Adam Rudolph

This is a 66:37 continuous performance done at the Flynn Theater in Burlington, VT. Moving Pictures is basically the Eternal Wind Ensemble minus trumpeter Charles Moore. Percussionist/vocalist Adam Rudolph, multi-woodwindist Ralph "Buzzy" Jones, and percussionist/vocalist Hamid Drake play this completist world music, while on the concert stage, Oguri danced. It's a tour de force sonic exploration that defies explanation, although Rudolph does try on more technical terms in the liner notes. The spontaneous composition, credited to Rudolph, starts with bass clarinet, mbira (thumb piano), and percussion, in a quiet, Amazon-jungle-at-dawn mood, goes to triple pianissimo, whisper-thin notes, and progresses to various levels of sound. You'll hear single-beat drums with clicks, building polyryhthms, vocal chants, howling birds, the shenai played by Jones in 7/4, an ambient flute, then busier with congas, overblown flute, and back to triple pianissimo, East Indian mysticism, shaman-like chants, a shenai-drum workout, bass clarinet screaming, then praying. Next up is a 5/4 Don Cherry-like mode, mbira minimalism, a 4/4 percussion swing, a 4/4 groove, a harder African groove, Jones' tenor laughing like a hyena, an even harder groove, a conga blow out with grooving flute and soprano, then the coda, with many more subtle and pronounced nuances in between. A stunning musical experience altogether. By the way, the composition is broken down into 12 segments (arrows) titled in small case letters as "twe-el-via-air-row-so-ra-eve-sa-wa-or-we." Interpret that as you will. ~ Michael G. Nastos, Rovi