily DiMeola-influenced speed metal guitarist, appeared there in May. But DiMeola, a four-time “Guitar Player Magazine” Best Jazz Guitarist, is much more than a speed player. He is a master of Latin jazz-fusion with a highly respected body of work of over 21 albums.

DiMeola is set to release his latest album, “Consequence of Chaos,” on Sept. 22, which features special guests piano legend Chick Corea, drummer Steve Gadd, keyboardist Barry Miles and bassist John Patitucci. This marks DiMeola’s first all-electric album in 10 years and his first electric tour in 15 years. “This is really a new and refreshing period for me,” said Di Meola. “This recording marks my return to playing solid-body electric guitar in the context of modern concepts and composition. I love the energy and the fact that I have reconnected to my first love.” DiMeola, who is as proficient on his acoustic albums as on his electric band albums, will be playing both styles in concert.

DiMeola’s influence on music goes back to the early ‘70s when he was a member of Chick Corea’s band Return to Forever, considered one of the definitive jazz groups. DiMeola was only 19 and had just left Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass., when he joined RTF, for which he shared a Grammy in 1975. After three albums with RTF he exploded with a flurry of chromatic notes in the introduction of his first solo album in 1976, “Land of the midnight sun.” Musicians are still scratching their heads 30 years later at the complexity of his guitar lines.

DiMeola has sold over six million albums. His earlier records (they were only heard on record back then), like “Elegant Gypsy” and “Casino,” were some of his most popular. In 1980 his acoustic trio with Paco DeLucia and John McLaughlin had a huge hit with the frenetic musical assault on “Friday night in San Francisco,” a live album that sold over two million records. That trio would tour and release three albums.

DiMeola has worked with the best of the best in the jazz world. The list includes, in addition to those mentioned, Paul Simon, Phil Collins, Carlos Santana, Larry Coryell, Steve Winwood, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Jaco Pastorius, Les Paul, Jean Luc Ponty, Steve Vai, Frank Zappa, Jimmy Page, Tony Williams, Stanley Clarke, Jan Hammer, Anothony Jackson and Stevie Wonder.

DiMeola has immersed his songwriting style in the feel and culture of Latin and flamenco music. From the graceful “Mediterranean Sundance” and “Lady of Rome, Sister of Brazil” (from the album “Elegant Gypsy”) to the fiery “Passion, grace, and fire” duet with Paco DeLucia (from the album “Electric Rendezvous”), DiMeola has always shown mastery of the Latin music style. Whereas Jimmy Page and Robert Plant borrowed elements of Middle Eastern music for Led Zeppelin, DiMeola assimilates the feel of South American music into his albums.

The last time DiMeola was in town was for a guitar clinic at Audio, Light, and Music in Norfolk, which musicians are still talking about. Fans have been waiting a long time for him to return. DiMeola is excited to play his new material in Hampton Roads. “My group has been playing countless years together around the world,” said DiMeola, “and our love of playing is even more evident on this recording.”

Two of the best guitarists in Hampton Roads, Cory Pettiford and Ted Doty, both winners of Guitar Center’s Guitarmageddon competition, offered their insight into DiMeola’s influence on guitarists worldwide. “His playing always had an uncanny, almost inhumanly impossible accuracy to it,” said Pettiford. “ He’s influenced guitarists in every genre of music.” Doty said, “Al Di Meola equals passion, feel, and technique, acoustically or electrically.”