The World at Peace
Composed by Yusef Lateef
&
Adam Rudolph
YAL/META 753 - 1995
Double CD Set
Recorded live at the
Jazz Bakery - Los Angeles
a tribute to Yusef Lateef reviews | audio samples | video | ensemble info | purchase CD | purchase digital | other Meta CD's
"In composing this piece I explored avenues I hadn't explored before. A plant living within another plant is known as an endophyte in biology, and I relate some of these ideas to constructing melodies and counter melodies from intervals already existing within a vertical chord. I also create a certain aesthetic by assigning a group of notes to a certain instrument, exclusive to other instruments which are assigned other groups of notes. I derived this idea from Chaos Theory, and the music that results brings to my mind the music of the Banda, a group of people from Central Africa. And as always, I meld my soul with the composition."
Yusef Lateef
"In composing ' The World At Peace,' one of the ways I attempted to extend my use of musical elements was to apply the shapes and gestures of language to sound and rhythm. In 'Wheel of Life' for example, the movement of call-and-response patterns allows each performer to weave their instrumental language into the musical fabric. Another compositional tool I call Cyclic Verticalism integrates a cyclic concept of rhythm (such as is used in much North Indian music) with a polymetric concept (such as is used in certain West African drumming practices). For example, in 'Africa 35' each instrumentalist has the freedom to develop the thematic materials through time with their own individual motion, creating tension and release while still relating to the overall form. I use these musical concepts in my composition to better serve my own aesthetic intent as well as that of the performers, so that sincere thoughts and emotions may be expressed."
Adam Rudolph
The commissioning of "The World at Peace" was made possible by the Meet the Composer / Rockefeller Foundation / AT&T Jazz Program, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts
The Performers
Yusef Lateef : tenor saxophone, flute, shenai, bamboo flutes, vocal | Adam Rudolph : hand drums, bendir, udu drums, talking drum, thumb piano, achimevu | Susan Allen : harp | Marcie Brown : cello | Eric Von Essen : bass | Jeff Gauthier : violin | David Johnson : vibes, marimba percussion | Ralph Jones : soprano & tenor saxophone, c and alto flute, bass clarinet, mussette | Charles Moore : trumpet, dumbek, kudu horn | Jose Luis Perez : trap drums, candombe drums, dumbek | Federico Ramos : acoustic, electric & midi guitars, kudu horn | Bill Roper : tuba, kudu horn
DISC 1
1 Ramifications 2 Coltrane Remembered
3 Africa 35 4 Chaos #3 5 Beloved
6 Like a Secret Argosy 7 Masara #2DISC 2
1 A Feather in the Bright Sky
2 Ourobouros 3 Beyond Futility
4 Dreaming of the Skyway 5 Peace & Love 6 Overlay 7 Wheel of Life 8 Encore
'The World at Peace' - Yusef Lateef & Adam Rudolph JAZZIZ - January 1998
Composers/multi-instrumentalists Yusef Lateef and Adam Rudolph haven co-created a master work so far-reaching in its beauty, range, and significance that, in a better world, this album would inspire T shirts worn across the nation.
Picture a 12-piece orchestra with percussion from Africa, the Americas, India, and the Middle East; a rainbow of wind instruments (shenai, musette, kudu horn, bass clarinet, tuba, saxophone, trumpet, flute); and ethereal strings (cello, harp, violin, and classical acoustic and electric MIDI guitar). Now, picture a seamless integration of those textures and tones, a ritual celebration of live trance beats, shamanistic polyrhythms, melodies with wings, drum skins on fire, space and silence between thick brush strokes of color.
The compositions are as harmonically elegant as any score in the Duke Ellington catalog. At once earthy and cosmic, Lateef & Rudolph's two-CD set transcends the myopia of genre-based thinking. Reaffirming the power of the creative spirit, The World at Peace offers up pure expression as a source of positivity and wonderment. Its cultural import spans the planet.- Sam Prestianni
Return to Meta Records Home Page
email:
all material on this site © 1997 - 2015 Meta Records Inc. - all rights reserved