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Sun Ra

Prophet (LP)

Label: Modern Harmonic

Format: LP

Genre: Jazz

In stock

€27.90
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Featuring what may be his only recordings on the Prophet keyboard, these once lost performances expand the omniverse of Ra across a stellar set of lengthy cuts! All recorded in a single day and finally making their terrestrial debut!  What happens when a Prophet meets a Prophet? The answer lies within these grooves. 

Amongst the hundreds of recordings issued by Sun Ra and his Arkestra, under their various guises, the majority were recorded in concert or in makeshift studios such as their early 1960s set-up at NYC's Choreographer's Workshop. Beyond those, roughly 22 albums were recorded at Variety Recording Studio in New York's Times Square. However, on August 25, 1986, Sun Ra and cohorts entered Mission Control, a state-of-the-art 24-track studio north of Boston, which was teeming with electronic keyboards and otherworldly sound generators. Nestled within that arsenal was a brand-new digital ultra keyboard — the Prophet VS ("Vector Synthesizer").

Of all the keyboards Ra played throughout his half-century career, the Prophet was one of the most sophisticated. There's no evidence that he had played either of the instrument's earlier incarnations, the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 and Prophet-10. Created using microprocessors, a then-new technological advance, under the auspices of engineer Dave Smith in 1978, the Prophet-5 revolutionized electronic music as the first polyphonic and, most importantly, programmable synthesizer.

Ra was intrigued by the Prophet (surely by the instrument as well as by the name). Recorded during a single day, it's about time that these once lost performances have now been found.

It was a joy and a thrill to be sitting at the console hearing this music for the first time, especially with my fingers on the faders and knobs of the mixing desk. We watched the oxide fly off the 2" tapes during playback, making this our one chance to digitize before they metamorphosed into dust. Welcome to the new Sun Ra album….35+ years after it was recorded. The Omniverse has expanded once again.  — Brother Cleve (1955 - 2022)
 

Details
Cat. number: MH-8268
Year: 2022
Notes:
Includes Prophet brochure. All titles composed by Sun Ra © Enterplanetary Koncepts Original sessions produced by Sun Ra and Bill Sebastian Session recording engineers: Kent Wagner, Jimi Randolph, and Sidney Burton Recorded at Mission Control Studios, Westford, Massachusetts, August 25, 1986 Original master tapes transferred by Joe Pires and David Minehan at Woolly Mammoth Studios, Waltham, Massachusetts, May 17, 2016 Mixed by Sean Slade and Brother Cleve at Woolly Mammoth Studios Engineer: David Minehan Mastered by: Joe Lizzi Executive Producer: Irwin Chusid Release Producer: Jay Millar Special thanks to Thomas Jenkins, Jr. In memory of Dave Smith, thank you for making this all possible. In loving tribute to our friend Brother Cleve. ℗ 2022 Modern Harmonic • Nashville • mondernharmonic.com • Manufactured under license from Sun Ra, LLC. The side lengths and insert track descriptions indicate that the track listing on the cover and labels are wrong. The track order of the record is: A1 The Prophet 16:29 A2 The Prophet At Play 6:35 B1 Infinity Excursion 2:04 B3 The Prophet Returns 12:06