[ May 15th, 2026 release via Meta Records – Adam Rudolph with Alexis Marcelo & Kaoru Watanabe – Sunrise ]

Throughout his remarkable 54-year career, visionary percussionist and composer Adam Rudolph has continually ventured into unexplored regions of sound, melding wide-ranging traditions into startlingly original music. Rudolph accomplishes that daunting goal yet again with his new album Sunrise out May 15, 2026 via the composer’s own Meta Records label. The album features Rudolph’s Sunrise Trio with Alexis Marcelo (acoustic piano, electric keyboards, melodica, percussion) and Kaoru Watanabe (flutes, taiko, vocal, electric koto and processing).

Sunrise is a breathtaking set of non-idiomatic music. In its compellingly original sound, Rudolph’s trio blurs countless boundaries: between ancient and modern, organic and electronic, live improvisation and post-production. Their improvisatory explorations take them into undiscovered arenas of sonic invention.

Recorded at Firehouse 12 in New Haven, CT, the trio forged a singular voice by culling inspirations that span the globe and reach back through musical and cultural histories. The instrumentation combines acoustic traditional instruments from Japan, Africa and Europe with electronics to create truly unique orchestrations.

Sunrise is Rudolph’s 63rd release as a leader/co-leader and the result is music that exists on its own terms, reflecting the wonderful alchemy of the artists as they spontaneously create dialogues, unique orchestrations, and sonic moods in an organic way. This bold, experimental approach is an undercurrent that runs throughout Rudolph’s diverse career. As Rudolph explains:  “With every record I make, I try to do something have I not done before.”

Sunrise arrives on the heels of the percussionist’s 2025 trio release Beingness with NEA Jazz masters Dave Liebman and Billy Hart. “Creating and spending time with Billy and Dave added to what I learned from so many great elder musicians. I am so fortunate to have been mentored by artists like Yusef Lateef and Don Cherry. What they shared is much more than information; it is a deep kind of transmission of creative attitude and spirit,” says Rudolph. “What I gleaned from all my mentors is how important it is to infuse each note of the music with one’s spirit, soul and sincere feeling.”

 

As a carrier of that oral tradition, Rudolph is dedicated to sharing these transmissions with younger musicians, including Watanabe and Marcelo, who also represent some of Rudolph’s closest and long-standing musical relationships. That longevity is the result of their deep commitment to Rudolph’s music and unique methodology, leading to a keen sense of exploration and discovery. They all share the same excellence, rootedness, virtuosity and openness.

“As a bandleader my approach is to create a musical environment for both individualism and collective spirit; for the voice of each musician to resonate into creating something new together,” says Rudolph. “Kaoru and Alexis have been working with me for over 20 years in my Go: Organic Orchestra, Moving Pictures, and Hu: Vibrational groups. They are not only knowledgeable and experienced with my musical materials, but also keenly aware of my creative philosophy and vision. I chose them for this new trio because they are what I would call creative explorers. Our imperative is to push the boundaries and reach for new creative expressions.”

Rudolph’s own highly evolved and unique approach to hand drums and percussion set the standard for the trio’s distinctive sound. As a composer, one of Rudolph’s longstanding interests is what he terms “an orchestral approach to spontaneous composition.” Eschewing the jazz “head, solo, head” format or free improv tropes, Rudolph’s compositional approach is what he calls “sonic weaving.”

“What we do in the Sunrise Trio cannot, of course, replicate the music of the past,” says Rudolph. “No matter how much we love and study what the musicians in the past have done, it is our imperative to create our own approach and sound.  Virtuosity depends on what it is you are trying to do. I wanted musicians who were skilled and creative multi-instrumentalists so that we could vary the sonic palette”.

Rudolph continues, “Kaoru is one of those rare musicians who is both a superb woodwind player and percussionist. He can move with ease from powerful Taiko drumming to inventive playing on Japanese Noh Kan and Western flutes. His use of electronics opens up the orchestration even more. Alexis has such a unique voice, be it acoustic piano or electric keyboards. He and I have a shared background in our years together working with Yusef Lateef. Alexis never ceases to surprise and delight me with what he invents. And most importantly, both he and Kaoru are great listeners. They know how to let go, relax and serve the music by letting it become what it wishes to become.”

 

 

Hailed as a “pioneer in world music” (New York Times) for the past five decades, composer and percussionist Adam Rudolph has performed extensively throughout North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. He has released over 60 recordings as a leader and co-leader, featuring his compositions and percussion work.

He composes for his ensembles Sunrise Quartet, Moving Pictures Octet, Hu Vibrational, and Go: Organic Orchestra, a 30-piece group for which he has developed an original music notation and conducting system. He has taught and conducted hundreds of musicians worldwide in his Go: Organic Orchestra.

Rudolph has performed with Don Cherry, Andre 3000, Jon Hassel, Pharaoh Sanders, Sam Rivers, Tyshawn Sorey, Muhal Richard Abrams, L. Shankar, Dave Liebman, Wadada Leo Smith, Philip Glass, Omar Sosa and Fred Anderson, among others.

He toured extensively and recorded 15 albums with Yusef Lateef, including duets and their large ensemble compositional collaborations. His compositions have been performed by Momenta String Quartet, Oberlin Percussion Group, Figura Chamber Orchestra, and Odense Percussion Ensemble, among others.

Rudolph is known as one of the early innovators of what is now called “World Music.” In 1978 he co-founded, with Foday Musa Suso, the Mandingo Griot Society, one of the first groups to combine African and American music, and in 1988 he recorded the first fusion of American and Moroccan Gnawa music with sintir player Hassan Hakmoun.

He has received numerous grants and awards for his work. His music methodology and philosophy books, Pure Rhythm, (2006), and Sonic Elements (2022) have been used by composers, performers, students, and music institutions around the world.

Kaoru Watanabe’s work is rooted in traditional Japanese performing arts while imbued with experimental and improvisational elements. A trained jazz musician, he became the first American to serve for ten years as both a performer and artistic director of the groundbreaking Japanese taiko performing arts ensemble Kodo. He has performed with such iconic artists as Yo-Yo Ma, Laurie Anderson, Jason Moran, and Rhiannon Giddens.

 

Alexis Marcelo is a pianist from New York City who has cultivated a unique voice in the creative and forward-thinking traditions of African American Music. He has performed Internationally with Yusef Lateef, James Brandon Lewis, Malcolm Mooney, and JD Parran among others Alexis has performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival and Alice Tully Hall.

ALBUM CREDITS

Adam Rudolph
handrumset (kongos, djembe, tarija), electronic processing, fender rhodes piano, glockenspiel, thumb pianos, overtone flutes, mouth bow, mbuti harp, cup gongs, vocal, percussion

Alexis Marcelo
acoustic piano, electric keyboards, melodica, percussion

noh kan, fue and C flutes, taiko, vocal, electric koto and processing

* with Stephen Haynes
cornet, flugelhorn, conch shell

SIDE A                                                 
1) CLOUDS OF JOY 3:16
2) STUMBLED UPON 4:45
3) TIDE ACTIVITY* 5:28
4) NEBULA 5:25

SIDE B
1) LUNAR MIND 3:22
2) SIDEREAL*  8:59
3) INCEPTION* 4:41
4) A GLIMMER GLIMPSED 3:04

Music spontaneously composed by Adam Rudolph, Alexis Marcelo, Kaoru Watanabe and *Stephen Haynes

Organic arrangements, orchestrations, electronic processing, creative direction, and production by Adam Rudolph

Migration Music BMI, Moreno Sounds ASCAP, Yuriru Music ASCAP
Recorded by Greg DiCrosta on May 24 & 25, 2024 at Firehouse 12 New Haven, CT
Mixed & mastered by James Dellatacoma at Orange Music Sound Studio, New Jersey
Cover art by Adam Rudolph
META 032LP

© 2026 Meta Records