Go: Organic Orchestra

The New Jersey-based Go: Organic Orchestra is a multi-cultural, multi-generational, multi-racial chamber orchestra that combines western and non-western instrumentation to present contemporary music based on the compositional concepts of musical director and percussionist <a href="spotify:artist:6YVERouhMxYJ18ZgeUJbRQ">Adam Rudolph</a> (Mandingo Griot Society, <a href="spotify:artist:0mEP0pUmvvpLaGO6q3U1UC">Adam Rudolph's Moving Pictures</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0Q9fCQgg8xjVtwFepoRqBJ">Hu: Vibrational</a>). Depending on the context and the work, there are 15-60 musicians working together at any given time. They are skilled in improvisation, jazz, classical, and various world music traditions. They share a belief in improvisation as an inclusive cultural medium and one of the highest expressions of artistic freedom. <a href="spotify:artist:6YVERouhMxYJ18ZgeUJbRQ">Rudolph</a> has created his own prototypical approach to improvisational conducting. With a non-linear score as seed material, he uses 21 simple hand signals in various combinations to conduct the orchestra. As the music unfolds in the moment, his collaborators create a spontaneous orchestral context in an improvisational dialogue. Their 2002 debut recording, Web of Light, featured a cast of 23 musicians who included <a href="spotify:artist:2omP5I4QiDCrvyGFuU99Rq">Alex Cline</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3dukvxlKzyhitoIQV1WyYC">Harris Eisenstadt</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:74OmV4XSCuurrSi8rVUTTR">Brad Dutz</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:0gaASCUAMqvXxGFDYaNFca">Ben Wendel</a>. A year later, they collaborated with <a href="spotify:artist:6YVERouhMxYJ18ZgeUJbRQ">Rudolph</a>'s mentor and longtime musical partner <a href="spotify:artist:33XkS6h90eeK7e6OJHw0mq">Yusef Lateef</a> for In the Garden, adapting their performance for an additional composer. 2011's The Sound of a Dream, featured a variety of soloists who included violinist Charles Burnham, flutists <a href="spotify:artist:2eLOXrpLWLjR5NoQ2qPzcx">Kaoru Watanabe</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6PNxc6kvsDeTek8uRN4ogC">Peter Apfelbaum</a>, and trombonist <a href="spotify:artist:0ewl0qCpOyHsNk9Uw6VdAe">Peter Zummo</a>, to mention scant few. For 2019's double-length Ragmala: A Garland of Ragas, Go: Organic Orchestra collaborated with the multi-cultural Indian music collective <a href="spotify:artist:3cyqsdyR3SlrjEAdI9hRhO">Brooklyn Raga Massive</a>.

Go: Organic Orchestra was founded by <a href="spotify:artist:6YVERouhMxYJ18ZgeUJbRQ">Rudolph</a> in late 2001 as an outgrowth of his other projects. <a href="spotify:artist:6YVERouhMxYJ18ZgeUJbRQ">Rudolph</a> also founded his own label, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Meta+Records%22">Meta Records</a> (following the lead of <a href="spotify:artist:33XkS6h90eeK7e6OJHw0mq">Lateef</a>, who ran his own <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22YAL+Records%22">YAL Records</a> label), in order to document his many projects; he and <a href="spotify:artist:33XkS6h90eeK7e6OJHw0mq">Lateef</a> had recorded nearly a dozen records together by then. <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Meta%22">Meta</a> promised absolute freedom. He began to develop his hand-directing system along with the conceptual idea of an orchestra. Web of Light was based on an original performance and drew rave reviews form critics across genre spectrums. Its companion, Go: Organic Orchestra: 1, was issued the same year with guest <a href="spotify:artist:5HzryqCINeBjTh2KnPtWnu">Dwight Trible</a> on vocals. 2013's In the Garden with <a href="spotify:artist:33XkS6h90eeK7e6OJHw0mq">Lateef</a> was a live double-length co-composed by the pair, and the big band included Ralph Jones and <a href="spotify:artist:2mv4xHxofvyWTp2ViBqgZb">Bennie Maupin</a> in its lineup. 2008's Thought Forms was cut as a joint release between <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Meta%22">Meta</a> and Italy's Ruby Red Editora label and featured 43 musicians in the lineup including <a href="spotify:artist:6SlLXvZvYEGnurxBUpUdri">Miguel Atwood-Ferguson</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:55Ox89YvyME4t8bYTIJsRu">Carlos Nino</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0T9V5NTa0PzLjoXM1LdEGZ">Chris Dingman</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:74viMmA1xZS6p3hvPEwMJ5">Munyungo Jackson</a>. The release put the group on the map in Europe and Asia. 2011's The Sound of a Dream was recorded live in May and November of 2010, and featured <a href="spotify:artist:3iPiojms0LEjBg8RqKuChh">Ned</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:2j8Uk5mWrGqT7bce5kD4YR">David Rothenberg</a> on flutes, guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:0sWCuWpFJd7IixzIaYm9UX">Marco Cappelli</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:5A68tfcayQUWuchEFFGLg3">Graham Haynes</a> on flügelhorn and cornet. Most of the same large group appeared on Sonic Mandala in 2013, with Kenny Wessel on electric guitar and <a href="spotify:artist:2sRHrHhFlBI7rJO5LcRfTs">Jason Kao Hwang</a> on viola. <a href="spotify:artist:6YVERouhMxYJ18ZgeUJbRQ">Rudolph</a> changed the lineup and label for 2015's Turning Towards the Light. Working for the first time with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cuneiform%22">Cuneiform</a>, he enlisted an ensemble of 12, comprised entirely of guitars and banjo. For this date, Go: Organic included <a href="spotify:artist:3s6o8vxtYJ1utkWl8EXxUp">Nels Cline</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4cLJzYoRo6frNabrvM9qGB">Miles Okazaki</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2RbMOnpbQqUjejSB3Uwmzl">Rez Abbasi</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6BXA5FDonefcAe2hg4T7K5">Joel Harrison</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:0NHty26h16iO9pRNF5Pfmo">David Gilmore</a>. <a href="spotify:artist:6YVERouhMxYJ18ZgeUJbRQ">Rudolph</a> spent the next several years recording and touring with Go: Organic and his other groups for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Meta%22">Meta</a> in conjunction with <a href="spotify:artist:5RISqKCcrhGITX2TQAPGPL">Bill Laswell</a>'s <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22M.O.D.+Technologies%22">M.O.D. Technologies</a>, culminating in 2018's trio offering Karuna with Jones and longtime friend and collaborator, drummer/percussionist <a href="spotify:artist:3UJfOrT4kZIoRtRfaCQgFp">Hamid Drake</a>. In December of 2018, <a href="spotify:artist:6YVERouhMxYJ18ZgeUJbRQ">Rudolph</a> re-assembled Go: Organic Orchestra in his New Jersey studio to collaborate with <a href="spotify:artist:3cyqsdyR3SlrjEAdI9hRhO">Brooklyn Raga Massive</a>. The 42 musicians included longtime collaborators with <a href="spotify:artist:6YVERouhMxYJ18ZgeUJbRQ">Rudolph</a>'s group such as Burnham, <a href="spotify:artist:3dukvxlKzyhitoIQV1WyYC">Eisenstadt</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5A68tfcayQUWuchEFFGLg3">Graham Haynes</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0ewl0qCpOyHsNk9Uw6VdAe">Zummo</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:3UJfOrT4kZIoRtRfaCQgFp">Drake</a>, with all-stars from the <a href="spotify:artist:3cyqsdyR3SlrjEAdI9hRhO">Brooklyn Raga Massive</a> group including <a href="spotify:artist:32PxicfGGLQz10S358uIaF">Neel Murgai</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2eYnBrgHAUt4OopbZjzZur">Hassan Hakmoun</a>, Jay Ghandi, and Trina Basu. The finished double-length titled Ragmala: A Garland of Ragas was released by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Meta%22">Meta</a> to universal acclaim in November 2019. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi