He played and taught across Europe in the 1970s and 1980s and then returned to North America to create music that combines free jazz, martial arts, and Buddhism.

He has recorded over twenty-five albums as a leader and has worked with Dave Liebman, John Handy, Billy Bang, Dr. L. Subramaniam, and Mal Waldron in a career spanning over four decades.

[7] The Message, was released in August 2014[8] and is a recording of his live January 2014 radio performance on Evenin' Jazz with the Real Tracy Fields at WLRN Miami.

[10] Before this, his quartet featuring John McMinn, Noah Brandmark and Kyle Motl released their second recording, Reach for the Skies a runner-up for Album of Year in 2013.

Rader started playing traditional jazz gigs in the early 1960s, typically piano/bass/drum or saxophone/organ/drum trios, which exposed him to a variety of musicians that subtly influenced his style.

"[15] Rader recalls that hearing John Coltrane's quartet with Elvin Jones at the Half Note Club was a moment that changed his musical expression to improvisation and searching for the union between mind, spirit, and body.

He started playing in the mid-70s loft jazz movement, which led him to create his first album as a band leader, a recording entitled The Thing.

He decided that to continue to play his free style of music, moving to Europe would provide opportunities not available in the U.S. With nothing but a drum set and $500, he traveled to London and later published The Thing for Atmosphere Records while in Paris.

His desire to continue playing free jazz brought Rader to drumming with George Bishop in improvised duet performances.

In this group, Rader replaced recently deceased Dennis Charles; other band members included Frank Lowe on saxophone and bass player Ed Schuller.

He spent much of his time touring the East Coast of the U.S, including Charleston, South Carolina, Atlanta, Georgia, and the Zeitgeist Art Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.

[15][24] Rader has recorded and performed with Laurindo Almeida, Billy Bang, George Bishop, Marion Brown, Cameron Brown, Sigi Busch, Marty Cook, Roy Cumming, Herman Foster, Joe Gallivan, Philip Gelb, Rainer Glas, Mack Goldsbury, Gunter Hampel, John Handy, Luc Houtkamp, Leonard Jones, Kidd Jordan, Peter Kuhn, Jeanne Lee, Bob Lenox, Marc Levin, David Liebman, Frank Lowe, Keshavan Maslak, Ron McClure, Kim Mikkelson, Peck Morrison, Peter Ponzol, Ed Schuller, Ken Simon, Dr. L. Subramaniam, Mal Waldron, David Wertman, Joerg Widmoser, Leszek Zadlo, and Joe Zeytoonian.

Through his Buddhist studies under Sheng-yen, Rader received Dharma name Guo Hsing, meaning "fruit of good fortune".

"[15] In New York City's East Village in 1964, Rader started studying Nisei Goju Ryu, an Okinawan form of Karate at the University of the Streets.

By the early 1970s, Rader achieved a black-belt level and started studying under Rick "The Fireman" Joslin, a frequent performer at The World of Martial Arts show put on by Aaron Banks.