Ragmala: A Garland of Ragas Go: Organic Orchestra Music composed and improvisationally conducted by Adam Rudolph META / BRM 023 October 2019 Purchase Double CD Purchase Triple LP Digital Download
Press | Album Notes | Go: Organic Orchestra | Other Meta CD's | Concert Bookings | Meta Records Ragmala Performing Ensemble

"Sublime...a gorgeously complex tapestry of sounds, hues and sensations" - Suzanne Lorge, DownBeat Magazine In the Press Press Release "Rudolph's massive catalog is chock-full of sophisticated and fascinating records. Ragmala, however, is his opus, a major work that establishes the ground for infinite possibilities in improvisational interaction for an ensemble, as well giving flesh to an expansive musical language that edifies players and listeners equally. A deeply attractive, aesthetically accessible, yet extremely complex tapestry of sounds, hues, and aural sensations". - Thom Jurek, allmusic.com (5/5 Stars) "I don't feel equipped to review this album, neither emotionally or technically. It overheats my tiny brain and asks me "spiritual" questions I haven't begun to feel answers for. I don't fear it though, in fact, I am deeply in love with it, but I am a touch overwhelmed by it. It's beautiful, expansive and majestic: it's expansive otherness, its core rasa, reminds me of the feeling I get when listening to my heroes; Cherry, Sanders, Sun Ra, Coltrane. It is an authoritative step forward in the evolution of a truly global, celestial, cosmic "world" music". - Ian Ward, UK Vibe "While Philadelphia's Painted Bride Art Center has been presenting jazz, improvised and/or experimental music for half a century, it's still entirely possible this was the most sweepingly wide, boundary-defying cross-cultural performance the venue has ever seen." - Geno Thackara, All About Jazz “Two of the most interesting bands in the USA....In the jazz world, not since Sun Ra has this reviewer heard anything so successful at reaching the parts other music generally fails to reach. This double album feels like a milestone in the evolution of truly world music.” - Fiona Mactaggart, London Jazz News "Sublime...a gorgeously complex tapestry of sounds, hues and sensations" - Suzanne Lorge, DownBeat Magazine "Expanding the notion of what raga—the immersive, epic form of Indian music—can mean...”  - Wall St. Journal (4 Stars) ..this collaboration with the adventurous, multi-cultural collective Brooklyn Raga Massive is an absolutely inspired pairing. For the last seven years, Brooklyn Raga Massive has been fusing Indian Classical music, US minimalism and deep jazz to stunning effect. Moreover, both units believe in the power of music to transcend cultural boundaries and reach deep spiritual regions. There’s a mysterious sense of scale and antiquity to the whole date even when it veers into the murky Bitches Brew-style electric jazz as on “Ascent to Now,” which combines Indian instrumentation with billowing horn charts and driving rim-shot momentum. It’s a stunning journey into the unknown. - Jazzwise (UK), September 2019 (4 Stars) "The sound has been called a Bitches Brew—Miles Davis (Columbia, 1970)—of the twenty-first century, but perhaps a more accurate comparison might be Alice Coltrane circa 1973, with her Journey to Satchidananda (Impulse! Records), painted, in Ragmala’s case, from a broader palette". - Dan McClenaghan - All About Jazz Album Notes On the remarkable new album Ragmala – A Garland of Ragas, Rudolph's Go: Organic Orchestra and Brooklyn Raga Massive form a singular ensemble that vibrantly bridges musical and cultural distinctions. The result is a breathtaking set of music that carves an egalitarian and communal way forward while reverberating with echoes of the recent and ancient past. Drawing parallels with another ground-breaking and singular epic, Ragmala has already been referred to as a Bitches Brew for the 21st century (Ahmet Ali Arslan of Açık Radyo Istanbul).   The members of the adventurous BRM collective are deeply steeped in the traditions of Indian classical music. They refuse, however, to be restricted by it; the idea behind the collective, birthed in 2012 in a Prospect Heights bar, is to open the often rigid and hierarchical culture of the music to experimentation and cross-cultural collaboration. This collaboration marks the collective’s most ambitious effort to date in the musical movement that the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and New Yorker have recognized as a “Raga Renaissance.” “This album feels like the culmination of everything I’ve been reaching for throughout my career,” says Rudolph, no small claim from someone who’s been a pioneering voice in jazz and world music for more than 40 years. “Through my music I want to hear the humanity of all these different musicians shine through, and with their voices bring forth something that’s never existed before.” According to BRM guitarist David Ellenbogen, who co-produced Ragmala, the possibilities offered by Rudolph’s music scratched the very itch that led many of them into BRM’s more exploratory fold to begin with. “I always had a theory that Indian Classical, jazz, West African music and so on could have a synergistic relationship,” Ellenbogen says. “But after spending decades looking through record libraries, I found very few recordings lived up to the potential of these great traditions. I've spoken to other musicians on this album and they said the same thing when they heard these tracks: This is the music we've been searching for." Released October 19, 2019 Jay Ghandi - bansuri  Arun Ramamurthy - violin  Trina Basu - violin  Samarth Nagarkar - vocal  Neel Murgai - rhythm sitar, overtone singing  Sameer Gupta - tabla  David Ellenbogen - electric rhythm guitar  Abhik Mukherjee - sitar  Bala Skandan - mridangam  Mari Tanaka - tampura Kaoru Watanabe - c flute, fue, noh kan  Michel Gentile - c flute  Sylvain Leroux - chromatic tambin, tambin, c flute  Ze Luis - c and alto flute  Mariano Gil - bass flute  Charles Burnham - violin  Julianne Carney-Chung - violin  Sana Nagano - violin  Gwen Laster - violin  Richard Carr - violin  Stephanie Griffin - viola  Leco Reis - contrabass Avram Fefer - tenor saxophone, bass clarinet  Sean Sonderegger - bass and contrabass clarinet, soprano saxophone  Sara Schoenbeck - bassoon  Ivan Barenboim - b flat clarinet  Graham Haynes - cornet, flugelhorn, kudu horn, bamboo vaccine  Stephen Haynes - cornet, flugelhorn, solo alto, pocket trumpet, didgeridoo, conch, kudu horn  Peter Zummo - trombone, didgeridoo, conch, kudu horn  Libby Schwartz - french horn  Mia Theodoratus - harp  Marco Cappelli - electric and acoustic guitars  Alexis Marcelo - keyboards  Damon Banks - electric bass Harris Eisenstadt - bata (iya, itotele, okonkolo)  Rogerio Boccato - caxixi, mineiro, temple blocks, bells, wood box surdo  Hamid Drake - drum kit, okonkolo  Adam Rudolph - iya, itotele  Special Guests  Hassan Hakmoun - sintir, vocal  Abderahim Hakmoun - qarqaba, vocal  Music composed and improvisationally conducted by Adam Rudolph (Migration Music BMI)  Mousa Azure and Chakawali by Hassan Hakmoun and Adam Rudolph (Hakmoun Music BMI, Migration Music BMI)  Signal Rhythms arranged for Bata ensemble by Adam Rudolph and Harris Eisenstadt.  All music organically arranged and orchestrated by Adam Rudolph.  Recorded December 2018 at Orange Music Studio, New Jersey.  Recording, mix and mastering by James Dellatacoma.  Studio assistant - Mas Yamagata  Design by Sylvain Leroux.  Paintings by Nancy Jackson.  Cosmogram score materials by Adam Rudolph.  Sanskrit calligraphy by Subrata Basu.  Produced by Adam Rudolph, Mas Yamagata and David Ellenbogen.  Special thanks to Bill Laswell, C. Daniel Dawson, Michael Lucio Sternbach, Tim, Dawn and Elke at The Rubin Museum of Art and Gabe, Justin and the team at Pioneer Works.  Dedicated to our families: Those here, those gone, and those still to come.  We are grateful to Yusef Lateef and Don Cherry who opened the doors to the world for us all.

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