NEW YORK (Hen House Studios) Not everything is strife and buggery between the Middle East and the United States, and leave it to Doors drummer John Densmore to show us the light - or rather, the Ray. He has produced what Hen House Studios founder and President Harlan Steinberger calls "a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful record."

Not that Steinberger is biased or anything, just because his Venice, Calif., based music recording and film complex is uncorking Ray of the Wine, on Feb. 1, the highly anticipated Hen House Studios debut from renowned Persian-American multi-instrumentalist, composer and vocalist Reza.

Reza observes, "The fact that a Persian musician worked with one of The Doors is a big deal."

Think of this historical pairing as the Middle East meets West in the Hen House where the quintessential American rock musician's mandate was to westernize the arrangements of the Persian folk and classical music that Reza, a longtime New Yorker, has been wanting to bring stateside. The emphasis track, "Ray of the Wine," is already making a splash at Triple A radio.

Densmore, who played drums on the album and wrote its vivid liner notes, humorously describes Ray of the Wine as "peaceful sounds from 'The Axis of Evil,'" adding reverently, "Reza plays magic. He has all these instruments that look like they belong in the Smithsonian."

Comparing each song on Ray of the Wine to "a painting, with different colors and feelings," Reza strokes the rhythms and melodies of mysticism, divinity, and human love -- most taken from the lyrical pages of ancient Persian poetry and a few he wrote -- with "brushes" such as the tar, sitar, ney, kamanche, and Farsi incantations.

Ironically, Densmore wasn't familiar with certain instruments to be used on Ray of the Wine when he and Reza began pre-production, but laughs, "I immediately resonated to the music and knew what to do. It sounds a little pompous, but I got it."

An acclaimed painter whose evocative water color imagery ensconces the CD, Reza says, "I want to make the connection, even if the language is different. The music translates to the American audience. There's more recognition of Indian music and the Arab world in the West, but there hasn't been a lot of understanding of Persian music, because it hasn't been introduced the way it should be, in order to make a connection. This music has that quality, the way it's presented, and I hope makes it more listenable. "The music is not totally traditional or from a different world," he assures quietly. "People can relate to it, at least in terms of the color and arrangement."

Densmore adds, "It blows my mind that in the last 10 years, America is accepting music in languages it can't speak. Look at the Buena Vista Social Club; it went through the roof. You get the feeling of the culture, even if you don't literally understand the lyrics. Reza's songs are so beautiful that they transcend the language barrier."

Ray of the Wine was recorded live in three days, and conveys the improvisation of "instruments talking to each other," as Densmore succinctly explains. However, all that spontaneity among crack musicians Osama Afiffi (electric bass), Quinn Johnson (keyboards), Christina Berio (percussion), Stephen Kent (didgeridoo), took a lot of cross-country pre-production between him and Reza.

"It was really fun, like a jazz record," says Densmore, who was also the executive producer along with Steinberger, whose revolutionary Hen House Studios offers free recording time to musicians in exchange for the right to film them during the process.

Reza asserts, "Harlan kept the record alive," referring to the long hibernation of Ray of the Wine after its completion.

Born in Tehran, Reza studied Persian classical and folk music. His recording credits include soundtrack and recording collaborations with renowned artists. Recent Reza performances include the MAXXI Museum in Rome, Lensic Performing Art Center in Santa Fe, and two performances at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. He and Densmore plan to gig in Los Angeles in the spring, with the distinct possibility of touring behind Ray of the Wine.
It's a concept as intoxicating as the album itself. Cheers to that.