Composer, improviser, percussionist & family to greenarrowradio, Adam Rudolph, has performed extensively in concert throughout North & South America, Europe, Africa, & Asia for well over 4 decades. He has been hailed as “a pioneer in world music” by the NY Times and “a master percussionist” by Musician magazine. He composes for his ensembles Adam Rudolph’s Moving Pictures, Hu: Vibrational percussion group, & Go: Organic Orchestra, an 18 to 54 piece group for which he has developed an original music notation and conducting system. He has taught and conducted hundreds of musicians worldwide in the Go: Organic Orchestra concept. Adam has performed with Don Cherry, Jon Hassell, Sam Rivers, Pharaoh Sanders, L. Shankar, A.A.C.M co-founders Fred Anderson & Muhal Richard Abrams, Wadada Leo Smith, & Omar Sosa. He has toured extensively and recorded 15 albums with Yusef Lateef including duets and their large ensemble compositional collaborations. 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. Fast forward to end of 2025 and his latest release with Hu Vibrational, ‘Vibe Ride’ has been set out into this new world. This is the 6th album release for this project and his 60th release as a leader or co-leader. Vibe Ride continues a deeper exploration of a trance-like groove and a conceptual framework known as Sonic Mandala. This album marks the most complete realization of that idea, partly due to the group’s experience touring beforehand. That time on the road helped to refine ideas & strengthen musical chemistry. The recording process unfolded organically—likely due to the long-standing collaboration within ensembles like Go: Organic Orchestra & Moving Pictures, where the musicians have developed a deep familiarity with the shared musical language. The ensemble of Vibe Ride is Alexis Marcelo, Jerome Harris, Harris Eisenstadt, Neel Murgai, Tim Kieper, & Tripp Dudley—brings exceptional creativity and skill to the project. While grounded in the sonic languages of today, their performance channels an ancient vibrational lineage, connecting with ancestral sound makers who were attuned to the rhythms of the sun, moon, stars, & seasons. Human beings have always been deeply responsive to natural cycles. Vibe Ride thrives on the distinctive sonic voices of its players, interwoven with care and nuance into the compositions. Hu Vibrational merges elements of world music, electronica, & improvised jazz into something both funky & spiritual, intense & soothing.
I had the pleasure of getting time to hang with my friend Adam to dive mind first into the creation of Vibe Ride. From the changing of the sonic colors within the mandala to understanding the key to the artists communication ability, serving the music and longstanding relationships, this collection has opened unknown doors into a hopeful future. We get back to our previous conversation on the sonic mandala, deep listening and the techniques and philosophies revealed, layered upon and h=ow and where spots of silence accentuate the feel. The idea of this being a touring group got us talking about the shared unique, diverse and togetherness of a shared time with the music with the “audience” being a main part of where the music is and where it goes. As often happens when we get time together, so much of this conversation presents the desire to aide in the places music like Hu Vibrational can take the singular us, the collective we and those space yet to be discovered. I think this conversation is another path being created to help get others to locate it, find how this music can serve you/us/we and help to build a bridge between the past and where we can still find ourselves down the lie – that is, the circular lines.
