Scheherazade

For his third album, Al Conti takes as his theme the "Arabian Nights" stories, as told by Scheherazade to the sultan, to keep him from executing her. The theme provides Conti with a reason to investigate Middle Eastern styles and instruments. Those instruments are not detailed in the CD package, but clearly include an Indian tabla and other percussion instruments from the Middle East and Asia Minor, as well as sitar. To these, Conti overdubs Western string instruments, various keyboards, and guitar. (André Maquera plays guitar on one track, "A Thousand Tales.") There are also wordless vocals here and there, and, on "Palace Gardens," nature sounds of water and birds. The effect the composer/performer gets is both rhythmic and soothing, appropriate for music to accompany those intriguing stories that kept a monarch up so many nights. Of course, the music can be enjoyed for purposes of relaxation, meditation, and background mood setting, whether one is cognizant of the inspiration behind it or not.