Sonic Bliss: Adam Rudolph’s Guitar Orchestra

Some guitarists are loners. They prefer to play solo or to be their band’s only guitarist—and that’s cool. But not all guitarists think that way. Some need a partner in crime and prefer playing in a two-guitar band. Some guitarists want even more, and their bands boast three guitars. Think Lynyrd Skynyrd. And sometimes—like at celebrity jams and tributes—even more guitarists crowd the stage.

But how about 11?

Noted composer, percussionist, and world music pioneer Adam Rudolph thinks that’s okay. His Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra, an all-guitar offshoot of his innovative Go: Organic Orchestra is an ensemble comprising only guitars—11, actually. And it’s not just any guitarists. Rudolph’s ensemble features the cream of New York’s avant-garde and includes Rez Abbasi, Nels Cline, Liberty Ellman, David Gilmore, Miles Okazaki, Marvin Sewell, Damon Banks, Marco Cappelli, Jerome Harris, Joel Harrison, and Kenny Wessel.

Rudolph, a Chicago native, made his name playing percussion with musicians like trumpeter Don Cherry and saxophonist Fred Anderson. A student of world music, he traveled the globe and immersed himself in local styles and cultures. “It was more than studying,” Rudolph says about his year in Ghana in West Africa. “It was going around to a lot of different ceremonies and being around the whole life that gave root to the music. That was really what was so interesting for me.” In 1988, he began a long association with multi-instrumentalist Yusef Lateef, which lasted until Lateef’s death in 2013. Rudolph has worked with myriad other artists as well. His projects and collaborations include duets, small groups, and large ensembles with an impressive roster of A-list musicians, and span everything from free improvisation to through-composed works.

Rudolph started the first incarnation of his orchestra in 2001. “I started the Go: Organic Orchestra because of my great good fortune to be mentored by and to learn from the great masters. I learned about creative attitude and this idea of process. If you can think of your own creative process—how to go about things—you can come up with your own music. That’s what I learned from my mentors, and that is what I try to share now. Since 2000, I felt it was my turn to be sharing with as many musicians as possible.”

The Go: Organic concept employs Rudolph’s ideas about polyrhythm, rhythmic cycles, harmony, and sonic language in a large improvisatory ensemble. The orchestra exists in various line-ups and includes regular East and West Coast working groups, a string ensemble, and, starting in 2014, the all-guitar orchestra. “These 11 guitarists are really different players from each other,” he says. “They all have their own voice, their own sound, their own approach. I want their inner voices to shine through and to challenge them in some way to reach beyond themselves.” The Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra recently released Turning Towards the Light, which was recorded on the winter solstice in 2014. The ensemble toured the East Coast last fall and was featured in New York City at the Stone in late May as part of Rudolph’s weeklong residency there.

What does the Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra sound like? Probably not how you’d expect. Although the music is rhythmically complex, the lack of percussion takes off some of the edge. Imagine a more sophisticated version of Discipline-era King Crimson—simple ostinato figures, contrapuntal responses, and a mellow, bubbling vibe percolating within the polyrhythmic mush. The tonal tapestry is rich as well and often very un-guitar-like. For example, a few of the guitarists use heavy, saturated tones tempered with volume swells, which resemble violin. That unique timbre contributes to an overall ensemble sound that gives off a simultaneously traditional yet futuristic vibe.

We spoke with Rudolph about the magic of working with guitarists, his unique insights into the universal nature of music, and the raw power of overseeing a project that features over 100 effects pedals. We also talked with Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra participants Nels Cline and Damon Banks to get an insider’s look at playing in such a unique setting. (See sidebars.)

Describe the genesis of the Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra.
Well, just to give a little background about the Go: Organic Orchestra in general, I’ve always been very interested in process. I developed a process of putting the music together with the Go: Organic Orchestra that is it’s own prototype. The way the process works—the relationship between the performers, the score elements, and my own conducting technique—can be adapted to any kind of ensemble. I have two guitarists who are in my New York-based Go: Organic Orchestra, but a lot of other guitarists in the area expressed interest. I thought it would be so interesting to have an all-guitar orchestra because, first of all, guitarists can handle a lot of the rhythms I use in my music. I use a concept of rhythm I call “Ostinatos of Circularity,” and I felt they could adapt to that well because of the nature of guitar. I also felt that—with the kinds of foot pedals and processing that so many guitar players now are adept at—we could really have a huge, fascinating, and prototypical sounding orchestral palette. And thirdly, a lot of the interval material that I use in the orchestra would be interesting for guitar players to interpret both melodically and harmonically.

Once the idea came to mind it seemed inevitable. When I put the call out to the guitarists that I knew, I was really impressed that everybody responded positively and with a lot of excitement about it. As you can tell, they are all outstanding, amazing guitarists in their own right, and most of them are composers and bandleaders themselves. When we did the first concert, I wasn’t sure how it was going to work out, but I think it exceeded everybody’s expectations. So we thought, “Let’s move to the next stage,” which is to do more concerts and to make a recording.”

What are some specifics you kept in mind when composing exclusively for guitar?
Actually, I didn’t do anything in terms of composing for the guitars. We used the exact same score materials that I use for my Go: Organic Orchestra. I have nine or 10 of what I call “Interval Matrices” and “Cosmograms.” These allow the musicians to interpret these interval matrices looking at them forwards, backwards, down, up—and find different kinds of material inside of them. The second part of the score is a page of 10 Ostinatos of Circularity, which are rhythmic and harmonic patterns that can be combined in different ways. And then there is a series of 10—I guess I can call them bass lines—that are further ostinatos. All of these elements are modular and can be combined in different ways. I cue some aspects of the material, and when I hear something coming back at me that causes me to respond, I conduct further. There is this spontaneous dialogue going on.

What is an Ostinato of Circularity? Is it like a loop—something with repeat signs on each end?
That’s right. It’s a kind of loop, and it is based upon my concept of rhythm that I call “Cyclic Verticalism.” I create what I call “Signal Rhythms.” If you are thinking horizontally, like a tala in Indian music or 2+3 in Middle Eastern music … tin tin na, din na, din na—that’s seven. 3+2+2. But I also combine what I learned in my studies of polyrhythms, combining units of 2 against units of 3. Odd and even. So, for example, some of these ostinatos of circularity are in a 21-beat cycle, which is three sevens against seven triplets.

Here’s the thing: It sounds complex, perhaps, but it is actually not complex. We over complexify how we think about music all the time. Think about it this way: The most complex chord changes that a lot of guitar players are used to playing are really only six intervals. That’s simple. Six intervals. With rhythm, you can create all kinds of complex rhythms and there is an infinite variety of rhythms based upon language and dance and mathematics that are played in all kinds of cultures around the world, but when you look at it in simple mathematical terms, everything is either a unit of even or odd: 2 or 3.

You can take that a step further in the sense that the fundamental polyrhythm in the universe is 3 against 2. If I played 3 against 2 with my hands fast enough, you would hear the overtone—the third overtone, the second harmonic, which is the fifth. And the fifth is that element that opens up the circle of fifths.

Live, the Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra sets up as they do in the studio: seated in a semicircle, amps behind them, eyes on the score and Rudolph. Photo by Scott Friedlander

You hear the harmonic in the polyrhythm?
Yeah. If something beating in 3 is beating against something beating in 2 fast enough, you would hear a fifth. That’s what you are hearing when you hear a fifth, vibration wise.

Right. In the harmonic series, the frequency ratio of the fifth is usually written as 3:2.
The ratio of the fifth is 3 against 2. Listen—the most simple way of thinking about things is just vibration. My voice coming to you, the chair you are sitting on, ourselves, our bodies—it’s all things vibrating at various rates, all the way out into the cosmos. We know that. That is part of what makes music an amazing invisible alchemy: We are actually creating something in the realm of that which we are. It’s vibration. This is not just an abstract thought. This is the universal. And the universal of vibration manifests itself for us as musicians in two ways: what we call sound or color—timbre/harmony, the overtones—and how we perceive music, which is rhythm.

The Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra is mostly electric guitars, but also includes an acoustic guitar, bass, and a few other guitar-like instruments. Did you have specific aesthetic considerations?
One of the great things about the Go: Organic Orchestra is that it doesn’t matter what the instrumentation is. It is about the individuals. Every individual is unique and has a voice and something to share. My idea is to create a context for that. When I put the call out, I was looking for guitarists who would be interested, challenged, and delighted to be involved in this. Jerome Harris and Damon Banks both play electric bass. Jerome doubles on guitar and they’ve both played in my Go: Organic Orchestra and in my Moving Pictures group at different times, so they are familiar with my concept. Marco Cappelli is playing acoustic guitar, though I have to say he is playing a processed acoustic guitar that he runs through all kinds of loops and processing. He’s been working in my Go: Organic Orchestra since 2005 in New York, and he and I have made a duet record. But with everybody, what kind of guitars they brought was whatever they wanted. Nels Cline has his guitar going through this Korg Kaoss Pad. I think Kenny Wessel counted up the number of pedals at one of our recent concerts in Philadelphia and said there were over 121 on stage. One of the things I told them when we started was, “You don’t necessarily have to sound like a guitar or think like a guitarist. Think like a string section or like an electronic musician or like a synthesizer. All the things that maybe nobody else wants you to do, I want you to do that here. Think orchestrally.”

Rudolph encouraged his guitarists to bring their pedals to help create an orchestral palette that reaches beyond the traditional sounds of the instrument. Photo by Scott Friedlander

So you gave them free rein to use whatever pedals they wanted.
Oh yeah. Like I said, the philosophy of the music is about the individual. Respecting the individuals and their uniqueness in what they bring. I just asked them to become familiar with the materials and to come prepared. It’s like if I called off “I Got Rhythm” changes or a blues and you’ve never played them before, it’s going to be tough. But if you are familiar with it, then it becomes part of your language. All I asked them was, “Come prepared, but feel free, think orchestrally, and think beyond guitar.” And that’s it.

I have to say, we did a tour of the East Coast last fall, and it seems like they were so delighted and thrilled. There was a lot of tech talk between them. Maybe they don’t get to be in the same band and hang out together a lot, because they are all doing different things, but it was big fun for all of them. And for us to make a sound, an orchestra—this is like a 21st-century future-sounding orchestra. That’s what we are looking for.

How did you keep everybody’s levels balanced?
I was concerned about that, and at the first gig we joked about it. I said, “What if I want you guys to be all the way down? How can I get you down to no amplifier sound at all?” And they said, “You’ve got to get all the way down on your knees.” While I was conducting, I was bending my knees down so much that my legs were hurting. [Laughs.] But that’s a joke. These musicians are so sensitive and so musical that it’s never been a problem with the dynamics. They follow the dynamics. Like I said, “You have to think orchestrally.” Dynamics are a very important part of music. The expressiveness of what music is is dynamics. They understood like everybody that there is loud, there is soft. There is piano and forte.

The album was recorded live in the studio?
Yes. Everyone was in a semicircle. It is amazing how clean sounding it is with these 100-plus pedals. There was no buzzing, nothing. James Dellatacoma, the engineer—he is one of Bill Laswell’s regular engineers—has to get special credit. He’s a guitar player and he got everything so clean sounding. It is a live record. I did some editing afterwards—picked out the best takes, cut things up a little bit, picked out the best sections, that kind of thing—but it was all live. There was no overdubbing.

Were you shaping tones or fixing sounds in post-production?
No. Everybody’s sound was so processed and complete. I didn’t have to do a lot of processing. James is a phenomenal engineer. We didn’t have baffles. We were set up in a semicircle with each person’s amp right behind him and a mic on the amp. We had a couple of room mics that I don’t think we ended up using a lot. And everybody’s sound was clean and unique.

Will there be another all-guitar album?
We did a tour in the fall and I have an outstanding live recording that we did in New York. I am waiting to stop touring and to be at home and see what might be contained in there. It was a year later and we had played a lot of concerts. The music really evolved and the spirit of how we played live … I am going to start looking at those recordings very soon.