Sun Ra

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 cultures as well as the scope of electronics and homemade instruments, Ra led his Solar-Myth Arkestra featuring fine players such as saxophonists John Gilmore, Danny Davis and Marshall Allen, as well as the charismatic singer June Tyson. Together they created a timeless body of work: ‘The Solar Myth Approach Vol.1’.

This album is a grab-bag of tracks from various undocumented US sessions in the 60s, while some possibly date to the late 50s. It puts a typically subversive slant on composition and arrangement in which texture and atmosphere, often conjuring up ancient ceremony and ritual, are as important as any model of theme and improvisation. Ra’s use of a Moog synthesizer just made his palette all the more enticingly polychromatic.

This remastered version, meticulously restored from the original tapes, provides the opportunity to enjoy the finer points of Ra’s music and reveals more layers with every listen. More than half a century after its creation, ‘The Solar Myth Approach Vol.1’ has become a never-ending story.