Sun Ra
Of all the jazz musicians, Sun Ra was probably the most controversial. He did not make it easy for people to take him seriously, for he surrounded his adventurous music with costumes and mythology that both looked backward toward ancient Egypt and forward into science fiction. But despite all of the trappings, Sun Ra was a major innovator, starting off playing advanced bop, but early on was open to the influences of other cultures, experimenting with primitive electric keyboards, and playing free long before the avant-garde got established.
Of all the jazz musicians, Sun Ra was probably the most controversial. He did not make it easy for people to take him seriously, for he surrounded his adventurous music with costumes and mythology that both looked backward toward ancient Egypt and forward into science fiction. But despite all of the trappings, Sun Ra was a major innovator, starting off playing advanced bop, but early on was open to the influences of other cultures, experimenting with primitive electric keyboards, and playing free long before the avant-garde got established.
Live At Slug\'s Saloon 1972
6CD set. Sun Ra & the Arkestra played every Monday night at Slug's Saloon in the Lower East Side of NYC for over 5 years, from 1966-1972. This is the 1st released documentation of this long residency, comprising 2 complete shows (6 hours total) recorded over the summer of 1972. High quality recordings that capture the Arkestra emerging from their psychedelic phase & moving back towards their jazz roots.
Mayan Temples
One of the finest Sun Ra recordings from his final years, this effort is particularly recommended due to the many Ra keyboard solos and John Gilmore features, the latter of which include a tenor showcase on "Opus In Springtime." Trumpeters Michael Ray and Ahmed Abdullah, altoist Marshall Allen and singer June Tyson also have their spots, and the repertoire consists of ten Ra originals (including a remake of "El Is the Sound of Joy") and three standard ballads. Overall, this is a fine all-around …
Nidhamu+ Dark Myth Equation Visitation
This is an overlooked gem drawn from the 1971 Balloon Theater (Cairo) show, with the title track recorded at the home of the esteemed Mr. Hartmut Geerken. The Balloon Theater material is, in contrast to many of the more raucous live albums of this period, deep, dark, and intimate-sounding...even meditative. Discipline 11 and Discipline 15 both feature slow, haunting ensemble horns and reeds playing those wild intervals that saxophonist John Gilmore always cited as a reason he made the Arkestra h…
On Jupiter
Originally issued as El Saturn 101679, recorded on 10/16/79, never reissued before in any form (before Artyard's prior LP edition in 2005). "On Jupiter uses more than the usual amount of post recording processing and mixing, nudging up to the jazz-rock/disco music of its time, but not getting too close. These are still eccentric, expanded, lurching musical beasts. And it's nice to hear the oboe and bassoon -- so often lost on the live concert mixes -- so prominent here. The playing is great, as …
Sleeping Beauty
Originally released on Saturn Records in 1979, both Sleeping Beauty and On Jupiter are studio recordings by the large Ra ensemble (including electric guitar and electric bass) and, for the most part, feature the first recordings of the titles included on them (though most were played live a few months earlier). These two releases belong together, since they were recorded and released in close proximity and are both long, groove-based, pieces that range from proto-disco to relaxed groove-driven p…
The Ark and the Ankh
In the culturally turbulent mid-1960s, the visionary, otherworldly musical being we have all come to know as Sun Ra formed a brief but tight bond with the late storyteller, activist and poet Henry Dumas. The Ark and the Ankh is a vintage 1966 document of dialogues and meditations between the poet and the musician set to the fervent musical experiments of the Arkestra recorded live at the legendary downtown New York club and haven for the insurgent black music scene, Slug's Saloon. The Ark and th…
It Is Forbidden
This is the third and last entry in the Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival, The Sun Ra Trilogy, produced by John Sinclair in agreement with the late Alton Abraham. This time the year is 1974 and the program of the evening includes some of the Arkestra'a greatest hits plus one number never recorded before, It Is Forbidden. This performance has never been released. 2001 release.
Janus
This compilation of rare material from the Sun Ra Arkestra draws from tapes recorded between 1963 and 1970, and the space-age jazz shaman conjures up a variety of styles and moods along the way. A balmy tropical vibe greets the ears with the opener ("Island in the Sun"), but it doesn't take long for Ra to set his controls for the stratosphere, and soon, distorted gongs, haunted house organ, and homemade instruments are exploring African mysticism on the title track. "Velvet" is a more traditiona…
In Egypt
The real gems of this prized reissue from Leo Records's Golden Years vault imprint are two previously unreleased tracks. The first features Sun Ra and his Arkestra on an 18-minute "Watusa" from 1984, and the second features a 13-minute piece by Saleh Ragab's Cairo Free Jazz Ensemble, "Music for Angela Davis," from 1971. It's no surprise Sun Ra loved going to Egypt, what with all the astro-mythology he used in the Arkestra. This love shows brightly on "Egypt Strut" and "Dawn," two Ragab tunes pla…
A Night In East Berlin / My Brothers The Wind and Sun N.9
2 separate performances from 1986 & 1990 show Sun Ra & friends in trademark improvisational spaciness, playing tracks like "The Shadow World," "Space Is The Place/We Travel The Spaceways" & "Interstellar Low Ways". Recorded in 1986 and 1990.
Second Star To The Right (Tribute To Walt Disney)
Sun Ra presents a fun-filled & strange live album that pays tribute to Walt Disney with a few songs from his movies, inc. "Zip A Dee Doo Dah," "High Ho, High Ho" & "Whistle While You Work" Recorded in Austria in 1989.
Love In Outer Space
The cosmic musical scientist presents a 7 track live performance made in 1983 in Utrecht, inc. the cuts "Love In Outer Space/Space Is The Place," "Round Midnight" & "Along Came Ra". Recorded live in Utrecht, The Netherlands in 1983.
Media Dreams
This is the companion to Disco 3000, made on the same classic Italian quartet tour with John Gilmore, Michael Ray (trumpet) and the minimal but perfect Luqman Ali (drums). Ra himself plays piano and electronic keyboards, including the mysterious Crumar Mainman, which Ra describes as 'like a piano, organ, clavichord, cello, violin and brass instruments' and which also, importantly, has a facility for pre-programmed bass lines and electronic percussion, which Ra uses constantly and to great effect…
Live at the Electric Circus (NYC 1968) and Newport Jazz Festival
Chronologically beginning the label's in-depth survey of the lesser-known psychedelic era of Sun Ra (1968-1971), these discs were painstakingly mastered from first and second generation passes of Michael Wilderman's original recordings and sound better than any collector has ever heard them previously. The Electric Circus show features an unknown female singer who was with the group prior to June Tyson. The Arkestra on stage at Newport cover photo is published in high resolution for the first ti…
Live in Detroit
RESTOCKED, last copies around: an amazing collection of music -- the complete performances of the Sun Ra Arkestra during a one week stay at the Detroit Jazz Center in the early 80s! The massive 28 CD set offers a wonderful chance to see this creative ensemble in action -- as each night of the performances offers up something different -- a change in mood, a shift in style, and a wide array of songs that never fails to amaze us! These guys were hardly content to just run over the same music night…
new horizons
Chicago pianist Sun Ra emerged as a leader on the jazz scene early in 1956, when he assembled a group of neo-boppers that contributed to the original and exciting jazz sound offered by his new Sun Ra Arkestra, a medium-sized group that swung like a giant locomotive, an effect primarily due to an interesting use of two basses playing simultaneously.They featured the power of big band ensemble along with the excitement of combo blowing by fine soloists, among them the driving tenor John Gilmore, …
Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy / Art Forms Of Dimensions Tomorr
Much of what was unique about the original Pink Floyd's sound - the use of echo and piercing organ for musical effect - is present here, Floyd fans take note. Wonder if Syd Barrett had been exposed to Sun Ra's music. "Cosmic Tones" sounds like a 20th Century space-inflected chamber music quite unlike jazz, though it contains elements of it. The music attempts to paint pictures in an abstract fashion unencumbered by notions of traditional musical form. Instruments enter, contribute to the picture…
Space Is the Place: The Lives and Times of Sun Ra
The book explains who Sun Ra was and what he was doing. This is no mean feat. Sun Ra was a man of many interests and beliefs, of whom many misconceptions exist. Even most of his fans will probably learn much and gain tremendous perspective on him from this book. The book's story is one of a man with artistic genius within him, who probably could have been a millionaire and musical "star" - who chose to do other things instead. Here is the unusual story of what he did and why he did it. There is …
Concert for the Comet Kohoutek
Recorded on December 22, 1973 in New York City at the famous Town Hall, this eclectic ESPDisk-sponsored celebration of the Comet Kohoutek featured a fire eater, talking drums, and dancers in platform shoes, in addition to Sun Ra's Arkestra. After taking the stage ninety minutes late, the band expertly navigates its way through cosmic free playing, big-band romps, and didactic vocal numbers. Compared to the original pressing, this re-issue is digitally remastered by Joe Phillips and includes brie…
Nothing Is...
Recorded during the 1966 tour of New York State colleges by celebrated classical engineer David Jones, this version of Nothing Is... contains over 20 minutes of newly-discovered material from the same date as the original album. Live set recorded during what many consider to be Sun Ra's most interesting period.