Adam Rudolph
Adam Rudolph (born September 12, 1955) is a composer, improviser, and percussionist actively involved in modern music. For the past four decades Rudolph has performed extensively in concert throughout North & South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Rudolph has been hailed as "a pioneer in world music" by the New York Times and "a master percussionist" by Musician Magazine. He has released over 25 recordings under his own name, featuring his compositions and percussion work. Rudolph composes for his ensembles Adam Rudolph's Moving Pictures, the Hu Vibrational percussion group, and Go: Organic Orchestra, an 18 to 54 piece ensemble for which he has developed an original music notation and conducting system. He has taught and conducted hundreds of musicians worldwide utilizing the Go: Organic Orchestra concept. In 1995 Rudolph premiered his opera The Dreamer, based on the text of Friedrich Nietzsche's "The Birth of Tragedy."
Adam Rudolph | |
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![]() Adam Rudolph and his Moving Pictures performing in 2006. | |
Background information | |
Born | Hyde Park, Chicago, Illinois, United States | September 12, 1955
Genres | World fusion African music |
Occupation(s) | Percussionist |
Instruments | Handrumset Sintir Cajon various percussion |
Labels | Meta Records, Justin Time, Cuneiform, Soul Jazz |
Associated acts | Eternal Wind Mandingo Griot Society Yusef Lateef Hamid Drake Don Cherry |
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Rudolph has performed with Don Cherry, Jon Hassell, Sam Rivers, Pharaoh Sanders,[1] Bill Laswell, Herbie Hancock,[1] Foday Musa Suso,[1] Massimo Laguardia, L. Shankar, A.A.C.M. co-founders Fred Anderson and Muhal Richard Abrams, Wadada Leo Smith, and Omar Sosa. He has toured extensively and recorded 15 albums with Yusef Lateef including duets and their large ensemble compositional collaborations.
Rudolph grew up in the Hyde Park area of the Southside of Chicago. From an early age he was exposed to the live music performances of the great blues and improvising artists who lived nearby. As a teenager, Rudolph started playing hand drums in local streets and parks and soon apprenticed with elders of African American improvised music. He performed regularly in Chicago with Fred Anderson and in Detroit with the Contemporary Jazz Quintet. In 1973 Rudolph played on his first record date with Maulawi Nururdin and with the CJQ at the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz festival.
In 1977 he lived and studied in Ghana, where he experienced trance ceremonies. In his travels throughout West Africa he saw how music can come from a cosmological grounding beyond music itself and can also be about something beyond music itself. In 1978 he lived in Don Cherry's house in the Swedish countryside. Cherry inspired him to start composing and showed him about Ornette Coleman's concept and the connection of music to nature.
Rudolph is known as one of the early innovators of what is now called "World Music." in 1978 he and Gambian Kora player Jali Foday Musa Suso, along with fellow percussionist Hamid Drake, co-founded The Mandingo Griot Society,[1] one of the first groups to combine African and American music. In 1988, he recorded the first fusion of American and Gnawa music with sintir player and singer Hassan Hakmoun. Rudolph intensely studied North Indian Tabla for over 15 years with Pandit Taranath Rao. He learned hundreds of drum compositions and about how music is a form of Yoga – the unity of mind, body and spirit. In 1988 Rudolph began his association with Yusef Lateef, with whom he has recorded over 15 albums including several of their large ensemble collaborations. Lateef introduced Rudolph to the inspirational practice of Autophysiopsychic Music – "that which comes from one's spiritual, physical and emotional self." Rudolph has performed worldwide with Dr. Lateef. Their performances have ranged from their acclaimed duet concerts to appearances as guest soloists with the Köln, Atlanta and Detroit Symphony Orchestras.
Rudolph continues to also create visual art – painting, drawing, photography ‑ and to write. In 2006, his rhythm repository and methodology book, Pure Rhythm was published by Advance Music, Germany. In 2010 Rudolph's article Music and Mysticism: Rhythm and Form was published in Arcana V, edited by John Zorn. Other essays have been published by Parabola Magazine and Morton Books. Rudolph has been on the faculty of Creative Music Studio (New York and Istanbul), Esalen Institute, California Institute of the Arts and the Danish Jazz Federation Summer Institute. Rudolph has received grants and compositional commissions from the Rockefeller Foundation, Chamber Music America, Meet the Composer, Mary Flagler Cary Trust, the NEA, Arts International, Durfee Foundation, Phaedrus Foundation and American Composers Forum.
Discography
As leader
- Adam Rudolph's Moving Pictures (1992). Adam Rudolph's Moving Pictures. Flying Fish.
- Adam Rudolph's Moving Pictures (1994). Skyway. Soul Note.
- Rudolph, Adam (1995). The Dreamer. Meta Records.
- Rudolph, Adam (1997). The World at Peace (Music for 12 Musicians). Meta Records.
- Adam Rudolph's Moving Pictures (1996–1997). Contemplations. Meta Records.[1]
- Adam Rudolph's Moving Pictures (1999). 12 Arrows. Meta Records.[1]
- Rudolph, Adam; Sanders, Pharoah (2000). Spirits. MAH/Meta Records.[1]
- Rudolph, Adam; Lateef, Yusef (2001). Beyond the Sky. YAL/Meta Records.
- Rudolph, Adam; Drake, Hamid (2002). Hu: Vibrational. Meta Records/Eastern Developments Music.[1]
- Rudolph, Adam (2002). Go: Organic Orchestra 1. Meta Records.
- Rudolph, Adam (2002). Go: Organic Orchestra Web of Light. Meta Records.
- Rudolph, Adam; Lateef, Yusef (2003). Go: Organic Orchestra IN THE GARDEN. Meta Records.
- Hu: Vibrational (Adam Rudolph and Hamid Drake) (2004). Beautiful. Soul Jazz Records.[1]
- Rudolph, Adam; Rivers, Sam; Eisenstadt, Harris (2004). Vista. Meta Records.
- Rudolph, Adam; Sosa, Omar (2004). Pictures of Soul. Otá Records/Meta Records.
- Compassion 2006
- Hu: Vibrational (2006). Universal Mother. Soul Jazz Records.
- Adam Rudolph Go: Organic Orchestra (2008). Thought Forms. Ruby Red Editora/Meta Records.
- Adam Rudolph's Moving Pictures (2008). Dream Garden. Justin Time Records.[1]
- Rudolph, Adam; Sosa, Omar (2009). Simb. Otá Records/Meta Records.
- Rudolph, Adam; Lateef, Yusef (2009). Universal Quartet.
- Rudolph, Adam; Ralph, Jones (2010). Yèyí. Meta Records.
- Rudolph, Adam; Lateef, Yusef (2010). Towards the Unknown. YAL/Meta Records.
- Rudolph, Adam; Go: Organic Orchestra/Ensemble Dissonanzen Di Naples/Consort Di Flauti Del Conservatorio Di Cosnza (2010). Pietrasanta Project. ISMEZ/Onlus.
- Adam Rudolph's Moving Pictures with Go: Organic Orchestra Strings (2011). Both/And. Meta Records.
- Adam Rudolph Go: Organic Orchestra (2011). (Can You Imagine?) The Sound of a Dream. Meta Records.
- Rudolph, Adam; Jones, Ralph M. (2012). Merely a Traveler on the Cosmic Path. Meta Records.
- Rudolph, Adam; Bowie, Joseph (2013). Good Medicine. Meta Records.
- Adam Rudolph Go: Organic Orchestra / Ensemble Dissonanzen Di Naples (2013). A Glimpse.
- Rudolph, Adam; Lateef, Yusef; Mitchell, Roscoe (2013). Voice Prints. Meta Records.
- Adam Rudolph Go: Organic Orchestra (2013). Sonic Mandala. Meta Records.
- Hu Vibrational (2015). The Epic Botanical Beat Suite. Meta Records.
- Adam Rudolph Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra (2015). Turning Towards The Light. Cuneiform Records.
- Adam Rudolph's Moving Pictures (2017). Glare of the Tiger. Meta Records.
As contributor
- Maulawi (1973). Maulawi. Strata East.
- Shadowfax (1977). Too Far to Whisper. Windham Hill.
- Schmidt, Claudia (1979). Claudia Schmidt. Flying Fish.
- Mandingo Griot Society (1978). Mandingo Griot Society. Flying Fish.[1]
- Anderson, Fred (1979). The Missing Link. Nessa.[1]
- Mandingo Griot Society (1980–1981). Mighty Rhythm. Flying Fish.[1]
- Popiel, Lisa (1983). Lisa Popiel. Popiel.
- Shadowfax (1983). Shadowdance. Windham Hill.
- Eternal Wind (1984). Eternal Wind. Flying Fish.
- Shadowfax (1985). The Dreams of Children. Windham Hill.
- Eternal Wind (1985). Terra Incognita. Flying Fish.
- Mandingo (1985). Watto Sitta. Celluloid Records.[1]
- Hancock, Herbie; Foday Musa Suso (1987). Jazzvisions: Jazz Africa. Polygram.[1]
- Eternal Wind (1986). Wasalu. Flying Fish.
- Laquan (1990). Notes of a Native Son. 4th & Broadway.
- Hakmoun, Hassan; Rudolph, Adam with Don Cherry (1991). Gift of the Gnawa. Flying Fish.
- Rothenberg, Ned (1991). Overlays. Moers.
- Gabrielle Roth & The Mirrors (1991). Waves. Raven Records.
- Shadowfax (1991). What Goes Around: The Best of Shadowfax. Windham Hill.
- Lateef, Yusef (1991). Yusef Lateef's Encounters. Atlantic Records.
- Lateef, Yusef (1992). Heart Vision. YAL.
- Lateef, Yusef; Archie Shepp (1992). Tenors of Yusef Lateef & Archie Shepp. YAL.
- Bobby Matos & the Heritage Ensemble (1993). Collage-Afro Cuban Jazz. Night Life.
- Laswell, Bill (1993). Deconstruction: Celluloid Recordings. Restless.
- The Indians (1993). Indianism. Polydor.
- Lateef, Yusef; Ralph M. Jones III (1993). Woodwinds. YAL.
- Lateef, Yusef (1993). Yusef Lateef Plays Ballads. YAL.
- Hassell, Jon (1994). Dressing for Pleasure. Warner Bros. Records.
- Hakmoun, Hassan (1995). Life Around the World. Mina.[1]
- Sharpe, Avery (1995). Extended Family, Vol. 2: Thoughts of My Ancestors. Jade.
- Lateef, Yusef (1996). African-American Epic Suite. Act.
- Yusef Lateef Quartet (1997). CHNOPS: Gold & Soul. YAL.
- Yusef Lateef Quartet (1997). CHNOPS: Gold & Soul. YAL.
- Hassell, Jon (1999). City: Works of Fiction. Opal.
- Lateef, Yusef (1999). A Gift: Goodness Inwardness Forgiving Tolerance. YAL.
- Brant, Henry (2004). The Henry Brant Collection, Vol. 2. Innova.
- Build an Ark (2004). Peace With Every Step. Kindred Spirit.
- Dwight Trible & the Life Force Trio (2005). Love Is the Answer. Ninja Tune.
- Hands On'Semble (2005). Three. Hands On'semble.
- Hands On'Semble (2006). Hand'stan. Hands On'Semble.
- Stern, Leni (2006). Love Comes Quietly. Megaforce.
- Shadowfax (2006). Pure Shadowfax. Windham Hill.
- Stern, Leni (2007). Africa. Leni Stern.
- Build an Ark (2007). Dawn. Shaman Work.
- Trible, Dwight (2008). Living Water. Passin' the Vibe.
- Nomo (2008). Ghost Rock. Ubiquity Records.[1]
References
- Carr, Ian; Digby Fairweather; Brian Priestley (2004). The Rough Guide to Jazz, 3rd Edition. London: Rough Guides. ISBN 1-84353-256-5.
- Guthartz, Jason (July 7, 2013). "Hamid Drake Discography". Retrieved September 25, 2017.