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.
Rocket Number Nine
Among Sun Ra's most famous and jet-propelled anthems, "Rocket Number Nine" is heard here in one of the earliest renditions from a marathon June 1960 session, with a staggering, swaggering, hip-bop beat. Ignition. Liftoff. "Rocket Number Nine Take Off for the Planet Venus, Zoom Zoom! Up in the air! Zoom! Up!" Paired with originally unknown recordings, including the driving, bossa nova-infused "Ankhnation" from 1959 and "Project Black Mass" from 1962. More energized and driving in contrast …
Blue York
Jeanne Dielman present Blue York, a collection featuring unreleased tracks from Sun Ra's Arkestra from 1963. Herman Poole Blount, better known to the world as Sun Ra, lived more musical lives in his 79 years on this planet (and others) than seems possible. In the '30s he was the most rigorous bandleader in Birmingham, heading the Sonny Blount Orchestraand filling every waking moment with music or philosophical discussions, by the '40s he had moved to Chicago and performed with luminaries such as…
To Those Of Earth And Other Worlds
2015 release. Strut follow up their hugely successful Marshall Allen - curated ‘In The Orbit Of Ra’ compilation with a newly curated set from the immense 125 LP back catalogue of jazz maverick, DIY philosopher and self-professed member of an “angel race”, Sun Ra. ‘To Those Of Earth… And Other Worlds’ is a hand-picked selection from BBC 6Music / Worldwide DJ Gilles Peterson, long-time champion of Ra’s music and the UK’s leading tastemaker for jazz-based sounds. It serves as perhaps the best intro…
In The Orbit Of Ra
2014 release. Sun Ra is one of the most respected, and perhaps most misunderstood creative minds in jazz music. To commemorate what would have been Ra’s 100th birthday, we’ve teamed up with Art Yard for a very special release. In The Orbit Of Ra is a new collection presented by the longest serving member of the Arkestra and current bandleader, Marshall Allen. Bringing together Sun Ra highights from over 25 years of music, the album is the first internationally released compilation to provide an …
The Intergalactic Thing
Killer a collection of rehearsals taped in the fall of 1969 at Ra's home studio in Philadelphia. The studio was also his home and the home of most of his Arkestra, here called the Astro- Ihnfinity Arkestra. The music here is meditative, soul nurturing medicine. Just about every musician from the Arkestra, even the renowned saxophonists John Gilmore and Marshall Allen, doubles on percussion. One might think, with a discography as extensive as the one Sun Ra boasts, that the scope of his work ha…
The Saturn Singles Vol.2: 1954 - 1958
Herman Poole Blount, better known to the world as Sun Ra, lived more musical lives in his 79 years on this planet (and others) than seems possible. In the '30s he was the most rigorous bandleader in Birmingham, heading the Sonny Blount Orchestra and filling every waking moment with music or philosophical discussions; by the '40s he had moved to Chicago and performed with luminaries such as Wynonie Harris, Fletcher Henderson, and Coleman Hawkins. By the '50s he had changed his name to Sun Ra…
In Some Far Place: Roma '77
1977 was a transitional time for jazz enigma and self-proclaimed member of an “angel race“, Sun Ra. During the Summer of 1976, he had stormed Montreux and toured West Africa with one of the greatest of his full-sized Arkestras before embarking on occasional solo concerts for the first time, emphasising his prowess at the piano. Although he had always played the blues within Arkestra sets, he now summoned up the rolling tradition of blues piano, recalling Otis Spann, Avery Parrish, stride and ric…
The Saturn Single Vol.1: 1954 - 1958
Herman Poole Blount, better known to the world as Sun Ra, lived more musical lives in his 79 years on this planet (and others) than seems possible. In the 30s he was the most rigorous bandleader in Birmingham, heading the Sonny Blount Orchestra and filling every waking moment with music or philosophical discussions, by the 40s he had moved to Chicago and performed with luminaries such as Wynonie Harris, Fletcher Henderson, and Coleman Hawkins. By the 50s he had changed his name to Sun Ra …
Friendly Love
A vibrant Sun Ra recording session held in NYC at Variety Studio in 1973, ltd/numbered 1/79, with paste-on cover (front & back with notes) "meager, raw and totally oblique Arkestra rec. available here for the 1st time. very difficult record to do, came out amazing" punzmann
Artyard In A Box
2019 Restock, reduced price. Those looking for a comprehensive overview of Sun Ra’s celestial magic could do far worse than acquire a copy of ‘Artyard in a Box’, a collection of nine classic long players from the Sun Ra archive set across seven CDs. ‘Disco 3000’, ‘Sleeping Beauty’, ‘On Jupiter’, ‘Beyond the Purple Star Zone’, ‘Oblique Parallax’, ‘Horizon’, ‘Nidhamu’, ‘Dark Myth Equation Visitation’ and ‘The Antique Blacks’ all appear, spanning the more soulful and spiritual manifestations of his…
Planets Of Life Or Death: Amiens '73
In celebration of Record Store Day 2015, Strut and Art Yard join forces once more for the first release anywhere of a live Sun Ra performance from Amiens, France in 1973, Planets Of Life Or Death. Recorded direct from the soundboard and mastered from first generation reel to reel, the title is exclusively available for Record Store Day 2015.Sun Ra and his Arkestra had just completed a residency at the legendary Gibus in Paris in October before traveling to Amiens for a visceral Sunday afternoo…
Strange celestial road
2015 repress. Exact repro reissue on 180 gram vinyl. "The music on the record gives a strong indication of the willingness to experiment, the desire to take changes. You will hear young voices new to the test alongside the experience magnificence of Sun Ra and John Gillmore, the unsung tenor giant who has earned the praises of John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, and if that isn't peer group recognition of the highest sort, I don't know what is. There's plenty of safe records all around you. But if …
College Tour Vol.1: The Complete Nothing Is...
In 1966 Bernard Stollman sent Sun Ra and his Arkestra, along with audio engineer David B. Jones on a tour of five New York Colleges. When they returned, just 39 minutes of music was chosen to be released as the original ESP 1045 "Nothing Is...". 44 years later, after extensive research, producer and Sun Ra archivist Michael D. Anderson has pieced together the missing parts of the infamous New York College Tour. Recorded on May 18th 1966 at St. Lawrence University in Potsdam, NY, this illuminatin…
Sun Ra Featuring Pharoah Sanders and Black Harold
In 1964, Sun Ra asked the young tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders to join him, while Arkestra mainstay John Gilmore was busy working with Paul Bley, Andrew Hill and Art Blakey. Before the recording's original release in 1976, Sun Ra stated: 'It should be very interesting to the world to show what the pre-Coltrane Pharoah Sanders was like.' Also appearing on Featuring Pharoah Sanders & Black Harold is the little-heard flautist, Black Harold(Harold Murray), who takes the lead on the track “The Voi…
The Heliocentric Worlds Vol.3
Heliocentric Worlds Volume 3 is the continuation of the Heliocentric Worlds Volume 2 session, recorded the same day and with the same personnel, that has been lost for nearly 40 years. Recently, the tapes were discovered, digitally remastered, and are now available for the first time. Totally-unreleased studio material -- continuation of the session hailed as a "...masterpiece of free jazz."Sun Ra (piano, tuned bongos, clavioline); Marshall Allen (alto sax, pic, flute); Pat Patrick (bar sax);Wal…
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…
The Complete Remastered Recordings on Black Saint & Soul Note
Cam Jazz reissue the complete Black Saint and Soul Note works of Sun Ra in hisexemplary series of boxed sets dedicated to the catalogues of the legendary Italian labels. This set contains four albums in slipcases with original album artwork, housed in a sturdy box.Reflections in Blue“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…
Sign of the Myth
"In 1972, Sun Ra inked a high-profile deal with ABC / Impulse, bringing his recorded work to the widest audience he’d had to date. A slew of Saturn back catalog titles and two newly-recorded albums (Astro Black, Pathways To Unknown Worlds) were issued before ABC cancelled the contract, dumped the records into the cut-out bins, and left the unreleased albums to languish. Now, over four decades later, Roaratorio is proud to offer one of the lost Impulse recordings for the first time. Sign…
Crystal Spears
Recorder at Variety Studios, NYC, 1973 - ltd/numbered 1/75 with paste-on cover (notes on back) and regular white inner sleeve "it was originally to be released on Impulse but that never happened, so this is the 1st time on vinyl. crystal wax and paste-on cover with Ra holding a kind of crystal spearse!"
Music From Tomorrow's World
Music From Tomorrow's World is a fascinating document and a boon to Sun Ra collectors. It gathers previously unheard tapes from two sources: one from the Wonder Inn club and one from Majestic Hall, probably a rehearsal. Both were recorded in 1960, toward the end of the Arkestra's Chicago period. The Wonder Inn tape is especially revealing, as it presents the Arkestra in front of a crowd. And although Saturn album releases from the period feature Ra compositions almost exclusively, this set shows…