LIVE: Joseph Bowie/Adam Rudolph Duo @ the Sanctuary for Independent Media, 3/20/12

Review and photographs by Andrzej Pilarczyk

Jazz experimental percussionist Adam Rudolph has played Troy’s Sanctuary for Independent Media before, albeit within the context of his larger group. But this time out, his lone partner in free-form musical expression was uber-trombonist Joseph Bowie.

On the former church’s red-carpeted stage, under the glare of the studio-type lights, Rudolph and Bowie created a two-set sound tapestry that wove dissonant and atonal notes into a wide-ranging and dynamic compositional fabric, etched with the occasional and fleeting melodic line.

In front of an appreciative audience of those who have acquired a taste for this challenging and spontaneous music, the two master-musicians passionately explored the shifting musical boundaries initially pioneered by the likes of such legendary jazz men as John Coltrane, Yusef Lateef and Albert Ayler.

The Sanctuary For Independent Media has long been Nippertown’s premiere torchbearer for the adventurous, presenting and spotlighting the most acclaimed avant garde jazz artists on the national scene today, including Matthew Shipp, Joe McPhee and Hamiet Bluiett. Now add Rudolph and Bowie to the prestigious list…