Captured at Brooklyn’s Roulette Intermedium in February 2023, Archaisms II focuses on the unique approach to conducted improvisation that each has devised, with a trio of collaborators from the new music realm: Sae Hashimoto and Russell Greenberg of Yarn/Wire and Levy Lorenzo of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE).

The term “archaisms” refers to a word or phrase of more ancient provenance employed in the context of modern language. In referring to the singular music created by Rudolph and Sorey it could be thought of as the way that African, African-American, European and other world traditions emerge in their own thoroughly contemporary approach to composition; from another perspective, the forward-searching languages that each has invented are further evolutions of jazz, new music and folk traditions, making what we recognize as contemporary music an archaism in their advanced approaches. “Even while receiving ancestral codes from the ancient aboriginal past and generating thought/feeling patterns which point to the multi-dimensional future unknown, this music resides completely in the present moment,” writes Rudolph in his notes for Archaisms I. 

Rudolph and Sorey had long admired one another’s work from afar when they first met for a concert at The Stone in 2018. “Tyshawn and I had an immediate, alchemical connection,” Rudolph recalls. “We found that we were really in tune with each other, and it was easy and inspiring to play with him.” Sorey adds, “With both of us being composers, it felt natural for us to operate in this composerly way. Rather than speaking two different languages, we quickly found a way to unify our languages and speak as one. Having developed a greater understanding of each other's work as composers and performers has really intensified the experience for me.”

The first half of Archaisms II features Rudolph at the helm, with Sorey at the piano for much of its 22-minute length, before shifting to drum kit in the closing minutes. The second half is conducted by Sorey, with Rudolph taking his turn at the keyboard for a portion of the proceedings. Despite the additional voices, Sorey says, “In a lot of ways it’s still a duet between Adam and me. Our concept has expanded so the point where the music still sounds like something that we teamed up and developed together.” “Tyshawn is a very studious, courageous and imaginative artist,” Rudolph says. “What strikes me about the music we make together is that it contains a balance between what I call the virtuosic and the invocational. John Coltrane is a wonderful example of the invocational aspect, of it, which invokes something transcendent. The virtuosic has to do with the high level of craft that serves that, which Tyshawn and these three fantastic percussionists certainly possess. That all results in an intensely feeling quality, a range of emotions, thrills and goosebumps.”