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.
Best Of....
"Best of..." (catalog number ART54) is a limited edition compilation LP by the legendary jazz innovator Sun Ra, released on white vinyl in 2024. This collection brings together 14 early tracks that showcase Sun Ra’s multifaceted genius as a bandleader, composer, arranger, and producer. The album is issued by Reel-To-Reel Music Company and stands out for its collectible format and carefully curated selection of tracks.
Sleeping Beauty
Strut proudly presents a new edition of one of Sun Ra's most celebrated albums, Sleeping Beauty, reissued in its original artwork for the first time. Originally released in 1979 on his independent Saturn label, Sleeping Beauty captures Sun Ra and his Arkestra at their most soulful and serene. A masterclass in cosmic jazz, the album blends lush grooves, celestial soul, and meditative funk with Ra’s singular spiritual vision — a sound both grounded and otherworldly. The album emerged during an ext…
On Jupiter
On Jupiter by Sun Ra blends deep funk, avant-garde jazz, and cosmic soundscapes, capturing the Arkestra’s 1979 creative peak. Remastered by Technology Works, this reissue features original sleeve art and new liner notes.
The Magic City
According to many enthusiasts and scholars, this album is among Sun Ra's most definitive studio recordings. The Magic City contains just four tracks, with the title- theme taking up the whole of the A side at a little over 27 minutes. Then on the B side comes The Shadow World, followed by Abstract Eye and Abstract I, which are two variants of the same composition. These pieces are essentially ensemble improvisations recorded live.
Music is a Message From Space
Yet another triumph from the legendary multi-instrumentalist, Joe McPhee, Corbett Vs. Dempsey drops "The Mystery J", their first ever full-length vinyl release, issued in a limited edition of 500 copies. Recorded in 2014 with violist Jen Clare Paulson and Brian Labycz on electronics, it writhes with bristling tension, while retaining a remarkably minimal form. Visionary experimentalism and freejazz reimagined on entirely singular terms, 'The Mystery J' encounters McPhee producing some of his bes…
My Words Are Music: A Celebration Of Sun Ra's Poetry
Sun Ra is better known to most as a musician than a poet, but he identified equally as both. My Words Are Music provides direct access to the sentiments of a poet who never called Earth home. The spoken word album hosts an inspired array of artists who personally chose their favorite Sun Ra poems to recite. Freed from the page, his poetry acquires an unexpected simplicity and poignance it possessed all along. This all-star and intergenerational lineup of artists conjure wisdom from his words: sp…
Sun Song
Sun Ra's debut album, released in 1956, catapulted Sun Ra from the Chicago jazz scene to become a darling of the underground scene. This important album featured star players such as John Gilmour!
Continuation
Recorded at the Choreographers’ Workshop in New York, 1963, Waaghals Records presents two songs from Sun Ra’s Continuation sessions on vinyl for the first time. Known for its lo-fi recording quality coupled with heavy use of echo and reverberation, the material recorded at the Choreographers’ Workshop holds a special place within the Sun Ra catalogue. This unique blend of avant-garde jazz and bold production methods is described as “low-budget musique concrete” by Sun Ra biographer John F. Szwed…
Berkeley Lecture, 1971
One for the ages here. Unearthed from the ESS archives and officially released for the first time ever, a previously unknown half-hour from cosmic mythologist and sound scientist Sun Ra's 1971 U.C. Berkeley course "The Black Man in the Cosmos." Ra's soft-spoken intensity is underscored by the sound of chalk on the board as he ambles effortlessly through his potent and prescient ideas. The class session closes with two musical tracks, a piano version of "Love In Outer Space" and a blistering Moo…
Lanquidity
Strut proudly presents a special edition, deluxe repress of Sun Ra’s classic ‘Lanquidity’, for the 25th anniversary of the label. Housed in a tip-on sleeve with OBI strip, this new special editions features an A2 poster including a rare Veryl Oakland photograph of Sun Ra in his home, as well as liner notes by Tom Buchler (Philly Jazz), Michael Ray and Danny Ray Thompson (Sun Ra Arkestra) and Bob Blank.
“Enter the sober, tranquil chambers of the next moment. Soft angles of lights into space, cho…
Strange Strings
2xLP is remastered with Bonus Tracks, liner notes by Irwin Chusid, and an expanded essay by David Toop. Packed in tip-on Stoughton gatefold jacket, and includes a printed insert card of the original cover art. Fans of Sun Ra's Space Bop and genre-bending jazz were in for a shock with Strange Strings. Even in the eclectic and sometimes baffling Sun Ra catalog, Strange Strings, first issued in 1967, is an outlier. Is it music, or just noise? Or noise as music? John Cage could not be reached for co…
Sleeping Beauty
Originally released on Saturn Records in 1979, both Sleeping Beauty and On Jupiter are studio recordings by the large Sun 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-driv…
At The Showcase Live In Chicago 1976-1977
All music previously unissued!
Transferred from the original tape reels restored by Michael D. Anderson with audio remastering by Joe Lizzi and lacquers cut by Matthew Lutthans at Cohearent Audio.
Includes extensive booklet with previously unpublished photos from the actual performances by Hal Rammel; liner notes by acclaimed author John Corbett; and testimonials from Marshall Allen, David Murray, Dave Burrell, Matthew Shipp, Thurston Moore, Amina Claudine Myers, Jack DeJohnette, Michael Weiss &…
Inside The Light World: Sun Ra Meets The OVC
Introducing a musical treasure from the enigmatic Sun Ra's expansive discography, Strut Records proudly presents "Inside The Light World: Sun Ra Meets The OVC”. This extraordinary album unveils previously unreleased recordings from the year 1986 for the very first time, showcasing a unique chapter in the Sun Ra catalogue, officially released for Record Store Day 2024.
Introducing the inaugural release of "lost" sessions from 1986, where Sun Ra encountered the OVC. These remarkable recordings wer…
Excelsior Mill Sun Ra Excelsior Mill
"The outsized sounds emerging from the Excelsior Mill organ captured here constitute a unique chapter in the Sun Ra story, a dizzying phantasmagoria that offers a whole new view on what Ra could do - It might thrill you; it might unnerve you; it might strum your heartstrings; it might spook the living daylights out of you. Most likely you'll experience all of the above before the jolting musical jeremiad is done. Pressed on violet vinyl! When you're Sun Ra, you don't need synthesizers to evoke a…
The Solar-myth Approach (Vol 1)
** White Vinyl. Comes in a deluxe matte laminate gatefold sleeve. ** The first instalment of a landmark session by one of the most unique figures in black music is a shower of sounds that have come straight from another world. Occupying a unique place in the history of black music, Sun Ra took the big band aesthetic of his role model Duke Ellington into thrilling new territory. A pianist and keyboard player with an ear for uncommon timbres, a profound interest in a wide range of non-Western cul…
Live in Roma 1980
Double CD box, perfect replica of the LP edition, with extensive booklet. The venerable Holidays, having already had an incredible 2023, returns with their final offering of the year and what might just be their most ambitions release to date, Sun Ra’s “Live in Rome 1980”, an astounding 3xLP vinyl box set that captures the Arkestra immersed in one of their greatest live gigs laid to tape. A perfect snapshot of why this band was so incredible, moving from furious free jazz fire into joyous June T…
Sun Ra And His Arkestra - Featuring Pharoah Sanders And Bla
Green-Vinyl reissue. "To understand the significance of the word 'featuring' on Featuring Pharoah Sanders And Black Harold, consider how infrequently Sun Ra used it and the exact way it had been used. The October Revolution in Jazz, organized by Bill Dixon in the West Village in 1964, presented a vivid cross section of approaches to the new music, including a sextet led by Ra. For the October Revolution's continuation, titled Four Days in December, held at nearby Judson Hall on the last days of …
Janus
*2023 rstock* Janus is a compilation of rare material from Sun Ra and his Arkestra, drawing from tapes recorded between 1963 and 1970, taken from both live and studio performances. The space-age jazz shaman conjures up a variety of styles and moods along the way. The album has been remastered, and pressed on audiophile-grade vinyl at Pallas in Germany.