Biography
Working as a composer, producer, and percussionist, Adam Rudolph has earned acclaim for his bold, innovative strain of post-bop jazz fused with global traditions. From the 1980s forward he has released more than two dozen albums and toured internationally. He directs Adam Rudolph's Moving Pictures, the percussion ensemble Hu: Vibrational, and Go: Organic Orchestra, an 18- to 54-piece ensemble for which he devised an original system of notation and conducting. With kora virtuoso Foday Musa Suso he co-established the Mandingo Griot Society, helping launch the world fusion style. In 1987 he performed on Suso's Jazz Africa. Starting in the 1990s Rudolph maintained a close partnership with composer and multi-instrumentalist Yusef Lateef, resulting in 15 joint albums. After launching the Meta label in 1997, Rudolph, Hamid Drake, and Pharoah Sanders released Spirits in 2000. Go: Organic Orchestra's first recording, Web of Light, appeared in 2002, while between 2002 and 2006 he issued three projects with Hu Vibrational. He also documented numerous duo and trio encounters with artists such as Wadada Leo Smith and Omar Sosa. In 2015 Go: Organic issued Turning Towards the Light for Cuneiform. In 2018 Rudolph, saxophonist David Liebman, and drummer Tatsuya Nakatani delivered The Unknowable on RareNoise, followed a year later by Chi with Drake in place of Nakatani. In 2022 Rudolph rejoined Liebman, this time alongside percussionist Tyshawn Sorey, for the live trio set New Now. That same year he and saxophonist Bennie Maupin completed Symphonic Tone Poem for Brother Yusef, issued by Strut.
Born in Chicago in 1955, Rudolph received early guidance from Don Cherry, Fred Anderson, and Maulawi Nururdin during his teenage years. After designing his own ethnomusicology curriculum at Oberlin College and earning an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts, he journeyed to Ghana in 1977, where he met griot Foday Musa Suso; the pair reconvened in Chicago the following year to form the Mandingo Griot Society, merging traditional African sounds with jazz and R&B. Rudolph further devoted 15 years to tabla study with Pandit Taranath Rao while working alongside L. Shankar and Hassan Hakmoun. Extensive travels across Europe, Asia, and Africa enabled him to command an array of percussion instruments, among them congas, djembe, bendir, dumbek, tabla, talking drum, kalimba, and udu. Beyond sideman appearances with figures ranging from Herbie Hancock to Jon Hassell to Shadowfax, he sustained an extensive association with Yusef Lateef beginning in 1988.
Rudolph introduced his own ensemble Moving Pictures via a self-titled 1992 album. In 1995 he unveiled his initial opera, The Dreamer. Go: Organic Orchestra followed with Web of Light in 2002, and several months later Go: Organic Orchestra: 1 surfaced on Meta, drawing widespread praise from jazz, new music, and world music writers and broadcasters. The next year two live West Coast concerts featuring Lateef were documented on the double album In the Garden. During the same period Rudolph joined the Los Angeles collective Build an Ark, whose multi-generational roster included Carlos Niño, Dwight Trible, Dexter Story, Phil Ranelin, and others; the group produced Peace with Every Step in 2004 and Dawn in 2007. He also appeared on Leni Stern's 2007 album Africa. Dream Garden arrived in 2008. In 2010 Rudolph issued two further Meta titles: Yèyí with reed master and multi-instrumentalist Ralph Jones, and Towards the Unknown, again with Lateef though credited first. Two years later Merely a Traveler on the Cosmic Path with Jones emerged on Meta, followed by Go: Organic Orchestra's Sonic Mandala and Voice Prints, the latter uniting Lateef with Roscoe Mitchell and Douglas R. Ewart in what proved Lateef's final recording. That year also saw the release of Good Medicine, a collaboration with Defunkt leader and trombonist Joseph Bowie under the name Ig Bo Duet. In 2015 Rudolph presented Turning Towards the Light on Cuneiform with the Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra, an ensemble of ten guitarists and a bassist featuring Rez Abbasi, Nels Cline, Joel Harrison, David Gilmore, Miles Okazaki, and Marvin Sewell. In 2017 the solo collection Morphic Resonances appeared on Meta, highlighting Rudolph with a string quartet, the chamber group Kammeratorkestret Ensemble, and assorted duos and trios.
The following year he recorded The Unknowable for RareNoise with saxophonist Dave Liebman and percussionist/electronicist Tatsuya Nakatani, and he completed Karuna (Compassion) alongside longtime associates Jones and Drake. The drummer and percussionist then teamed with Liebman for 2019's Chi. That same year Rudolph released the double-length Ragmala on Meta, a 54-musician meeting between Go: Organic Orchestra and Brooklyn Raga Massive that showcased his refined conducting method for improvisers. The next year the Karuna Trio of Rudolph, Jones, and Drake issued Imaginary Archipelago on Meta. In 2020 the Angel City Jazz Festival in Claremont, California, commissioned Rudolph and saxophonist Bennie Maupin to compose a new work marking Lateef's centennial; their response, the five-movement Symphonic Tone Poem for Brother Yusef, was recorded and released by Strut in June 2022, weaving electronics, saxophones, clarinets, voices, and diverse percussion into a meditative whole. Rudolph once more united with Liebman and percussionist Tyshawn Sorey for the 2022 live trio album New Now, captured at the Jazz Gallery in New York.
Born in Chicago in 1955, Rudolph received early guidance from Don Cherry, Fred Anderson, and Maulawi Nururdin during his teenage years. After designing his own ethnomusicology curriculum at Oberlin College and earning an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts, he journeyed to Ghana in 1977, where he met griot Foday Musa Suso; the pair reconvened in Chicago the following year to form the Mandingo Griot Society, merging traditional African sounds with jazz and R&B. Rudolph further devoted 15 years to tabla study with Pandit Taranath Rao while working alongside L. Shankar and Hassan Hakmoun. Extensive travels across Europe, Asia, and Africa enabled him to command an array of percussion instruments, among them congas, djembe, bendir, dumbek, tabla, talking drum, kalimba, and udu. Beyond sideman appearances with figures ranging from Herbie Hancock to Jon Hassell to Shadowfax, he sustained an extensive association with Yusef Lateef beginning in 1988.
Rudolph introduced his own ensemble Moving Pictures via a self-titled 1992 album. In 1995 he unveiled his initial opera, The Dreamer. Go: Organic Orchestra followed with Web of Light in 2002, and several months later Go: Organic Orchestra: 1 surfaced on Meta, drawing widespread praise from jazz, new music, and world music writers and broadcasters. The next year two live West Coast concerts featuring Lateef were documented on the double album In the Garden. During the same period Rudolph joined the Los Angeles collective Build an Ark, whose multi-generational roster included Carlos Niño, Dwight Trible, Dexter Story, Phil Ranelin, and others; the group produced Peace with Every Step in 2004 and Dawn in 2007. He also appeared on Leni Stern's 2007 album Africa. Dream Garden arrived in 2008. In 2010 Rudolph issued two further Meta titles: Yèyí with reed master and multi-instrumentalist Ralph Jones, and Towards the Unknown, again with Lateef though credited first. Two years later Merely a Traveler on the Cosmic Path with Jones emerged on Meta, followed by Go: Organic Orchestra's Sonic Mandala and Voice Prints, the latter uniting Lateef with Roscoe Mitchell and Douglas R. Ewart in what proved Lateef's final recording. That year also saw the release of Good Medicine, a collaboration with Defunkt leader and trombonist Joseph Bowie under the name Ig Bo Duet. In 2015 Rudolph presented Turning Towards the Light on Cuneiform with the Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra, an ensemble of ten guitarists and a bassist featuring Rez Abbasi, Nels Cline, Joel Harrison, David Gilmore, Miles Okazaki, and Marvin Sewell. In 2017 the solo collection Morphic Resonances appeared on Meta, highlighting Rudolph with a string quartet, the chamber group Kammeratorkestret Ensemble, and assorted duos and trios.
The following year he recorded The Unknowable for RareNoise with saxophonist Dave Liebman and percussionist/electronicist Tatsuya Nakatani, and he completed Karuna (Compassion) alongside longtime associates Jones and Drake. The drummer and percussionist then teamed with Liebman for 2019's Chi. That same year Rudolph released the double-length Ragmala on Meta, a 54-musician meeting between Go: Organic Orchestra and Brooklyn Raga Massive that showcased his refined conducting method for improvisers. The next year the Karuna Trio of Rudolph, Jones, and Drake issued Imaginary Archipelago on Meta. In 2020 the Angel City Jazz Festival in Claremont, California, commissioned Rudolph and saxophonist Bennie Maupin to compose a new work marking Lateef's centennial; their response, the five-movement Symphonic Tone Poem for Brother Yusef, was recorded and released by Strut in June 2022, weaving electronics, saxophones, clarinets, voices, and diverse percussion into a meditative whole. Rudolph once more united with Liebman and percussionist Tyshawn Sorey for the 2022 live trio album New Now, captured at the Jazz Gallery in New York.
Albums
New Now
2022
Symphonic Tone Poem for Brother Yusef
2022
Resonant Bodies
2021
Focus and Field
2020
Karuna
2018
Both / And
2011
Yèyí
2010
Singles
