Adam Rudolph

Adam Rudolph is a composer, producer, and percussionist known for his adventurous, experimental brand of post-bop jazz and world fusion. Since the 1980s he has issued more than two dozen recordings and performed globally. He leads <a href="spotify:artist:0mEP0pUmvvpLaGO6q3U1UC">Adam Rudolph's Moving Pictures</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0Q9fCQgg8xjVtwFepoRqBJ">Hu: Vibrational</a> percussion group, and <a href="spotify:artist:5pbcE4dW6zO3FSMK6nm5gw">Go: Organic Orchestra</a>, an 18- to 54-piece group for which he has developed an original music notation and conducting system. Along with kora virtuoso <a href="spotify:artist:2fR5toqV1xzB6zIRkB5ktv">Foday Musa Suso</a>, he co-founded the Mandingo Griot Society to pioneer the world fusion genre. In 1987, he appeared on <a href="spotify:artist:2fR5toqV1xzB6zIRkB5ktv">Suso</a>'s Jazz Africa. Beginning in the '90s, Rudolph closely collaborated with composer and multi-instrumentalist <a href="spotify:artist:33XkS6h90eeK7e6OJHw0mq">Yusef Lateef</a>; they issued 15 albums together. After creating the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Meta%22">Meta</a> label in 1997, Rudolph, <a href="spotify:artist:3UJfOrT4kZIoRtRfaCQgFp">Hamid Drake</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:3JLUCojZaHrX2LaUkSj7Ud">Pharoah Sanders</a> issued Spirits in 2000. <a href="spotify:artist:5pbcE4dW6zO3FSMK6nm5gw">Go: Organic Orchestra</a>'s debut, Web of Light, appeared in 2002, and between 2002 and 2006, he cut three offerings with <a href="spotify:artist:0Q9fCQgg8xjVtwFepoRqBJ">Hu Vibrational</a>. Rudolph also recorded a series of duo and trio collaborations with several artists, including <a href="spotify:artist:1eE9oB7Z69NzfALiUJYKUm">Wadada Leo Smith</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:2zyVwasA2QkaVopBFZ2RfX">Omar Sosa</a>. In 2015, <a href="spotify:artist:5pbcE4dW6zO3FSMK6nm5gw">Go: Organic</a> cut Turning Towards the Light ‎for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cuneiform%22">Cuneiform</a>. In 2018, Rudolph, saxophonist <a href="spotify:artist:429bUEZe2Hq5QJvO2CmhLn">David Liebman</a>, and drummer <a href="spotify:artist:0IX39sjuw3K1ypptgVchmq">Tatsuya Nakatani</a> issued The Unknowable for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22RareNoise%22">RareNoise</a>, following it a year later with Chi, with <a href="spotify:artist:3UJfOrT4kZIoRtRfaCQgFp">Drake</a> replacing <a href="spotify:artist:0IX39sjuw3K1ypptgVchmq">Nakatani</a>. In 2022, Rudolph again joined <a href="spotify:artist:429bUEZe2Hq5QJvO2CmhLn">Liebman</a> (and percussionist <a href="spotify:artist:0j2falzYTCLSgKpGKQipQu">Tyshawn Sorey</a>) for the live trio album New Now. Also that year, he and saxophonist <a href="spotify:artist:2mv4xHxofvyWTp2ViBqgZb">Bennie Maupin</a> collaborated on Symphonic Tone Poem for Brother Yusef, released on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Strut%22">Strut</a>.

Rudolph was born in Chicago in 1955, and as a teen was mentored by the likes of <a href="spotify:artist:3uPWecBPNXAChysw1uOJwI">Don Cherry</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6ZLvZ4YVAEXCkxUMCnF0kZ">Fred Anderson</a>, and Maulawi Nururdin. After receiving a self-designed undergraduate degree in ethnomusicology from Oberlin College, Rudolph went on to earn his MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. In 1977, he traveled to Ghana and met the famed griot <a href="spotify:artist:2fR5toqV1xzB6zIRkB5ktv">Foday Musa Suso</a>, and a year later, they reunited in Chicago to form the Mandingo Griot Society, pioneering a fusion of traditional African music with jazz and R&B. Rudolph also spent 15 years studying North Indian tabla drums under the renowned <a href="spotify:artist:0ZSQVqVbe5uMbldQZvq1yX">Pandit Taranath Rao</a> and collaborating with L. Shankar and <a href="spotify:artist:2eYnBrgHAUt4OopbZjzZur">Hassan Hakmoun</a>. His extensive research throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa allowed Rudolph to master a vast range of percussion instruments, including the congas, djembe, bendir, dumbek, tabla, talking drum, kalimba, and udu. In addition to appearing on sessions by everyone from <a href="spotify:artist:2ZvrvbQNrHKwjT7qfGFFUW">Herbie Hancock</a> to <a href="spotify:artist:5kNZV33crEsk2IMZMJ8bOQ">Jon Hassell</a> to <a href="spotify:artist:08b6RShfMPcbl6FQZx9ax2">Shadowfax</a>, he collaborated extensively with <a href="spotify:artist:33XkS6h90eeK7e6OJHw0mq">Yusef Lateef</a> from 1988 onward.

Rudolph debuted his own group, <a href="spotify:artist:089zDeJWWSaHm6JE4V3ser">Moving Pictures</a>, with a self-titled 1992 LP. In 1995, he premiered his first opera, The Dreamer. In 2002, Rudolph's <a href="spotify:artist:5pbcE4dW6zO3FSMK6nm5gw">Go: Organic Orchestra</a> released Web of Light, and a few months later, Go: Organic Orchestra: 1 appeared on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Meta%22">Meta</a>. The acclaim from jazz, new music, and world music critics and DJs was almost universal. The following year, two of the group's live West Coast performances -- both collaborations with <a href="spotify:artist:33XkS6h90eeK7e6OJHw0mq">Lateef</a> -- were captured for the double-length In the Garden.

Also during the early 21st century, Rudolph became a member of <a href="spotify:artist:3AcXelhILYruRF6DmpepdT">Build an Ark</a> in Los Angeles, a multi-generational collective of musicians that included <a href="spotify:artist:55Ox89YvyME4t8bYTIJsRu">Carlos Niño</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5HzryqCINeBjTh2KnPtWnu">Dwight Trible</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:058MysjRT4fJ9XKLqXcizq">Dexter Story</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3baRh0WashSSiDbLNEHar1">Phil Ranelin</a>, and a dozen others. They issued two fine albums, 2004's Peace with Every Step and 2007's Dawn. Rudolph also collaborated with <a href="spotify:artist:5z7dWllkrl04Wn7g9JFlgM">Leni Stern</a> on her 2007 effort Africa. Dream Garden followed in 2008. In 2010, Rudolph issued two more recordings on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Meta%22">Meta</a>: Yèyí, with reed master and multi-instrumentalist Ralph Jones, and Towards the Unknown, with composer and multi-instrumentalist <a href="spotify:artist:33XkS6h90eeK7e6OJHw0mq">Lateef</a> (although on the latter disc, <a href="spotify:artist:33XkS6h90eeK7e6OJHw0mq">Lateef</a> received top billing). Two years later, Merely a Traveler on the Cosmic Path with Jones appeared on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Meta%22">Meta</a>, followed by <a href="spotify:artist:5pbcE4dW6zO3FSMK6nm5gw">Go: Organic Orchestra</a>'s Sonic Mandala and Voice Prints with <a href="spotify:artist:33XkS6h90eeK7e6OJHw0mq">Lateef</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6DR6ugRdVaVi7lyqooqJov">Roscoe Mitchell</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:0F9HPqVajOYYesnK3qNBax">Douglas R. Ewart</a>. It was <a href="spotify:artist:33XkS6h90eeK7e6OJHw0mq">Lateef</a>'s final recording. That year also marked the release of Good Medicine, a collaboration with <a href="spotify:artist:0semRMW6Bzf0X8cI7AYTpN">Defunkt</a> leader and trombonist <a href="spotify:artist:1Zon9PRaebpEyaRSBY28UA">Joseph Bowie</a> under the name Ig Bo Duet. In 2015, Rudolph delivered Turning Towards the Light for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cuneiform%22">Cuneiform</a> with the <a href="spotify:artist:5pbcE4dW6zO3FSMK6nm5gw">Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra</a>, featuring ten guitarists and a bassist. Among them were <a href="spotify:artist:2RbMOnpbQqUjejSB3Uwmzl">Rez Abbasi</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3s6o8vxtYJ1utkWl8EXxUp">Nels Cline</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6BXA5FDonefcAe2hg4T7K5">Joel Harrison</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0NHty26h16iO9pRNF5Pfmo">David Gilmore</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4cLJzYoRo6frNabrvM9qGB">Miles Okazaki</a>, and Marvin Sewell. In 2017, a solo set entitled Morphic Resonances appeared on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Meta%22">Meta</a> showcasing the percussionist with a string quartet and the chamber group Kammeratorkestret Ensemble as well as in various duos and trios.

A year later, Rudolph worked with saxophonist <a href="spotify:artist:429bUEZe2Hq5QJvO2CmhLn">Dave Liebman</a> and percussionist/electronicist <a href="spotify:artist:0IX39sjuw3K1ypptgVchmq">Tatsuya Nakatani</a> for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22RareNoise%22">RareNoise</a> on the album The Unknowable, and he cut Karuna (Compassion) with old friends Jones and <a href="spotify:artist:3UJfOrT4kZIoRtRfaCQgFp">Drake</a>. The drummer and percussionist worked with <a href="spotify:artist:429bUEZe2Hq5QJvO2CmhLn">Liebman</a> for 2019's Chi. That same year, Rudolph issued the double-length Ragmala, a 54-musician collaboration between <a href="spotify:artist:5pbcE4dW6zO3FSMK6nm5gw">Go: Organic Orchestra</a> and the celebrated Indian fusion group <a href="spotify:artist:3cyqsdyR3SlrjEAdI9hRhO">Brooklyn Raga Massive</a>, on which he displayed his highly developed system of conducting for improvisers. The following year, the Karuna Trio -- Rudolph, Jones, and <a href="spotify:artist:3UJfOrT4kZIoRtRfaCQgFp">Drake</a> -- issued Imaginary Archipelago on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Meta%22">Meta</a>.

In 2020, Claremont, California's Angel City Jazz Festival commissioned Rudolph and saxophonist <a href="spotify:artist:2mv4xHxofvyWTp2ViBqgZb">Bennie Maupin</a> to create an original work to commemorate <a href="spotify:artist:33XkS6h90eeK7e6OJHw0mq">Lateef</a>'s 100th birthday. They composed and recorded the five-movement Symphonic Tone Poem for Brother Yusef in response. Issued by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Strut%22">Strut</a> in June 2022, the set created a magical, meditative path combining electronics, saxophones, clarinets, and voices with a wide variety of percussion instruments. He again joined <a href="spotify:artist:429bUEZe2Hq5QJvO2CmhLn">Liebman</a>, as well as fellow percussionist <a href="spotify:artist:0j2falzYTCLSgKpGKQipQu">Tyshawn Sorey</a>, for the 2022 trio album New Now, recorded live at the Jazz Gallery in New York. ~ Jason Ankeny & Thom Jurek, Rovi