at a glance...

Hometown: Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and Saturn
Year Formed: 1953

Members:
Sun Ra -organ, mini-moog synthesizer, vocals
Akh Al Ebah -trumpet, flugelhorn
Kwame Hadi -trumpet
Marshall Allen, Danny Davis -flute, alto sax
Larry Northington -alto sax, percussion
John Gilmore -tenor sax, percussion
Pat Patrick -baritone sax
Danny Thompson -baritone sax, flute
Eloe Omoe -bass clarinet
Lex Humphries, Alzo Wright-drums
Atakatune, Russell Branch, Robert Underwood, Harry Richards -percussion, congas
une Tyson, Judith Holton, Cheryl Banks, Ruth Wright -vocals

Notes:
Herman "Sonny" Blount touched down on this earth in 1914. He grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, and moved to Chicago after college. There he developed his skills as an arranger and pianist in nightclubs, and pursued a rigorous self- directed study of mysticism. In the mid '50s he changed his name to Le Sony'r Ra, proclaimed that he came from Saturn, and brought his diverse interests together by forming the Arkestra, a communal big band. The ensemble subsequently based itself in New York and Philadelphia, and toured the world. Ra's music employed the known (swing, bebop, exotica) and unknown (primitive electronics, collective improvisation) to impart visions of different and better worlds. Ra left this world in 1993, but the Arkestra endures to this day.

No single album can contain the breadth of Sun Ra's cosmic vision, but this one functions somewhat like a greatest "hits" collection. It captures Sun Ra and his Solar Myth Arkestra live in 1972 at the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival. The band took the opportunity presented by the presence a large, virgin audience to play truncated, high-energy versions of some of the more accessible pieces from their repertoire.

They went heavy on the space chants, pieces like "Space Is The Place, "What Planet Is This?" and "Life Is Splendid" which were full of the preacherly call-and-response that articulated Ra's space-age philosophy. He authenticated his celestial visions with wild, exhilarating synthesizer solos and gate-crashing organ excursions while the Arkestra blew multi-hued horn riffs and pounded out headlong drum interludes.

You shouldn't look too long at the Sun, but feel free to listen all day, and take this CD as a great place to start.

If you like Sun Ra, check out:
Sun Ra The Singles
Art Ensemble Of Chicago Bap-Tizum
Alan Shorter Orgasm

-- Bill Meyer

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