Chi
Dave Liebman, Adam Rudolph, Hamid Drake
Dave Liebman
Adam Rudolph
Hamid Drake
Liner Notes
氣
Chi is what the Taoists describe as vital energy: the formless subtle generative breath of life which permeates all existence. Everything that exists in the universe is a manifestation of chi in grosser or finer states. Chi animates all the frequencies of vibration, from a stone to a thought, from subatomic activity to the spiral of galaxies. It is our very own breath, blood and electricity. As a principle of Tao, chi can manifest in any creative activity.We can consider music as a kind of Tai Chi in that it gives form to formless Tao, the undifferentiated all. Spoken language, by its nature, communicates in terms of dualisms and differentiation. Music, however, is a kind of human language which, by using the finer vibrations of sound alchemy, can transmit non-dualistic ideas, emotions, and mystical insights. Through music the endless cyclic flow of becoming and dissolving is expressed as a dance between silence and sound. Sound colors the silence, while silence gives form to sound.In performance, an electrical spark of thought animates the musicians chi. Breath and fingers serve the idea which in turn, expresses itself as creative action. When the chi manifests in the audible sphere of vibration it is experienced as waves in an ebb and flow of dialogic call and response between the performers. The environment becomes animated, transformed and transcendent, and through the individualized experience of each person present at that moment the music takes on its collective meaning.Ancient traditions worldwide value music for healing the ailing body, expanding the mind and tuning the spirit. In Chinese medicine good health means the free flow and circulation of chi within the body. With the right sound vibrations musicians can unblock stagnant chi and help us to become more in tune, more in rhythm and more in harmony. This is a high aspiration and motivation for the sound artist.
Adam Rudolph
Review
NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD
Dave Liebman loves working with drummers, as listeners to his 1974 Drum Ode (with no less than six of them) can attest. “The drum has always been a focal point of my playing career,” he says. “The more the better.” Hamid Drake and Adam Rudolph are drummers, though Rudolph also adds piano, vocals and the three- stringed Gnawa lute known as the sintir. Liebman’s soprano and tenor are augmented by his piano work (on “Formless Form”) and wooden recorder. Liebman and Rudolph played together during the latter’s residency at The Stone in 2016 and they recorded a 2018 album, The Unknowable, with Japanese percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani (also on RareNoise).
Chi is in that same spirit. Liebman, Rudolph and Drake are listening closely to one another and responding in ways that take the music in new directions. That means a lot of dynamic shifts. Sometimes it doesn’t really catch fire, as on the aptly named “Formless Form”, but mostly it does. Rudolph calls Liebman a “rhythmist”, meaning he has an evolved sense of phrasing and timing picked up, in part, playing with masters of these arts—Miles Davis and Elvin Jones. He also knows when to lay out, as he does on parts of “Continuum”. When he comes back with a piercing soprano scream (something like a New York City radiator in February), it’s exhilarating. “Emergence”, the longest piece (14:56), is the standout. Liebman enters on soprano with a skittering feel after a long hand percussion section and casts an ascending snake-charmer’s spell as the drummers egg him on. The sitar-like drone in the latter section is effective, reminiscent of Miles Davis circa Live Evil. But it’s not just Liebman’s album. Another highlight is Rudolph’s sintir and vocal on closer “Whirl”, closely shadowed by Drake. Hypnotic and propulsive, it would have been great without Liebman, but it’s even better with him.
