It’s always worthwhile to check out what Adam Rudolph is up to, because of his never-ending quest to create truly original music. Adding to forward-looking projects like Go: Organic Orchestra and Moving Pictures, the progressive percussionist had formed a most unusual trio with drum king Hamid Drake and multi-winds veteran Ralph M. Jones. Karuna was the name of the album they made together and released in 2018; they return in 2020 for the second chapter, Imaginary Archipelago.
It’s already an interesting blend, combining two percussion masters with a woodwinds and flute player. Rudolph takes it further with the electronic processing he applies to their raw, improvised recordings afterwards. It’s a concept similar to what David Torn has done with Prezens and Sun of Goldfinger, but Rudolph’s aim is a little different and no less ambitious.
You might think all that high-tech massaging would pull the music further away from its primal roots, but it actually does the opposite, which is what Rudolph is intending for it to do. Take “Okomibo,” for example, where Jones’ flute is made to flutter into a jungle mist, or the electronic effects on “Alima” resembling the sound of chirping crickets and other buzzing creatures sounding perfectly at home alongside Jones’ bass clarinet. Drake and Randolph combine to create a percussive groove that rises up out of nowhere and echoes out into a yawning void again with Rudolph’s post-production wizardry.
The patter of toms and congas resonate with a weird, artificially altered timbre on “Ibak” but not nearly enough to obscure the organic goodness coming extemporaneously from this killer duo. Jones’ lonely sax eventually makes its entry at first timidly but soon becoming more prominent. It becomes apparent that even his horn has been modified, too, part of a gathering brew that plays music from some isolated, culturally colorful civilization. It’s so primitive and cutting edge all at once.
Rudolph makes Jones’ flutes swirl around each other on “Dimahala,” and once again, the rhythms gestate from nothing in this performance bathed in psychedelic sonic imagery. “Madazuba” takes on a barren contour when Jones slowly blows on a bass clarinet but a trance-like quickened tempo takes over and Jones switches to a flute that ends up altered to sound ghostly.
The congas workout go on largely unaffected for the first four minutes of “Pitek,” then Jones’ billowing sax appears and then honks over the returning bank of percussion. With Rudolph’s electric piano hues accompanying Jones’ flute, “Chandirasa” calls to mind Herbie Hancock’s Mwandishi period.
Lone voices have been used throughout other tracks but outright spiritual chanting is heard to begin “Vajna,” and then Rudolph folds it in with Smith’s flute and some ambient background to complete this organic/digital portrait.
By applying today’s sound processing technology to hand-made music that was conceived instantly, Adam Rudolph magnifies the exotic musical concepts of himself and his longtime partners and collaborators Hamid Drake and Ralph M. Jones.
Imaginary Archipelago comes from Meta Records, and can be purchased through Bandcamp.
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