With a 36-year curatorial presence in NYC, World Music Institute is mainly known for presenting traditional and contemporary music from around the world. However, in the early years, the programming included a series rooted in the NYC jazz and improvised music scene, ‘Improvisations’. This series brought together musicians from various backgrounds and cultures, many who had never performed together before, and gave them an opportunity to improvise and collaborate.

A core member of many of these dates was drummer, percussionist, and often Acting Music Director Adam Rudolph, who has been hailed as “a pioneer in world music” by The New York Times and “a master percussionist” by Musician Magazine. Rudolph performed on over a dozen of these ‘Improvisations’ shows, many of which led to life-long musical relationships including with Yusef Lateef, Hassan Hakmoun, and Don Cherry, among others. Adam’s later projects, ‘Moving Pictures’ and ‘Go: Organic Orchestra’ (featured at this event) were partly inspired by the unique Improvisation collaborations that he experienced at these WMI shows. Adam Rudolph reboots the ‘Improvisations’ series with an impressive lineup of musicians from many different backgrounds and musical influences at SummerStage.