In the four years since his Consequence of Chaos release, Al Di Meola has been busy touring the world with not only his band but also on the well documented Return to Forever Tour. Now he's back with what is surely one of Telarc's biggest releases for 2011. Pursuit of Radical Rhapsody is another guest filled tour de force with his World Sinfonia band (Fausto Beccalossi/ accordion, Kevin Seddiki/guitar, Gumbi Ortiz/percussion, Peter Kaszas/drums and Victor Miranda/bass). Special guests include bassist Charlie Haden, Peter Erskine/drums, Gonzalo Rubalcaba/piano, Mino Cinelu/ percussion, Barry Miles/keyboards and the Sturz String Quartet. The guitar virtuoso and world music pioneer deals in more evocative and compelling sounds with this new set, delivering some deeply moving calland- response between Beccalossi's accordion and Di Meola's nylon string acoustic, building to more turbulent points with some searing electric guitar lines. The album features 13 new Di Meola compositions - winding down with a cover of the Beatles "Strawberry Fields" and Harold Arlen's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" - a tribute to the late Les Paul.