Sun Ra in Chronological Order: An Arkestra Listening Thread + Related Solar Sounds

greetings, earthlings!

we begin our adventure with sonny's "first commercial recordings" (zwed, p. 51) -- four sides as pianist for wynonie harris, recorded in nashville, 1946.

http://campber.people.clemson.edu/bullet251arc.jpg
listen on youtube

i've found that this article is a supremely helpful resource for the early years. here's what campbell et al. have to say:

One transition in his career about which we can safely say that "cosmic forces" were not in control took place in January 1946, when Sonny, fed up with segregation and lack of musical opportunities, bought a one-way train ticket to Chicago. He was soon out on the road in a combo led by alto saxophonist Jimmie Jackson. For three or four months they played Club Zanzibar in Nashville, where they backed the touring blues singer Wynonie Harris. An unlikely setting, maybe. But Harris already had made several hit records on the West Coast, and a brand-new local label started by a radio announcer saw fit to capitalize. Label owner Jim Bulliet cut a deal with Harris's manager, Harold Oxley, and Harris and combo (with the old fashioned rhythm section of piano and drums) made four sides. One of them was Sonny's feature, Dig This Boogie. He'd obviously learned his blues lessons. In fact, he'd developed a few tricks of his own, like deliberately dropping beats and picking them up in the next line.

some other good links as we get started:

SUN RA'S DISCOGRAPHY IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
Sun Ra, the ultimate album guide
Sun Ra Arkive

for the most part, though, we'll be going by arkestra (usually LP) release date as listed on discogs

finally, PLEASE feel free to interject with whatever chronological arcana you feel might be applicable, or to point out discrepancies, or to suggest alternate takes, bootlegs, archival material of interest, etc. ultimately this thread is about listening to as much sun ra as possible, with a minimum of academic quibbling, but i don't see any problem with the more astute among you opening doorways to ever-deeper directions of listening, even if this thread probably can't incorporate the entirety of the sun ra omniverse.

next up: the singles

bookmarked

whoops that's SZWED, as in john f. szwed, as in the author of "space is the place: the lives and times of sun ra"

thank you budo jeru for starting this up! thanks for the extra links and article excerpt in the first post, as well. i know it's more work but i loooove those extra post elements. it feels like turning the page in a magazine and finding an especially good scratch n sniff perfume ad.

i'm excited to learn a lot more about sun ra. i only know a few of what i think are his better known albums (heliocentric worlds, space is the place, jazz by / sun song, the futuristic sounds of), along with other snippets of his albums that will pop up on playlists and mixes. it's all good. even in my limited listening his versatility has become so apparent. anyway, i feel like i'm ready for a deep dive.

btw i started a spotify playlist here.

WARNING: i was just using the discogs release date as my guide, so it starts with supersonic jazz and goes forward from there. but i already added in the first song posted above, and i'll fill in the others as they get posted to keep it up to date.

I saw Karl Malone's post this morning and cued up what of his linked discogs list is on spotify. Stunned to find about 80% of it! I'm now five albums in (When The Sun Comes Out) and am loving every minute. Sun Ra has for me been an artist who I never thought I'd have to the resolve to approach systematically so I'm thankful for this thread.

Thanks bodo and Karl!

i haven't started a new year off so right in a very long time. 2018 is going to be different. it's an even number!

Looking forward to this - great thread

it's an even number!
my people

:D

thanks for the spotify playlist, KM!

btw 2018 is the year of the DOG [from OE, docga] >>> D O C G A

or, AD COG (ad cogitationem, "toward reflection")

https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/dog+in+stars+small-290x300.jpg

i dig that boogie! this is a cool thread idea ... not sure if I'll be able to do the whole thing, but will definitely be checking in.

budo jeru i don't envy the task of having to decide what is "chronological". there are all these side recordings, home and rehearsal recordings, things that were recorded early but released much later. whichever way you go, i'll try to make the playlist match up where possible!

yeah i don't plan on sweating it too much. close enough will be fine and, like i said initially, anyone is welcome to jump in with corrections / objections.

in terms of your playlist, i'll say right off the bat that sun ra plays on all of the four last songs on that wynonie harris comp, so you might add the other three after "dig this boogie"

got it! i wasn't sure if you were going to go song by song or not. release by release makes sense because holy shit there's a lot.

stoked for this thread and ready to get schooled!

i think my favorite moment from this first recording session is the piano accompaniment during the trumpet solo on "my baby's barrelhouse blues" and then into the last vocal stanza or whatever.

also the lyrics !!! geez

i'm gonna snatch me a picket off o' somebody's barbwire fence,
i'm gonna beat you 'side your head until you learn some sense

when i first heard this early ra arrangement i said: that's so ra! but he didn't play on it so it doesn't really count here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9qavDaeXRM

yeah that's a killer side.

also cf. szwed:

... he began rehearsing the band for Saunders and playing in the relief band that filled in when Saunders was off. Every week Saunders handed him new arrangements for the floor show, but during rehearsals Sonny began to make small changes -- a note here and there, an alternation in a chord -- but as time went on the changes became increasingly dramatic. During rehearsal one day Saunders walked in, looked over an arrangement, and shook his head when he saw the crossed-out notes and inserted harmonies: "I give you these nice, clean arrangements each week, and look what you do with them! ... But, damn, they sure sound good, though." Sonny was now rewriting arrangements used to accompany singers like B.B. King, Laverne Baker, Dakota Staton, Joe Williams, Johnny Guitar Watson, Sarah Vaughan, and Lorenz Alexandria.

and then, on the instrumental side, there's his amazing arrangement of 'summertime' (also for red saunders)

Lorez Alexandria***

OK I'm already confused, I'll have to try and damp down my OCD in this thread

Jazz By Sun Ra/Sun Song has ten songs, but only five are in the playlist? Maybe this is a Spotify availability thing idk

Technically (at least acc. to Szwed) the tracks "Super Blonde", "Soft Talk", "Springtime In Chicago" and "Medicine For A Nightmare" were recorded in "early 1956", as opposed to the Sun Song sessions from July, so those four tracks should come before the Sun Song/Jazz By Sun Ra tracks as opposed to the rest of the Supersonic Jazz tracks

really enjoying the early records, thanks for this thread

also keep in mind that lots of the remasters are now on Bandcamp

man it all goes weird when you get to "India", huh? jazz heads back then must have not known what hit 'em

I can def. hear the exotica influence on this track, Martin Denny percussion vibes

Jazz By Sun Ra/Sun Song has ten songs, but only five are in the playlist? Maybe this is a Spotify availability thing idk

nah, i just fucked up. fixed!

i'm really getting ahead of myself anyway - i was just planning on adding to the playlist as this thread progresses, but i jumped the gun yesterday and already started adding the first few albums.

Technically (at least acc. to Szwed) the tracks "Super Blonde", "Soft Talk", "Springtime In Chicago" and "Medicine For A Nightmare" were recorded in "early 1956", as opposed to the Sun Song sessions from July, so those four tracks should come before the Sun Song/Jazz By Sun Ra tracks as opposed to the rest of the Supersonic Jazz tracks

on this though, i have to make clear upfront that i probably won't be this meticulous. i don't have the szwed book so i was just planning on placing the albums/singles into the playlist in full as we cover them in this thread, according to their release date, rather than splitting them up in the playlist according to their recording date.

haha that's fine, unless you looked at everything in advance I'm sure we'd miss some (for example, we've already missed some tracks that appeared much later on "Purple Night". we can note tracks w/different/older dates when we get to those albums in order of release.

now I need to go back and listen to those other five tracks! thanks.

there's also this recent find from the archives, which is great and not on Youtube unfortunately:

https://www.discogs.com/Sun-Ra-Its-A-Good-Day/release/10452067

recorded 1955

I was just reading his wiki bio and had not realized he was buried in Birmingham. I guess I'd assumed he was buried in Philadelphia. I think I'll try to make a brief pilgrimage to his grave in 2018.

the magic city

So this thread could potentially go on forever, right?

At least it's good music and not greatest outtakes of The Eagles or some such.

i'm on board though as always spotify is out for me. are we going to cover the doo-wop stuff at all? because man i love his doo-wop stuff, and if we're getting into his mambo i want to talk about "teenager's letter of promises".

sleeve: thanks for your diligence. it's sure to be useful at almost every point (i'll do my best, too). and yeah, pointing out discrepancies as they come up between release / recording date -- that's what i had in mind. otherwise i'd just feel incapacitated. we'll sort it all out as we go.

rushomancy: we'll definitely cover the doo wop stuff. re: listening, since KM is doing spotify, i'm trying to post youtube links as we go along. there's also the (official, more or less) sun ra bandcamp: https://sunramusic.bandcamp.com/ (and that material is also available on itunes)

So this thread could potentially go on forever, right?

yeah.

hopefully!

interlude, 1948-1954

most of this information and ALL of the quoted text comes from this article, which i HIGHLY recommend for its exhaustive coverage of sun ra's chicago period through 1961: From Sonny Blount to Sun Ra: The Chicago Years

1. the "deep purple" duet with stuff smith, recorded in 1948 and first made available in 1973 on saturn 485

http://campber.people.clemson.edu/saturn485act.jpg
listen on youtube

On his very first tape machine, Sonny recorded Stuff Smith and himself playing in his tiny apartment at 5414 South Prairie Avenue. They performed a duet featuring the Solovox, a primitive electronic instrument that Sonny had picked up back in 1941, while still in Birmingham. Sonny had a thing about purple (he thought people would be healthier if they ate more purple food). He released Deep Purple nearly a quarter century later on his Saturn label, and the tune remained in his repertoire for the rest of his career. It would be featured on his very last recording session, when he accompanied Billy Bang for Soul Note in 1992.

2. solo church organ recording, 1948

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPO7oY8riXc

3. piano accompaniment for the dozier boys

http://campber.people.clemson.edu/aristocrat3002a.jpg
listen on youtube

In October 1948, Sonny became the music director of a successful medium-sized band. Bassist Gene Wright, at the tender of age of 23, was simultaneously running a big band and a 10 or 11 piece aggregration called the Dukes of Swing (two previous incarnations of the Dukes had been in operation in 1943 and 1946). For a while, the big band was upstairs in the Pershing Ballroom while the Dukes held the gig at the Beige Room (as the basement club in the Pershing Hotel was then known). During most of the engagement, the Dukes worked with a vocal-instrumental quartet called the Dozier Boys. Sonny composed or arranged the Dukes' entire book. Many of these pieces were of a strictly functional nature (floor shows again) but their theme number was a suite based on the theme from Spellbound, an ambitious work by composer Miklos Rozsa. If only we were lucky enough to have that on record....

The engagement with the Dukes did bring Sonny some recording work, first as session pianist for the Dozier Boys, then with the entire band. Both sesssions were done for the fledgling Aristocrat label. It was the Doziers who came to the company's attention first, courtesy of bassist and songwriter Willie Dixon.

4. various solo, duet, and trio recordings made at home w/ the ampex. many featuring the nu-sounds of the solovox. most of these recordings are available on the norton and transparency labels (see article linked at beginning of post for specifics). some of these recordings document SR's first compositions, performed by his proto-arkestra small combo.

In 1950 or 1951, he started a band to play his own, frankly far-out music. He called it the Space Trio: one charter member was Laurdine "Pat" Patrick (1929 - 1991), who played alto and baritone sax. The drum chair was occupied on some occasions by Tommy Hunter. On other occasions it was taken by Robert Barry, who would soon emerge as a leading bebop drummer in town.

5. arrangements and accompaniment for the red saunders orchestra, 1948-1953 (see szwed quote upthread). red saunders backed joe williams (see scott's post above), lavern baker, jo jo adams, and dorothy donegan.

http://campber.people.clemson.edu/bluelake101a.jpg

1953 was the year of the arrangements. Sunny was making no commercial recordings of his own, and probably didn't feel that his experimental ensemble was ready to make them. But he was willing now to put his stamp on arrangements written for others, to a degree not previously heard. His name did not appear on a single record label in 1953—in one case the band's didn't either—but Red Saunders was now recording his aggressively "modern" arrangements: "Voodoo Blues," "It's Raining Again," "Summertime." And the opening bars of "Call My Baby" announce, for all who care to hear, that Sun Ra has arrived.

6. six cuts with coleman hawkins, rec. 1953 and released in 1955 on savoy

https://img.discogs.com/CcbBqut9Rvf616wHhj-torO4Le4=/fit-in/592x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-7877514-1450726598-7314.jpeg.jpg

7. possible arrangement for king kolax, 1954

https://img.discogs.com/iUxyQwP098dGUe58pXDsSJLoKeQ=/fit-in/600x601/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-9243083-1477238533-6355.png.jpg
listen on youtube

There is no need for Sun Ra arrangements (or anybody's arrangements) on generic jump band-style R&B like "Right Now," "What Have You Done to Me?," or "Goodnite Blues." However, "Vivian" (presumably named after Vivian Carter of Vee-Jay) is a mysterioso Latin number with percussion breaks built right into the theme. Off the beaten path for King Kolax, but straightforward for Sun Ra at this time. Harold Ousley did not want to rule out "Vivian" as a Sun Ra arrangement either: "Kolax wrote a lot himself, but he also used a lot of other people's stuff."

OKAY! that gets us into 1954/1955, so next we'll move onto the nu sounds / cosmic rays stuff and the rest of THE SINGLES

That Red Saunders "Summertime" is Ra all over.
https://open.spotify.com/album/6olv4cjXzSpX72WATWZomA

oh man, this is a good batch of stuff! the meager musical critical sensibilities i have fall to the wayside when i hear early 1950s music. just about everything of the period sounds good to me.

i updated the playlist where i could - red saunders "summertime", "riverboat", and the red saunders orchestra's "honky tonk train blues". but spotify is missing the sun ra releases that feature a lot of his early recordings through the late 40s and early 50s - Deep Purple (or Dreams Come True) - as well as most of saunders' other recordings. and no dozier boys or king kolax, sadly.

man it all goes weird when you get to "India", huh? jazz heads back then must have not known what hit 'em

"Sun Song" gets there first imo

OK I'll give that a closer listen, thanks! I was making dinner for some of the Spotify playlist last night and I think that's one of the tracks that Karl added later

yeah, it's definitely a work in progress! and any track in the playlist beyond what budo jeru has posted here is very, very provisional.

those Red Saunders tracks are so good

wow, that version of "deep purple" with stuff smith from 1948 is so good. it has a lovely, meandering melancholy sound. stuff smith is good!

This is a great thread, I'll be here for the ride.

(also ty for spotify playlist km!)

no prob! i just hope no one skips ahead of the thread and thinks that the next songs on the playlist represent the correct order! i'm just kinda searching for songs that I think will be upcoming and adding them in the generally correct area of the playlist, but as the thread progresses I'll keep adjusting things to match it.

the solo church recording from 1948 youtube posted above is really good, too. in the midst of these more traditional sessions with other musicians, it shows that he was already interested in going on cosmic voyages in his own work

more youtube links:

Andy Tibbs Dozier Boys with Sax Malllard's Combo + Sun Ra on piano, recorded nov 1948, released dec 1948: In a Traveling Mood (just the first song)
Andy Tibbs & the Dozier Boys + Sun Ra on piano, recorded nov 1948, released jan 1949: In Every Man's Life

Dozier Boys with Eugene Wright + Sun Ra on piano and arrangements, recorded dec 1948, released Sept 1949: Music Goes Round and Round
(couldn't find "Pork n Beans" or "Dawn Mist", from the same session)

after some searching, i found the 6 tracks that Sun Ra/ Blount played on The Hawk Returns (search for "Sun31" here on the amazingly exhaustive Chicago Years link posted above: . They were included on the Confessin': The Astounding Coleman Hawkins comp, which is on Spotify.

Sun Ra studies should be a standard department at universities

Not to be too much of a party pooper, but is the idea of the thread to listen to all the stuff that's been posted so far and then discuss at some point? Or are we going to go song by song like the Billy Joel thread?

(looking forward to 1965 -- "cosmic chaos" is my jam)

xpost
not sure! personally i'd rather go release by release since there are around 125 LPs to go through, not even counting other releases.

this was fun, even if it felt at times like chintzy '70s roller rink music / wacky blooper reel soundtrack. sort of jubilant throughout, with shades of ellington. not something i'm likely to return to, but it's nice to confirm that the sun ra bandcamp folks lurk here, even if they won't admit it !!

November 1977 - The Soul Vibrations Of Man

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2617198911_16.jpg

“The Soul Vibrations of Man and a companion LP, Taking a Chance on Chances (or "… on Chancey"?), were pressed shortly after being recorded at a November 1977 gig at Chicago's Jazz Showcase. […] It's a typically eclectic set: loose improv, coalescing flutes, insistent horns, and restless percussion, amid space chants, cosmic sermons, and ballads.”

Bandcamp link

Revive! This pair of LPs closes out the year 1977, There are cheap Scorpio vinyl presses of at least one of these but as always the Bandcamp versions are definitive.

I have not actually listened to this one yet, but it felt like a good time to revive.

"If Unity presents the more approachable, trad-jazz side of Sun Ra and his Arkestra, the next item in the discography shows they were still capable of getting mighty strange during this period"

https://nuvoid.blogspot.com/2013/03/sun-ra-sunday_31.html

Good one, thanx. For last year's blog roundup, beyond constraints of some ballots (which I did send in), this 'un made my Real Top list (of first time releases and reissues):
Sun Ra & His Arkestra: Somewhere Over The Rainbow (Beyond Saturn)
And these made More Top Reissues:
Sun Ra & His Arkestra,Lanquidity (2-CD Ed.)
Sun Ra & His Arkestra, Sleeping Beauty (Expanded)
Comments:

Sun Ra & His Arkestra's Somewhere Over The Rainbow (Beyond Saturn) is mah ideel, at least in 2021, combo of SRA exotica, relatively other originals, and respectfully recharged covers, though Sleeping Beauty (Expanded Edition)comes close, while lingering too wispy w the exotica for my tastes. Despite its title, this 2-CD version ofLanquidity is not so languid, more of a sly, lean grid excursion, bra hook braille, that electric Miles might approve, or should.
https://sunramusic.bandcamp.com/album/somewhere-over-the-rainbow-beyond-saturn Also see bandcamp for my other picks, and several more from over the years and sources.

we're gonna be getting into all of those soon! part of the very productive and creatively amazing 1978-1979 period

oh wait we covered SOTR previously, the other ones were recorded after the Italian tour material

another relevant note as I start to dig in to this one:

"Considering the rush-release of these two albums, the mystical cover illustration for Soul Vibrations is quite elaborate, which (with a few notable exceptions) was not standard practice for Ra's private pressings during the 1970s. Most Saturn LPs appeared in blank, generic—though often hand-decorated—sleeves. The Soul Vibrations artist is unidentified."

We’re starting to get into that weird period of the 70s where some of these live recordings clearly have a lot of visual elements as well, that don’t come through in the audio. At any rate, this is a solid set and probably my favorite version of “Enlightenment.”

Talking of which, got to give credit to Morgan Fisher for covering it on his 1979 Hybrid Kids album!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9juDVbMuhBY

pretty soon i'll be in a spot where i can resume weekly updates to this. if anybody's interested in a reboot

hell yeah!

hell yes

I’ve been meaning to get into Sun Ra, so count me in.

yessss

fwiw for budo jeru, here's my unofficial list of what we still have to cover:

taking a chance on chances 11/77

1978
new steps
other voices, other blues
Of Mythic Worlds side A (April ’78)
media dream 2CD
sound mirror
disco 3000
lanquidity LP
the other side of the sun
the spirit of jazz cosmos (WUHY live)
solo keyboards (Minnesota 1978)
visions (w/Walt Dickerson)

1979
song of the stargazers
on jupiter LP
sleeping beauty FLAC
strange celestial road
god is more than love could ever be
omniverse
I, pharoah
live from soundscape

1980
sunrise in different dimensions
voice of the eternal tomorrow
aurora borealis
dance of innocent passion
beyond the purple star zone
oblique parallax
haverford college 1980

1982
ra to the rescue
just friends
(a fireside chat with lucifer) FLAC
celestial love FLAC
nuclear war

1983
Paris 1983 (Bandcamp)
meets salah ragab
stars that shine darkly
love in outer space (live in utrecht)

1984
live at praxis 1-3
star that shine darkly vol. 2
cosmo sun connection
when spaceships appear

1986
hours after
reflections in blue
phil alvin?
john cage meets sun ra?
a night in east berlin

1987
v/a bratislava jazz days (1 track)

1988
hidden fire 1 & 2
“pink elephants on parade” from stay awake
cosmo omnibus imaginable illusion
Blue Delight
somewhere else (a)

1989
second star to the right
stardust from tomorrow
Purple Night
somewhere else (b)

1990
live in london 1990
“egyptian fantasy”
pleiades live
mayan temples
live at the hackney empire

1991
live at inter media arts
friendly galaxy
at the village vanguard

1992
Live in Ulm 1992
destination unknown
a tribute to stuff smith
“I Am the Instrument”

great.

sleeve, that looks good. i'll cf. the discos i have and get something posted next week

Taking a Chance on Chances
November, 1977
first released as Saturn 772 (LP) in '77
aka "a tonal view of times tomorrow" and "saturn research"

https://i.discogs.com/HQGuDoSuCsPTT5JXH5M-ZTZ-WJVOGQDrVt05zq1PNMU/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:598/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTI0MTM3/NzktMTYxNzYyNTc3/MC03OTkyLmpwZWc.jpeg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOKbOvBGRN0

This was recorded in Chicago and is from the same session that produced the previously-discussed companion LP, SOUL VIBRATIONS OF MAN.

I dig how funky and bluesy this rendition of "St. Louis Blues" is. Also am all about this clippy, cosmic organ version of "Take the 'A' Train."

////

I'm consulting the classic Trent/Campbell disco (ed. 2) and the newer Geerken/Trent disco (Art Yard) as well as sleeve's list. Next week we'll close out 1977 with three solo piano performances recorded in Italy, before moving into 1978 w/ NEW STEPS.

(i just moved and finally got all my books out of boxes, so hopefully that will mean i can update more regularly from here on out ...)

wooooo thanks, will listen later

this album is prob one of the most glaring examples of the many well-known issues with original Saturn pressings. from the Bandcamp reissue liner notes (digitally, this is effectively a different release entirely)

As for the manufacturing flaws in Taking a Chance, here's a description by blogger Rodger Coleman: "The pressing defect manifests itself in a woefully unbalanced stereo presentation and a near-constant overlay of scratchy noises and horrifically ugly distortion which only begins to clear up towards the end of the side. Ugh. Pressing the mono button helps a little (if you have one) but not much. As listeners to Soul Vibrations already know, these are not great-sounding recordings to begin with; the pressing flaw renders them almost unlistenable."

We can attest, having borrowed a sealed Saturn original from our friend Freddie Patterson, who allowed us to slit the shrinkwrap and drop a stylus in the LP's virgin grooves. Hoping to discover the world's only sonically pristine copy for a premiere reissue, we were disappointed to hear on Side A the "horrifically ugly distortion" described by Coleman. (Someone suggested we issue it that way for its "exotic mix." We demurred.)

Fortunately, Michael D. Anderson of the Sun Ra Music Archive unearthed a tape in 2016 that proved to be the closest thing to a "pristine" version. It's got problems, sure, but compared to the Saturn pressing, it's Rudy Van Gelder-grade. For the first time, we can hear what Side A was intended to sound like. The recordings capture some incidental noise (beyond applause) from patrons, but these artifacts convey an intimate club atmosphere and are not intrusive.

(that's all re: Side A)

https://sunramusic.bandcamp.com/album/taking-a-chance-on-chances

lol sorry to continue to geek out over this one, but there's also an unreleased track on the digital version:

A bonus track has been added:

"The Sound Mirror" (9:03, stereo)
This is a previously unissued recording. A regrettably lo-fi 14-minute version was issued as the title track on Saturn 19782 in 1978. This performance, believed to date from late 1977 or early 1978, features a tighter arrangement and greater sonic clarity.

so I guess that means they won't reissue the OG version of Sound Mirror?

i guess not!

and this thread is here for you and everyone else to geek out, as far as i'm concerned.

bit of a detour, but i just found out that Irw!n Chu$id is a right-wing crank? although unlike others on the board, i'm not an avid WFMU person, so maybe that's already well-known around here. it's just kind of jarring to be reading this dude's extensive archival commentary on Sun Ra of all people, only to go to his website and find him talking about things that i won't even bother invoking on this thread.

anyway, "lady bird" is one of my favorite tunes, by one of my favorite composers-arrangers. one of the things that has become clear to me (or rather is continually being brought to my attention in different ways) in the 4.5 years since starting this thread is that Sun Ra, as singular and "outsider" as he often is, was also of course in deep conversation with his contemporaries and the broader history of jazz music -- in ways that are actually super exciting and even helpful / instructive to me as a listener of "trad" jazz. or i guess i'm trying to say that i've had multiple versions of that epiphany, and this is just another dimension of that.

bump! anyone up for doing 1978?

it's so funny, earlier today i was listening to Billy Bang's "A Tribute to Stuff Smith" (with Sun Ra on piano) and thinking about this thread. i guess that means i'm in

Sure, why not?

OK, so

Sun Ra Quartet Featuring John Gilmore - New Steps

https://i.discogs.com/98QRXN4xsqx0DztOB7mWLd6RoxhbWytfFgf79O6fN5g/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTEyNzQy/MzEtMTQxNDA4MjY3/MC05NTg2LmpwZWc.jpeg

oops, I meant to write a bunch of other stuff, hang on

January 1978
originally on LP, Horo Records, Italy

The "Italian diversion" begins! "Sonny took a quartet to Italy early in 1978 with Michael Ray, John Gilmore, and Luqman Ali on drums. They recorded FIVE(!) albums, two studio and three live. This is the first studio session." (Szwed)

The Sun Ra Sundays blog is now a book/download, and has a ton of info about these sessions:
https://thedigitalpress.org/sun-ra-sundays/

"The Horo studio recordings are not only obscure and nearly impossible to find, but they are also some of the most unusual of all the (already unusual) discography."

https://sunramusic.bandcamp.com/album/new-steps

this was a double LP fwiw

According to notes in The Earthly Recordings of Sun Ra (by Robert L. Campbell and Christopher Trent), "Sun Ra frequently used his Crumar keyboard to program repeated lines and 'drum' sequences throughout the January 1978 sessions in Italy."

I have definitely never heard this one

yikes, an OG will set you back $250, that's almost Saturn level rarity

Recorded in Rome, Italy, January 1978, featuring the quartet of Sun Ra (keyboards, vocals); Michael Ray trumpet, vocals); John Gilmore (tenor sax, timbales, vocal); and Luqman Ali (drums, vocals). No bassist.

damn Gilmore doing a straight Coltrane channeling vibe on the first track

this sure sounds like a bass on 'My Favorite Things' but I guess it's a keyboard?

on track 2 now and wow this record rules, this keyboard bass thing going on is WILD

ok wow

the skeletal ensemble prompted him to do something he
didn’t often do: record overdubs on additional tracks. According to
Gualberto, Sonny found “a small cheap keyboard” in the studio, a
Crumar Mainman, and used it to program overdubbed bass lines
and other effects while the rest of the group provided additional
percussion and drums (Campbell and Trent 2000, 245). This gives
many of the loosely constructed tracks an impossible, otherworld-
ly quality that is truly unique. Nothing else Ra ever did (before or
since) sounds quite like this.

(Sun Ra Sundays)

thread delivers! lol, I can't believe I am still discovering awesome new Ra records at this stage

doesn't seem to be much info about the Crumar Mainman and some of the search results lead back to that blurb ... i wonder if they meant a Crumar Multiman?

dang, "moon people." this is what i'm talking about

"rome at twilight" another favorite

Wish I remembered where I put my copy of Campbell and Trent

what's next?

https://sunramusic.bandcamp.com/album/other-voices-other-blues

Recorded in Rome, Italy, January 1978, featuring the quartet of Sun Ra (keyboards); Michael Ray (trumpet); John Gilmore (tenor sax); and Luqman Ali (drums). No bassist. The tracks were issued on a double LP in '78.

According to notes in The Earthly Recordings of Sun Ra (by Robert L. Campbell and Christopher Trent), "Sun Ra frequently used his Crumar keyboard to program repeated lines and 'drum' sequences throughout the January 1978 sessions in Italy." These sessions also produced a companion double album, "New Steps," with the identical personnel.

https://i.discogs.com/PgXPnKl0FijGYuOkcri_VKoQ77xg0p8Wj4qHSW9cY04/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTI0MTM3/OTQtMTQxNDA4MzE4/OC01Njk1LmpwZWc.jpeg

another release originally on the Italian Horus label, this one I have heard and it gets way more wild than the other one

Just getting to New Steps. In 1978 Sun Ra was aware of the shadow of John Coltrane on this song and they do a nice arrangement, all their own. “Moon People” is not much but a lot of duck sounds but “Sun Steps” is lovely.

The album starts to sound like Sun Ra’s odd take on repertory with “Exactly Like You”, which is like a contrefact on “Take the A Train”. “Friend and Friendship” is nice too. Wonder if these were written for the session or improvised.

“Rome at Twilight” is funky and a lot of fun. Love the vocals on “When There is No Sun”. “The Horo” closes it out with a melancholic mood. Love Michael Ray’s Clark Terry impression about 12 minutes in.

April 1978 - Of Mythic Worlds session

https://www.discogs.com/release/1204203-Sun-Ra-Of-Mythic-Worlds
https://sunramusic.bandcamp.com/album/of-mythic-worlds

By studying the performances on side A, eventually Campbell was able to identify the personnel. By tracking these musicians' tenures with the Arkestra and comparing personnel to known tour stops, it was determined that these three tracks — "Mayan Temples," "Over the Rainbow," and "Inside the Blues" — were probably recorded in April 1978 at The Left Bank Jazz Society in Baltimore. Portions of this concert were included in the 1980 Robert Mugge film "A Joyful Noise," which helped to identify personnel.

We covered the B-side of this already, it was recorded in 1972 for the Pathways To Unknown Worlds session.

from the Bandcamp reissue notes:
Hence, [those] two tracks have been omitted from this digital reissue; they were reassigned to the 2019 Modern Harmonic label's definitive reissue of Pathways to Unknown Worlds (available in all formats).

In place of [those] two tracks, we have included two previously unreleased medleys performed by the Sun Ra Quartet at the Moers Music Festival, West Germany, in 1979. The recording quality is excellent (these originated from a radio broadcast), the performances are relatively close in the Ra chronology, and the repertoire is compatible with the three OMW live tracks.

https://i.discogs.com/kml4urISP_uCea9uuPJ29WbS4r1VxMgf7l2sFzruFtE/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTEyMDQy/MDMtMTMyNzE3MDAz/NS5qcGVn.jpeg

another tidbit from BC:

first issued on LP in 1980 on the short-lived Philly Jazz label (PJ 1007), owned by Tom Buchler. The only other Sun Ra release on PJ was the widely acclaimed Lanquidity (1978).