Adam Rudolph

On Friday, April 2nd, New Haven’s Firehouse 12 will present renowned percussionist/composer Adam Rudolph‘s Moving Pictures Quintet. This two-set performance of newly composed material is part of a series of East Coast dates in April and May supporting Rudolph’s two Spring releases, Towards The Unknown and Yeyi, on his own Meta Records. The Moving Pictures Quintet, a new incarnation of his 20 year-old Moving Pictures ensemble, features frequent collaborators Brahme Fribgane (oud, cajón and percussion), Joseph Bowie (trombone, voice and percussion), Graham Haynes (cornet, flugelhorn and dusun’goni) and Kenny Wessel (guitars and banjo).

Critics called Moving Pictures’ most recent release, 2008′s Dream Garden (Justin Time Records), “world jazz of the highest caliber” (Steve Greenlee, Boston Globe), “life-affirming music” (David Dacks, Eye Weekly), “full of amazing surprises” (J. Hunter, AllAboutJazz.com) and “a career achievement for Rudolph, one that should finally make the jazz world sit up and take notice of this man as a front line composer and bandleader” (Thom Jurek, AllMusic.com). JazzTimes reviewer Jeff Tamarkin adds, “Adam Rudolph is a mixer-upper whose greatest gift is his ability to take pieces from here, there and beyond, toss them into scenarios in which they should collide noisily, and instead coax from them harmonious goodness and excellent adventures. Rudolph’s world is one of contrasting shapes and languages, and of unexpected, welcomed variations.”

Known as a master percussionist, Rudolph has been developing his own syncretic approach to hand drumming since the early 1970′s. He began his career immersed in the jazz and blues traditions of Chicago and Detroit before studying ethnomusicology at Oberlin College and later directly with masters of percussion instruments from Cuba, Ghana, Guinea, Haiti, Nigeria and Northern India. In addition to longstanding partnerships with multi-instrumentalists Ralph Jones and Yusef Lateef among others, Rudolph has collaborated with such prominent American jazz figures as Don Cherry, Hamid Drake, Herbie Hancock, Sam Rivers, Pharoah Sanders and Wadada Leo Smith, as well as eminent ethnic musicians from India, Indonesia, Lebanon, Morocco and Mali. His other current ensembles include Hu:Vibrational, Vashti and Go: Organic Orchestra. Learn more at http://www.metarecords.com/adam.html

2010 Spring Jazz Series Schedule:

03/26 :: Caliente! Circle Around the Sun
04/02 :: Adam Rudolph’s Moving Pictures Quintet
04/09 :: Myra Melford’s Happy Whistlings
04/16 :: Playdate
04/23 :: Armen Donelian Group
04/30 :: Tomas Fujiwara & The Hook Up
05/07 :: Dan Weiss Trio
05/14 :: Marcus Strickland Trio
05/21 :: Jean-Michel Pilc Trio
05/28 :: Fay Victor Ensemble
06/04 :: Peter Madsen Trio
06/11 :: Myron Walden Momentum

Tickets and more information available at:
http://firehouse12.com/performance_space_calendar.asp