A ‘Sinfonia’ of Emotional Sound : * Music: Usually speedy guitarist Al di Meola turns lyrical in his latest album, and it may be his best playing to date.

Good thing guitarist Al di Meola didn’t listen to recording industry execs who took a pass on his newest recording.

Rejected by several labels, Di Meola produced “World Sinfonia” himself and landed his own distribution deal. The release, his first in four years, is quite possibly the finest among his 13 as a leader.

“World Sinfonia” teams Di Meola with Dino Saluzzi, an Argentine master of the bandoneon-- an accordion-like folk instrument that carried Di Meola back to his Italian roots and inspired the usually speedy guitarist to some of his most restrained, lyrical playing ever.

“The music that has always moved me the most is music that comes from pain,” said Di Meola, 37, who opens his “World Sinfonia” tour Thursday at Sound FX, formerly the Bacchanal. (Di Meola also plays the Strand in Redondo Beach on Friday and the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano on Saturday.)

“The best classical, jazz, ethnic music comes from suffering some emotion,” said the brooding, studious-looking guitarist, whose voice shifts rapidly with his thoughts, from deep, soothing calm to impassioned intensity. “A lot of the music I hear on radio today is happy jazz, and certainly life is not that. Our lives are full of a lot of different emotions. I like my music to reflect what life is.”

Di Meola, who grew up in New Jersey, first played the accordion. This helps explain why the presence of Saluzzi’s bandoneon on “World Sinfonia,” and the overall Euro-South American flavor of the music, inspired Di Meola to such moving moments.

Playing acoustic guitars throughout the album, accompanied by Saluzzi, two percussionists and classical guitarist Chris Carrington, Di Meola brings to this new music an emotional depth lacking in some of his earlier, technically perfect efforts.

“I loved the sound of the bandoneon, I always wanted to combine it with guitar,” said Di Meola, who lives in Old Tappan, N.J., with his longtime girlfriend and their 3-year-old daughter. “I heard it a long time ago in France and Italy, but the first time I got seriously into listening was when I met (master bandoneonist) Astor Piazzolla around 1985, the father of contemporary tango music from Argentina.

“Most of those guys are of Italian descent and come from Napoli, which is where my parents come from. As a first-generation Italian growing up, you had to get into the accordion; that was the hip instrument before guitar became popular.”

Di Meola had talked with Piazzolla about recording together, but Piazzolla suffered a stroke last year and was unable to play. Almost as an afterthought, Di Meola invited Saluzzi along on a three-week tour of Japan last year, a test run of the “World Sinfonia” material, including music by both Piazzolla and Di Meola.

The chemistry was magical, and Di Meola, Saluzzi and the rest of the group entered a studio immediately after the tour. They recorded the challenging “World Sinfonia” without overdubs.

Despite the uncompromising nature of the album--a collection of 10 musically complex compositions that evoke a range of emotions, from joy to sorrow and pain--the recording is connecting with audiences. This week, it rests at No. 5 on Billboard’s contemporary jazz chart, a list usually populated by the perennially sunny Kenny Gs of the world.

Di Meola’s early success is even more impressive because he didn’t bend to the trend.

“Due to the nature of radio programming today, a lot of labels felt as though it was too adventurous,” he said. “The trend today is not innovation. It’s not about adventure. It’s more about, ‘How Muzaky can we get?’ Labels like GRP are largely responsible for creating a Muzak-oriented industry. The formats of radio are falling in line with that format.

“So the atmosphere for creative improvisation within a form of music is not accepted by those kinds of formats. God forbid you get a little bit creative or start to show some virtuosity. They say, ‘Oh, Oh! Too exciting there, too much over here, our audience doesn’t want to get too shaken.’ So musicians start crafting their compositions to accommodate radio, and that’s definitely not for me.”

Di Meola has been an aggressive experimenter, pressing the outer limits of electric and acoustic guitar, ever since he exploded onto the music scene with keyboard player Chick Corea’s band Return to Forever in 1974.

After three albums with Return to Forever, including the Grammy-winning “No Mystery,” with its title cut by Di Meola, Corea broke up the band--an event that still pains Di Meola because he felt the best was yet to come.

“I love Chick,” Di Meola said. “It’s just that the breaking up of the group was one of the less bright things he’s done.”

Di Meola launched his solo career in 1976 with the release of “Land of the Midnight Sun,” and followed up with the million-selling “Elegant Gypsy.” In 1980, he teamed with fellow fret men John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia for a tour and an album titled “Friday Night in San Francisco,” which has sold 1.5 million to date.

Di Meola also found time this year to take on a cause of Bob Hope dimensions earlier this year. At the invitation of his friend, Israeli singing star David Broza, Di Meola entertained Israeli troops in February during the Gulf War.

“I played seven or eight times within two days at four or five different Israeli military bases, and at a Patriot missile site for American soldiers,” Di Meola said. “I had my gas mask with me the whole time.”

One Israeli ace pilot was so moved by the show that he had a present for Di Meola.

“He took off his suit with all the decorations and gave it to me, and he was standing there in his underwear.”

While “World Sinfonia” is dominated by Di Meola’s sensitive, introverted, romantic side, he can still play the role of guitar-slinging hombre.

A new electric-guitar album, “Kiss My Ax,” was recorded in May and is due out next month.

“I wanted to make music that was very, very original, very different, very unconventional,” Di Meola said. “I wanted to have a lot of excitement in the music. I wanted the guitar to be in the forefront at all times, which is different than my last couple of group albums, where I had Brazilian vocals here and there and tons of different colors. I think it’s the best record I’ve ever done, by far.”

Al di Meola plays at 7 and 10:30 Thursday night at Sound FX, 8022 Clairemont Mesa Blvd. Tickets are $16.50, available from TicketMaster.