The meeting of two rhythm masters of different generations produces expectedly interesting results. Active since the 1970s percussionist Adam Rudolph made vital contributions to the music of Yusef Lateef and Don Cherry among others, whereas drummer Tyshawn Sorey has distinguished himself through work with Vijay Iyer and Steve Lehman since the late 2000s.

Both Rudolph and Sorey are composer-bandleaders in their own right and a real sense of authority and maturity marks their collaboration. Certainly, on both albums of the two-volume set there are moments of precisely measured restraint and focus where the duo allows a single sound, be it the hissing of a shaker, popping of a temple block or chattering of a snare drum, to vividly take the spotlight rather than be a passing shadow.

But that invariably triggers a polyrhythmic build-up that is often resonantly African in character, especially when Rudolph patters a thumb piano against Sorey’s pneumatic roll of toms, whose felt-like baritone contrasts beautifully with the former’s metallic soprano. The expansion of the duo to a quintet on Archaisms 11 is an exciting development insofar as the presence of three other percussionists fleshes out the vocabulary, though Sorey’s enticingly staggered piano and Rudolph’s crystalline electronics bring a high degree of finesse to the constantly shifting canvas.

There are faint echoes of Max Roach’s pioneering M’Boom, and the important idea of making drum-based music an orchestral phenomenon is implemented with all the requisite ability and bravado.