Percussionist Adam Rudolph debuts his new trio with Sunrise, an LP featuring longtime musical associates Kaoru Watanabe and Alexis Marcelo

Throughout his remarkable 54-year career, visionary percussionist and composer Adam Rudolph has continually ventured into unexplored regions of sound, melding wide-ranging traditions into startlingly original music. Rudolph accomplishes that daunting goal yet again with his new album Sunrise out via the composer's own Meta Records label. The album features Rudolph’s Sunrise Trio with Alexis Marcelo (acoustic piano, electric keyboards, melodica, percussion) and Kaoru Watanabe (flutes, taiko, vocal, electric koto and processing).

Sunrise is a breathtaking set of non-idiomatic music. In its compellingly original sound, Rudolph’s trio blurs countless boundaries: between ancient and modern, organic and electronic, live improvisation and postproduction. Their improvisatory explorations take them into undiscovered arenas of sonic invention.

Recorded at Firehouse 12 in New Haven, CT, the trio forged a singular voice by culling inspirations that span the globe and reach back through musical and cultural histories. The instrumentation combines acoustic traditional instruments from Japan, Africa and Europe with electronics to create truly unique orchestrations.

Sunrise is Rudolph’s 63rd release as a leader/co-leader and the result is music that exists on its own terms, reflecting the wonderful alchemy of the artists as they spontaneously create dialogues, unique orchestrations, and sonic moods in an organic way. This bold, experimental approach is an undercurrent that runs throughout Rudolph’s diverse career. As Rudolph explains: “With every record I make, I try to do something have I not done before.”

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BIOS
Hailed as a “pioneer in world music” (New York Times) for the past five decades, composer and percussionist Adam Rudolph has performed extensively throughout North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. He has released over 60 recordings as a leader and co-leader, featuring his compositions and percussion work.
He composes for his ensembles Sunrise Quartet, Moving Pictures Octet, Hu Vibrational, and Go: Organic Orchestra, a 30-piece group for which he has developed an original music notation and conducting system. He has taught and conducted hundreds of musicians worldwide in his Go: Organic Orchestra. Rudolph has performed with Don Cherry, Andre 3000, Jon Hassel, Pharaoh Sanders, Sam Rivers, Tyshawn Sorey, Muhal Richard Abrams, L. Shankar, Dave Liebman, Wadada Leo Smith, Philip Glass, Omar Sosa and Fred Anderson, among others.
He toured extensively and recorded 15 albums with Yusef Lateef, including duets and their large ensemble compositional collaborations. His compositions have been performed by Momenta String Quartet, Oberlin Percussion Group, Figura Chamber Orchestra, and Odense Percussion Ensemble, among others. Rudolph is known as one of the early innovators of what is now called “World Music.” In 1978 he cofounded, with Foday Musa Suso, the Mandingo Griot Society, one of the first groups to combine African and American music, and in 1988 he recorded the first fusion of American and Moroccan Gnawa music with sintir player Hassan Hakmoun.
He has received numerous grants and awards for his work. His music methodology and philosophy books, Pure Rhythm, (2006), and Sonic Elements (2022) have been used by composers, performers, students, and music institutions around the world. FULL BIO: https://metarecords.com/adam.html

Kaoru Watanabe's work is rooted in traditional Japanese performing arts while imbued with experimental and improvisational elements. A trained jazz musician, he became the first American to serve for ten years as both a performer and artistic director of the groundbreaking Japanese taiko performing arts ensemble Kodo. He has performed with such iconic artists as Yo-Yo Ma, Laurie Anderson, Jason Moran, and Rhiannon Giddens. https://www.watanabekaoru.com/

Alexis Marcelo is a pianist from New York City who has cultivated a unique voice in the creative and forward-thinking traditions of African American Music. He has performed Internationally with Yusef Lateef, James Brandon Lewis, Malcolm Mooney, and JD Parran among others Alexis has performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival and Alice Tully Hall. https://www.alexismarcelo.com/

Written by Ann Braithwaite

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ALBUM CREDITS

Adam Rudolph
handrumset (kongos, djembe, tarija), electronic processing, fender rhodes piano, glockenspiel, thumb pianos, overtone flutes, mouth bow, mbuti harp, cup gongs, vocal, percussion

Alexis Marcelo
acoustic piano, electric keyboards, melodica, percussion

Kaoru Watanabe
noh kan, fue and C flutes, taiko, vocal, electric koto and processing

* with Stephen Haynes
cornet, flugelhorn, conch shell

Music spontaneously composed by Adam Rudolph, Alexis Marcelo, Kaoru Watanabe and *Stephen Haynes Organic arrangements, orchestrations, electronic processing, creative direction, and production by Adam Rudolph

Recorded by Greg DiCrosta on May 24 & 25, 2024 at Firehouse 12 New Haven, CT
Mixed & mastered by James Dellatacoma at Orange Music Sound Studio, New Jersey