Rufus Cappadocia

Why you should listen

Rufus Cappadocia uses his cello to play the music he hears around the world, filtered through the music in his head. A dedicated musicologist, he has played and studied deeply in many genres, from Haitian voodoo music to Indian ghazal, from Celtic to Balkan. The rich, jazz-inflected sound he pulls from his instrument (which he started playing at age 3) is a passionate through-line in all his work.

Cappadocia writes, records, and plays live, both solo and in several groups -- including Bethany & Rufus (Bethany is Bethany Yarrow, the daughter of Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary) and the Vodou Jazz Ensemble.

What others say

“I've studied a lot of different musical vocabularies. And I've played with musicians literally from around the world. But, in the end, music all comes down to a single source. You can be pulled this way or that, but essentially it all converges on the same location. Every doorway leads back to one place. I guess you could say my whole life has been an attempt at getting to that place.” — Rufus Cappadocia