These two recordings by his large Organic Orchestra are ambitious undertakings that combine woodwinds and percussionists to create sounds that are both classical and jazz at the same time. Rudolph’s vision is one that intersects Western and World music at a common beat. Without employing an ethnomusicologist, I hear the Organic Orchestra coming from African, Indian, and American shores.

Don’t mistake this music as sampling or slumming. Rudolph has done his homework, performing with Chicago’s AACM, studying music in West Africa--with the likes of Don Cherry and Yusef Lateef (with who, he has recorded 12 albums). Rudolph played world music long before it was so titled. His recording Spirits (Meta 2000) with Hamid Drake and Pharaoh Sanders is an essential recording for jazz and world music fans.

Rudolph conducts the 135 minutes of live music recorded in concert November, 2001 and March, 2002. The closest parallel to the grand scale of music making heard on Web Of Light is Vinny Golia’s Large Ensembles. Rudolph even borrows some of Golia’s cast, including Brad Dutz and Alex Cline. But where Golia lays down heavy doses of sound, Rudolph keeps things separate, allowing individual voices of his 22-piece ensemble to appear and shine. He skillfully brings the classical touches of his flutes, clarinets, and bassoons to articulate and refine the raw emotions created from the varying percussion work.

The largess of this outing cannot be fairly described in a short review. Needless to say, the Organic Orchestra travels the spaceways by way of a very earthbound world music.

www.MetaRecords.com

~ Mark Corroto

Track Listing: Go: Organic Orchestra: 1 1-5 Compassion: Breath; Intent; Reflection; Continuance; Affirmation; Circumambulation; Blue Valley; 8-10 Rivers: Lapis; Amber; Glass; Nine Moons; Palms That Flicker.

Go: Organic Orchestra Web Of Light Pulsar; Atmospheres Of Thought; Magnetic Fields Of The Mind; Pleiades; Interior Necessity; Web Of Light; Sirius Mysteries.

Personnel: Go: Organic Orchestra: 1 Davey Chegwidden - Conga, Caxixi, Tarija, Gongs,Percussion; Brad Dutz - Bones, Cajon, Frame Drum, Iya Batajon, Conga, Tarija, Percussion; Harris Eisenstadt - Drum Kit, Gangkoqui, Itotele Batajon, Guiro; Danny Frankel - Bongos, Udu Drum, Conga, Cowbells, Log Drum, Shakers, Percussion; Randy Gloss - Riq, Kanjira, Talking Drum, Rebolo, Metal Pot, Kaganu, Tarija; Marwan Mogrobi - Gome, UDU, Asrato; Allakoi Peete - Berimbau, Udu, Congas; Andres Renteria - Conga, Udu, Okonkolo Batajon; Adam Rudolph - Handumset (Congas, Djembe), Talking Drum, Kroboto, Yarija, Ewart Flute; David Shaffer - Frame Drum, Sogo, Cymbals, Tarija, Percuswsion; Miles Shrewsberry - Table, Caxixi, Shekere, Tarija, :Log Drum; Gustavo Bulgach - Claruiinet, bamboo Flute; Ellen Burr - Flute, Alto Flute, Bamboo Flute; Ralph Jones - Flute, Alto Flute, Bass Clarinet, Bamboo Flute; Emily Hay - Flute, Alto Flute, Bamboo Flute; Chris Heenan - Bass Clarinet, Clarinet, Bamboo Flute; Joshua Natural Sounds - Flute, Alto Clarinet, Bamboo Flute; Travis Just - Bass Clarinet, Clarinet, Bamboo Flute; David Philipson - Bansuri, Suling; Sarta Schoenbeck - Basoon, Sona, Bamboo Flute; Paul Sherman - Oboe, English Horn, Bamboo Flute; Ben Wendel - Flute, Bamboo Flute; Cory Wright - Bass Clarinet, Clarinet, Bamboo Flute; Matt Zebley - Alto Clarinet, Bamboo Flute; Dwight Trible - Vocal.