Music and Mysticism, Rhythm and Form, the guitars of the Go:Organic Guitar Orchestra by Adam Rudolph “Resonant Bodies” on #neuguitars #blog #AdamRudolph
http://www.metarecords.com/adam.html#anchorreviews
http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/rudolph.html
Go: Organic Orchestra (metarecords.com)
Adam Rudolph: conduction, composition, arrangements, handrumset (#9); Liberty Ellman: electric guitar; Nels Cline: electric guitar; Miles Okazaki: electric guitar; David Gilmore: electric guitar; Kenny Wessel: electric guitar; Joel Harrison: electric guitar, national steel guitar; Marco Cappelli: acoustic guitar; Jerome Harris: electric guitar, bass guitar, lap steel guitar; Damon Banks: bass guitar.
“Mysticism Knowledge is freedom and the study of elements in sound is a path. Mysticism reaches beyond religion into creativity, which belongs to every human being. For the artist, mysticism is an attitude whose imperatives are the willingness to cultivate imagination and the courage to express what is discovered. For the creative musician, it also means research into the science of sound, which is the chemistry of the universe. Mystics and physicists alike know that all earthly creation is in fact star stuff, sub-atomic particles vibrating at various rates. Music speaks to us and transforms us through the medium and essence of what we ourselves are: vibration. The musical artist’s invisible alchemy is to arrange these overtones as they move through time. Throughout the ages this art has been intimately intertwined with the mystic’s path.”
Adam Rudolph, Arcana V, pag. 327
Borges stated that music was allowed to create its own orb of sounds and that common metaphors are the best, because they are the only true ones. And if music offers the iconoclast the possibility of respecting the biblical prohibition, shared by Islam, of forging images of new idols with human hands, aesthetic revolutions offer people the temptation of irresponsible and easy. Music is no less immediate than the world itself, but without a world, without a common treasure of memories that can be evoked through language, there would certainly be no art. But music is independent of the world because it can generate many ones, all different from each others.
“Music is a reflection of the heart’s evolution. It speaks to the inner being since it is itself of the inner being. Listening with the heart asks for a quiet-ing of the mind which judges, filters, and compartmentalizes. It beckons us to lift out of temporal limitations, to open up to the deepest sentiment of our own being and allow our very essence to be touched. Communication through this invisible alchemy called music invites us to reach into ourselves, to seek to know ourselves and to fearlessly express that which we discover. It is a way of coming to know who we are as we exist in the universe and the universe that exists within us. Music is the language of the heart and it is a path to awakening. For those who are aware of the mysticism of sound, music is a profound means by which we share our most intimate and deep desire for universal consciousness.”
Adam Rudolph, Arcana V, pag. 335
I met Adam Rudolph in Venice in March 2016, thanks to Marco Cappelli. I confess that I still regret not being able to go to their concert that evening. Just as I confess that before our pleasant and convivial meeting I had not yet had the opportunity to know his music and above all his rich and original musical thought. Excellent percussionist Adam Rudolph was able to incorporate elements from other cultures into his jazz style (Balinese, Ghanaian, Cuban, Haitian, Hindustani, Moroccan) on which he subsequently built his own compositions / improvisations, entrusted mainly to the GO: Organic Orchestra, ensemble with whom since 2001 he has constantly explored these territories, with variable numbers both in the total number of musicians and in the instrumentation. Another very interesting point of reference are the guitars of the Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra, also of variable organic which sees, among others, the participation of illustrious names such as Nels Cline, Rez Abbasi, Joel Harrison, Jerome Harris, David Gilmore and the Italian Marco Cappelli.
Go: Organic Orchestra‘s first cd, “Turning into the Light” was released in 2015, on Cuneiform Records. Excellent album, steeped in mysticism and star motions, recorded, not surprisingly, on the day of the winter solstice in 2014. The various pieces practically constituted a suite in several movements dedicated to the sun, opened by a collective greeting on a note held for a long time in imitation of the primordial OM, and continued with a series of episodes in which all eleven guitarists had the opportunity to stand out in turn, both as soloists and in the collective, alternating written parts with improvised parts, conducted by Rudolph.
On December 3, 2021, the sequel finally arrived: “Resonant Bodies”. The recordings of this CD actually date back to December 23, 2015, a geological era in our accelerated world, but they don’t sound as dated. I think one of the characteristics of Rudolph’s music is a marked timeless sense: I can’t confine it to a certain period. His particular approach seems to be based on elaborate vertical superimpositions of musical phrases, supplemented by complex rhythmic cycles, in which the nine guitarists of the orchestra still manage to find space for their solo intuitions. The tonal variety is ensured, in addition to the use of effects, by the type of instruments (alongside the predominant electric guitars we find bass guitars, acoustic guitars and steel guitars), and by the stylistic differences and the personal approach to the instrument that each of the musicians brings. with you. The track titles are the names of the stars in the Cygnus cluster. If his music on “Resonant Bodies” seems like an ordered chaos, it is because the chaos is based on asymmetries, contrasts, digressions, but without ever exercising full control over them. The result is a kaleidoscopic succession of phrases and musical moments that dissect the expressive possibilities of the instrument in its various combinations, without ever leading to confusion even in the freest moments, but maintaining continuous linearity and coherence throughout the development of the suite. Love for mysticism, cosmology and metaphysics seem to be the dominant characteristics of Adam Rudolph’s music, where space and, perhaps, time too are two universal forms of intuition and not two random forms. If translating the spirit is such an enormous and fantastic intention that it can be considered harmless and innocent, then Adam Rudolph expresses an avant-garde capable of enchanting and surprising. His methods and his improvised ways have managed to make the guitars sound like they weren’t, and there is certainly something new in his music that is worth exploring.
“Resonant Bodies” will strike you, do not be distracted by its apparent vertical disorder, in its orderly confusion, which envelops nine guitarists, you will discover a fascinating complexity and passion.
NeuGuitars 