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Adam Rudolph

American jazz composer and percussionist

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
3 min read
Source updated June 11, 2026
Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Adam Rudolph (born September 12, 1955) is a jazz composer and percussionist performing in the post-bop and world fusion media.

Rudolph grew up in the South Side of Chicago among jazz and blues musicians. In 1988 he met jazz musician Yusef Lateef, and the two would go on to collaborate and perform together for the next 25 years. In 1992 Rudolph helped found the band Adam Rudolph’s Moving Pictures, “a malleable group of improvisers“, as Jazz Times described it. He has been the artistic director of and composer for Hu: Vibrational with Hamid Drake, Vashti International Percussion Ensemble and Go: Organic Orchestra. He has performed as half of the Wildflowers Duo with Butoh dance innovator Oguri.

Rudolph has released several albums as leader and has also recorded with musicians Sam Rivers, Omar Sosa, Wadada Leo Smith, Pharoah Sanders, Bill Laswell, Herbie Hancock, Foday Musa Suso, and Shadowfax.

01Discography

As leader

  • Adam Rudolph's Moving Pictures (Flying Fish, 1992)
  • Skyway (Soul Note, 1994)
  • Contemplations (Meta, 1997)
  • 12 Arrows (Meta, 1999)
  • Go: Organic Orchestra: 1 (Meta, 2002)
  • Web of Light (Meta, 2002)
  • Dream Garden (Justin Time, 2008)
  • Yeyi (Meta, 2010)
  • Both/And (Meta, 2011)
  • Merely a Traveler On the Cosmic Path (Meta, 2012)
  • Glare of the Tiger (Meta, 2017)
  • Focus and Field (Meta, 2020)
  • Autumn Moon Meditation (Meta, 2024)

As co-leader

With Build an Ark

  • Peace with Every Step (Kindred Spirits, 2004)
  • Dawn (Kindred Spirits, 2007)

With Eternal Wind

  • Eternal Wind (Flying Fish, 1984)
  • Terra Incognita (Flying Fish, 1987)
  • Wasalu (Flying Fish, 1988)

With Hu Vibrational

  • Boonghee Music 1 (Eastern Developments, 2002)
  • Beautiful Boonghee Music 2 (Soul Jazz, 2004)
  • Universal Mother Boonghee Music 3 (Soul Jazz, 2006)
  • The Epic Botanical Beat Suite Boonghee Music 4 (Meta, 2015)
  • Timeless Boonghee Music 5 (Meta, 2023)

With Yusef Lateef

  • Live in Seattle (YAL, 1999)

With Mandingo Griot Society

  • Mandingo Griot Society (Flying Fish, 1978)
  • Mighty Rhythm (Flying Fish, 1981)

With Bennie Maupin

With Universal Quartet

  • The Universal Quartet (Blackout Music, 2009)
  • Light (ILK Music, 2013)

As sideman

With Jon Hassell

With Bill Laswell

  • Kauai: The Arch of Heaven (Metastation, 2014)
  • Against Empire (M.O.D. Reloaded, 2020)

Dave Liebman

  • The Unknowable (RareNoise, 2018)
  • Chi (RareNoise, 2019)

With Yusef Lateef

  • Tenors of Yusef Lateef and Archie Shepp (YAL, 1992)
  • The African-American Epic Suite for Quintet and Orchestra (ACT, 1994), rec. 1993
  • The World at Peace (Meta, 1997)[2CD], rec. 1995
  • Beyond the Sky (YAL/Meta, 2000)
  • A G.I.F.T. (A Goodness Inwardness Forgiving Tolerance) (YAL, 2000)
  • Live at Luckman Theater (YAL, 2001)
  • Towards the Unknown (Meta, 2010), rec. 2009
  • Voice Prints (Meta, 2013), rec. 2008

With Shadowfax

With Wadada Leo Smith

With others

Adam Rudolph
Adam Rudolph
Watch videos about Adam RudolphExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Adam Rudolph”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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