Search & Destroy: Sun Ra

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Chin strokers of the universe unite. Search and destroy the cosmic weirdness of Mr.Ra.

― Omar, Thursday, 16 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Search: Strange Celestial Roads: cosmic jazz-funk in a Sly Stone stylee. Jazz in Silhouette: classic '50s large-band jazz, a la Mingus or Monk. Life is Splended: Live at Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival 1973: one hell of a live electric freak-out (destroy the '72 and '74 albums from the same festival--they don't have anywhere near the spark of this one). Somewhere Else: uneven but featuring a glorious 12-minute "Love in Outer Space" that might be the best thing in his catalogue. Solo Piano: simple, eccentric, beautiful. The Magic City: half-hour title track lives up to its name; the rest is pretty great also. Sun Song: one hell of a repertory company. The Singles: because he really could do everything, albeit weirdly. Greatest Hits: because he really did have, um, "standards." The Great Lost Sun Ra Albums: getting funky a la Miles Davis--and not a la acid jazz (see the massively overrated Lanquidity--or don't). Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy/Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow: ambient music lives. When Angels Speak of Love: seat-of-the- pants improv lives.

Destroy: A Black Mass, a super-lo-fi you-are-there-with- earplugs-in document of a 1965 play by Amiri Baraka that Ra and co. improvised music to. Badly.

― M. Matos, Thursday, 16 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Singles collection is probably my favourite.

― nathalie, Thursday, 16 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

'Nothing Is', 'Heliocentric Worlds', 'Atlantis' and 'Languidity' are also great. 'Languidity' is much more Herbie Hancock circa 'Thrust', 'Headhunters' etc, than acid jazz.

I also have the tracks 'Spring and Summer Idyll' and 'Rome at Twilight' as MP3, not sure which LPs they're from, but they're both very good too.

― m jemmeson, Thursday, 16 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Along with Lee "Scratch" Perry and George Clinton, one of the great innovators of black music, at least this is what most critics say... I only own "Greatest hits - easy listening for intergalactic travel" (which is, as the title implies, a "best of", even if the term "hits" sounds a bit out of place...). It's a quite pleasant listen, even excellent at times, so maybe those critics may be right for once... He was a bit weird, just like anyone who claims to be from Saturn I guess and thus I'm quite intrigued by him... I'll definitely buy something more in the near future :-)

― Simone, Thursday, 16 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Search:

i've got to add "Solar Myth Approach, Vols 1 & 2", "Nubians of Plutonia", and the Evidence version of "Space is the Place".

― mike j, Thursday, 16 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Pretty much all the good'uns have already been mentioned, but gotta give props to 'My Brother The Wind Vol II', where Ra farts abt with his newly acquired synths like a proto-Aphex Twin, and the Blast First rarities comp 'Out There a Minute', my intro to the Arkestra, which still works as a good overall samping of the man's many moods.

Destroy: never really heard a BAD Sun Ra disc, but the second vol of 'Heliocentric Worlds' is a major let-down after the first alb, which heavily features John Gilmore at his hard-blowin' best.

― Andrew L, Thursday, 16 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I would say everything .....ok "heliocentric worlds' "atlantis" "space is the place" " magic city" but of course I've just heard a small portion of his infinite output .lots of planets yet to be discovered....

― francesco, Thursday, 16 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i second the singles compilation recommendation, a good starting point, many of his styles on one purchase, from 50's big band through to the synth stuff and much weirdness,...

― jk, Friday, 17 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

That 'Concert from the Black Forest' circa 1974 (?) with the 15- minute synth freakout, that's great. Can't remember exact CD title - it's in Hackney Library (Mare St. branch) if that helps

― dave q, Friday, 17 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

fuck hackney library. they wouldn't let me join because i'm not a resident of the borough (i'm 5 mins walk outside it)

― gareth, Friday, 17 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Gareth - me neither. I also cards for Camden and Islington. What you do is, bring the card you have into a library in another borough and tell them that there's stuff you need that's only found in THEIR branch, or something. (Actually, I didn't even need to give a reason.) Just fill in a form and you get a card on the same day.

Only drawback is that having 3 library cards and living in a pigsty, I usually have about 35 CDs out at any one time, they get mixed up and I right now I have £60 in fines to pay off

― dave q, Friday, 17 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

yes i suffer from this problem, with camden, islington and barnet cards. and at parents house somewhere i have bradford, calderdale, leeds and kirklees cards!

― gareth, Friday, 17 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

he's about the only jazz guy i can stand in large doses. if for nothing else i would remember him for _cosmic tones_ (chamber noise whose only real contemporary is the third ear band's _alchemy_), _atlantis_ (clavinets falling down the stairs), _concert for the comet kouhoutek_ (anything dedicated to kouhoutek rules, see also yahowa 13, best track here though is "journey through the outer darkness" which sounds like a saxophone is being chewed to pieces as it's played), _strange strings_ (more unearthed ur-drone/noise/improv for eastern string instruments). honorable mention for backing up yochannon on "message to the earthman," one of the craziest thing i've ever heard. "shut the door! waaaaghhhh!!!"

― your null fame, Friday, 17 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

>he's about the only jazz guy i can stand in large doses.

Destroy: jazz recommendations from soul-less people.

― matthew m., Sunday, 19 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

In that case ;)I'll just add one S and one D.

Search: Atlantis. Title track finally fulfills fantasies I had of what Sun Ra would sound like: alien, cold, forbidding, etc. The rest of the album is pretty good too.

Destroy. Pictures of Infinity. Not really bad, but also not spectacular live album. Classic wrong entry album that makes you go "is this what all the fuss is about?"

― Omar, Sunday, 19 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The album Dave Q's talking about, is that "Nuits de la Fondation Maeght" (I prob'ly spelt that wrong)? yeah & 1 of my favs that I didn't notice anyone mentioning here is "Astro Black" (early '70s, Sirone on bass)...Hey Omar "Pics of Infinity" is GOOD.

― duane, Sunday, 19 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Destroy: jazz recommendations from soul-less people.

feh. i guess it would be better if i walked around blathering the names of dead black guys like i knew them personally and pretending to enjoy the endless wank. got yer soul right HERE.

― your null fame, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Destroy: jazz recommendations from soul-less people.

in that case i had better not mention that i quite like Shamek Farrah

― gareth, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

nine months pass...

Today is Sun Ra's Arrival Day. If you came from nowhere here, why can't you go somewhere there?

Additional recommendations: Monorails and Satellites, Sun Ra playing solo piano. Like many Sun Ra recordings, this took a few listens (in this case separated over a number of years) before I came to appreciate it.

Other Planes of There. I don't know why this seems to be considered less accessible than Atlantis or the Magic City, both of which are too chaotic-sounding for me (at least in their title tracks). This starts off a bit more spare than the title tracks from those albums. There are some difficult moments, but overall I like it. The recording quality on the title track is perhaps "cruder" than that on "Heliocentric Worlds vol.I:," but I find it warmer, though I can't explain how such lonely and alienated sounding music can also be warm. At times I think I hear echoes of Varese (sp?). It includes "Pleasure" which always blows my mind. The last rack, which maintains more or less a waltz rhythm throughout is probably my least favorite on the album, but it's pretty good.

Angels and Demons at Play/The Nubians of Plutonia is a pretty accessible and enjoyable CD. (Did I just say anything there? Probably not.) Fate in a Pleasant Mood/When Sun Comes Out is also good. The first album is relatively straight, while the second one gets into more "uncompromising sonic exploration" sort of territory. The rediscovered bonus track of Marshall Allen playing clarinet is a treat. It sounds like he is work on a theme very close to one that appears on one or more other tracks (elsewhere), possibly "Next Stop Mars."

Destroy? I'm reluctant to say destroy anything, since Sun Ra albums I didn't like have often grown on me. I am less keen on his live albums in general than a lot of Sun Ra fans seem to be, though I love seeing the Arkestra live.

― DeRayMi, Wednesday, 22 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Janus is nice too, though I wouldn't recommend it as a starting point. Island in the Sun is an airy, accessible piece. The Invisible Shield and Janus sort of run together. The beginning is pretty unrelenting, but it moves into a sound similar to "Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy," but more organic, with Art Jenkins on wordless vocals, trying to connect with his ancient African roots. There's a really nice live version of Velvet recorded some time late in the 60's. Joy is pretty challenging at times, but on a recent listen I realized that Sun Ra's piano playing was far more structured on this piece than I had realized before, so I think there's more there than what I first heard.

― DeRayMi, Wednesday, 22 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The rediscovered bonus track of Marshall Allen playing clarinet is a treat.

Correction: John Gilmore plays clarinet on this track.

Incidentally, Marshall Allen's Arrival Day is this Saturday (the 25th). It will be celebrated at the Tritone in Philadelphia.

― DeRayMi, Thursday, 23 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Search: John Szwed's fantastic biography, surely one of the best musician bio's ever.

I just found out that Szwed has a Miles Davis book coming out this year. Oh happy day!

― Ben Williams, Friday, 24 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Bought a couple of Ra records a couple of months ago.

The ideal starting point is the soundtrack to the Ra movie (can't remeber name). There's a lot of varied material there and it serves as a sort of Ra comp.

I like the group improvisations and the stuff he does with his moog (big slabs of noise: a take no prisoners approach there). Will have to get more records and the biog. Swzed is a good writer.

― Julio Desouza, Friday, 24 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

'space is the place' on impulse you mean?

― Josh, Friday, 24 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The CD was not on impulse (I can't check the record: it's on the other side of the atlantic!).

― Julio Desouza, Friday, 24 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

in the credits to the ra movie (remake: Queen of the Damned) is the name WILLIAM DHALGREN: this has always intrigued me

― mark s, Friday, 24 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Is that movie available on video, mark (anybody)?

''in the credits to the ra movie (remake: Queen of the Damned) is the name WILLIAM DHALGREN: this has always intrigued me''

Why?

― Julio Desouza, Friday, 24 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

It's "Soundtrack to the film 'Space is the Place'" on Evidence. Mostly excellent stuff.

― rw, Friday, 24 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I hate to admit it but the "Space is the Place" soundtrack is one of the only Sun Ra CDs I've ever gotten rid of. I still don't consider it a good place to start. (The Greatest Hits does a pretty good job, though it doesn't really cover the full range of Sun Ra's career, just the stuff that evidence has the rights too, though that's plenty. "Out There a Minute" is a good introduction for the more adventurous.) I'd like to get a copy again. Seeing part of the movie (played before the Arkestra's 2001 New Year's show), with June Tyson singing "Outer Spaceways Incorporated" got me interested.

― DeRayMi, Friday, 24 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The soundtrack isn't a classic but it drives home the message that the arkestra covered a lot of differen things. The arkestra was an incredible experiment and that's what i got from that CD.

THESE records shop has a rack fully devoted to Ra (one of the guys who runs it absolutely worships him). That's where i got that CD from. Google it, they run a mail order service.

― Julio Desouza, Friday, 24 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

two weeks pass...

This is not my home!
This is not my home!

― DeRayMi, Thursday, 13 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

one month passes...

I've been listening to "Nuits de la Fondation Maeght, Volumes 1 & 2" recently. I got them in New York in this famous Jazz shop which is hidden halfway up an office block. The Sun Ra experts at http://www.dpo.uab.edu/~moudry/disclist.htm describe these as "miserable sounding pirates" - but I've heard worse, including some official Sun Ra releases! I love the 1st Volume, I much prefer the version of "Shadow World" to the version on "Magic City" and I think "Cosmic Explorer" is the single greatest piece of electronic music I've ever heard from Mr. Ra - it is simply ferocious. I'm trying to imagine what it must have been like for the French audience to go along to another freaky jazz gig by another freaky Black guy from America and being confronted by this electronic hurricane - must have been astonishing. "Friendly Galaxy No. 2" on Volume 2 is one of my favourite Ra pieces, it doesn't sound like anything else he ever did - it's a kind of floating piece with lots of atmospheric flute (apparently there are 5 or 6 flautists playing), it somehow reminds me of music for a late 60s sci-fi film. Apparently, Ra wrote a unique arrangement of it for that evening's performance based on the auditorium they were playing in.

In a similar vein, I recently got "Black Myth/Out in Space" - "Out In Space" being another electronic maelstrom, this time lasting almost 38 minutes! Believe me, not a CD for the faint-hearted!

I have to confess however that I'm not a tremendous fan of his so- called "great" albums from the mid-60's: "Magic City", "Heliocentric Worlds", "Atlantis". I think these albums are remarkable but I don't find myself listening to them very often - they're more to be admired than loved. Certainly, if you're looking for jazz don't look at the "Heliocentric Worlds" albums - these are probably the least "jazz" jazz albums I've ever heard, closer in fact to Varese or even Boulez.

― KCoyne, Tuesday, 6 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Nuits de la Fondation Maeght, Volumes 1 & 2" I've heard a lot of good reviews of this on the Saturn mailing list.

I have to confess however that I'm not a tremendous fan of his so- called "great" albums from the mid-60's: "Magic City", "Heliocentric Worlds", "Atlantis". . . . Certainly, if you're looking for jazz don't look at the "Heliocentric Worlds" albums - these are probably the least "jazz" jazz albums I've ever heard, closer in fact to Varese or even Boulez.

I don't really like those albums either. (I have only heard one of Heliocentric volumes, but I own the other volume and the other two titles mentioned.) Have you heard "Other Planes of There"? The title track covers somewhat similar material to "Heliocentric Worlds" but is much warmer and less rigid sounding. I don't mind jazz that doesn't sound much like jazz, per se, but I share your lack of enthusiasm for these albums.

― DeRayMi, Tuesday, 6 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Magic City" is great, and sounds much more like jazz than Boulez to me (not that it matters).

― Ben Williams, Tuesday, 6 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

julio: because dhalgren is a book by noted black SF writer samuel delany from the same era as space is the place, and it is never clear (at least i have never worked out) why it is called dhalgren

― mark s, Tuesday, 6 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

This is a late late answer but here it is. Just been reading Ra's biog (space is the place) and of course, it isn't the only that isn't clear with Ra.

― Julio Desouza, Sunday, 11 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Just finished listening to 'Nothing is...' again and its not the 'chaotic' or anything. to these ears its a very organised piece of music. There are two brief 'free for all' moments. 'Imagination' on side 1 and midway trough to the final track on side 2.

I enjoyed 'Exotic Forest'. A constant bassline but lovely 'middle eastern' blowing (cliche alert!) and rolling percussion. And whenever sun ra plays on that piano (he sounds like a classical pianist who had burnt his hands but was still able to play) the music would change direction.

Definetely need to listen more. There's much more but i need to go to sleep.

anyway, will get some more recs soon...

― Julio Desouza, Wednesday, 14 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Julio, I would love to convince you to try some Arabic music, for actual middle eastern sounds. I'm telling you, "Salo Ko'os" or "Ana Fe Entezarak" performed by Oum Kalthoum are challenging pieces of music that could appeal to free jazz ears. There are plenty of others, but I think these would be most likely to appeal to your ears, of the ones I've heard. Of course, I don't really know what you have or haven't heard.

Generally when I read that something sounds "middle eastern" in a published review, I find that it either sounds only very vaguely middle eastern or it doesn't sound middle eastern at all. (For instance "Circe" from "When Sun Comes Out" doesn't sound like anything a middle eastern singer would do, though the liner notes describe it that way.)

― DeRayMi, Wednesday, 14 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

deraymi- I'd love to try it some middle eastern music. I'm already interested to some flamenco after listening to derek bailey's guitar playin on 'aida' (there's so much on that album).

I'll try to track some of this stuff down (yet some more for the record pile but I need to visit the 'world music' section at tower anyway).

― Julio Desouza, Wednesday, 14 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

actually, i meant there's so much to lo listen to on 'aida' not 'so much flamenco', in fact there's a little bit of it (it's all incorporated into his playing).

― Julio Desouza, Wednesday, 14 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

He has a chapter on Flamenco on his book on improvisation (but I guess you probably own that, of course).

I don't care much for Flamenco singing, which sounds to me like degenerate Arabic singing (not that I am saying it really is, but to my Arabicized ears, it kind of sounds that way); but I do like the guitar. Where I take salsa classes, there is also a Flamenco dance class. The teacher's husband is a guitarist who plays for the class. When I first heard him playing I was amazed by how good he is. I did kind of a double take, like, wow, this guy is actually really good, not just the teacher's husband who happens to play a little guitar or something. In fact, do you know much about Flamenco guitar, because that's something I'd be interested in hearing recommendations for? (I probably should get off my butt and be daring and go to a little bar at the edge of what used to be the barrio, where this guitarist sometimes accompanies his wife, etc.)

― DeRayMi, Wednesday, 14 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

god but I do have my half dozen pet topics.

― DeRayMi, Wednesday, 14 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

yeah, flamenco guitarists is definetely what I'm after. about flamenco singing it depends how much you've heard. if you haven't heard much then it depends what you've heard.

yeah...i've looked into flamenco guitarists but I can't remember any names (i think there was a webpage somewhere, I suppose I feel a thread coming).

― Julio Desouza, Thursday, 15 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

one month passes...

Sun Ra thread, as (sort of) requested.

― Rockist Scientist, Tuesday, 8 October 2002 13:49 (twenty-three years ago)

Related question: Sun Ra for beginners? What would you recommend for a novice (me) who knows the legend but has never (knowingly) heard any of the music?

― j.lu (j.lu), Tuesday, 8 October 2002 14:01 (twenty-three years ago)

j.lu, I still think that all in all the "Greatest Hits" that Evidence released is as good a one-CD introduction as any. It might spend a little too much time on material from the 50's for people coming to Sun Ra from an essentially non-jazz background (like me), but it does a nice job of showing the variety in his work, and giving some good examples of it. I would make different choices here and there, but overall it's good. My personal favorite Sun Ra comp. is "Out There a Minute," which draws exclusively from the 60's, and contains a lot of smaller ensmble things. It's not as generally representative as the Greatest Hits, however. Despite the rave reviews for the "Singles" collection, I would steer you away from that as an intro.

― Rockist Scientist, Tuesday, 8 October 2002 14:06 (twenty-three years ago)

"Jazz in Silhoutte" is a good intro. Sounds trad and experimental at the same time. Also one of his best ever.

― Ben Williams, Tuesday, 8 October 2002 15:18 (twenty-three years ago)

One of the big things you miss with the Evidence "Greatest Hits" is the Free Big Band Space Chant sub-genre of Sun Ra's works. (Examples: "Space is the Place" and to some extent "Strange Celesital Roads," though that's a bit mellower and funkier.) Also, there's no live material on there at all, as far as I can remember (but I don't particularly go for the live material).

― Rockist Scientist, Tuesday, 8 October 2002 16:16 (twenty-three years ago)

two weeks pass...

This new release (first time, I gather) of old material looks promising: New Sun Ra on Atavistic Label

― Ra-kist Scientist, Friday, 25 October 2002 23:38 (twenty-three years ago)

Skipping 806 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Marshall Allen is still incredible at nearly 100. See them if you can!

― DAMAGED by Black Flat (Boring, Maryland), Friday, 20 May 2022 12:43 (three years ago)

Saw them open for Parquet Courts in 2018 - between both acts, it was one of the best shows I've ever seen.

― birdistheword, Friday, 20 May 2022 18:40 (three years ago)

"Sleeping Beauty" is one of the greatest compositions in any genre ever.

― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Friday, 20 May 2022 18:48 (three years ago)

two months pass...

Sun Ra's Full Lecture & Reading List From His 1971 UC Berkeley Course, "The Black Man in the Cosmos" (Open Culture) : https://t.co/IdxXCyF2MS pic.twitter.com/nDKC3XWth2
— reaktorplayer (@reaktorplayer) July 29, 2022

― dow, Friday, 29 July 2022 23:17 (three years ago)

four weeks pass...

Does anybody remember what year Sun Ra played Brixton Academy in the early to mid 80s. I thought I would find it with a simple google search but not finding a gigography that stretches back that far. Seeing listings for Academy cutting out in the late 80s.
Have been hoping i might be able to find out what he/they were playing. Should still be in a period where they were playing some really great space funk but also when he was doing gigs based in a more classic jazz style. I have some recordings from the time of the latter but do think I prefer the former.

― Stevolende, Saturday, 27 August 2022 09:40 (three years ago)

according to setlist.fm he played there on 15 June 1984.

― big movers, hot steppers + long shaker intros (breastcrawl), Saturday, 27 August 2022 10:37 (three years ago)

this Facebook post also refers to it.

― big movers, hot steppers + long shaker intros (breastcrawl), Saturday, 27 August 2022 10:39 (three years ago)

this ad for it suggests the set style -- GLC always there w/the funk!:

Sun Ra headlines 3 days of jazz, funk, Latin, African and more... NME, 26 May 1984. #NME #MyLifeInTheUKMusicPress #1984 pic.twitter.com/cCeiZHfjRr
— nothingelseon (@nothingelseon) December 11, 2019

He played The Venue in Victoria Street (near Victoria Station) in 1982 and again in 1983, and the Fridge (Brixton) in 1985 -- with yrs truly reviewing lol (do not read if you hate me/want to post this on worst-music-writing-of-all-time thread etc)

Live! Sun Ra! The Chills! Three Johns! NME, 23 November 1985. #NME #MyLifeInTheUKMusicPress #1985 pic.twitter.com/eGILcKEka3
— nothingelseon (@nothingelseon) July 28, 2020

(@nothingelseon is a good resource for nme and mm ads, there's another guy who does pages from sounds)

― mark s, Saturday, 27 August 2022 10:42 (three years ago)

ok thanks
Seems like it must have been a good one.

― Stevolende, Saturday, 27 August 2022 18:45 (three years ago)

@dubdobdee wuz there: in the Fridge w @SunRaUniverse : (finding chaos under the sleek hood of taste &) "They pretend to indiscipline...they work for their fun here...it's the way it has to be." https://t.co/1HOByFZe0A
— Don Allred (@0wlred) August 27, 2022

― dow, Saturday, 27 August 2022 19:59 (three years ago)

Great review Mark! That Chills review was a stinker tho

― politics is about vibes and the vibes are off (stevie), Sunday, 28 August 2022 06:28 (three years ago)

I'm hoping that someone somewhere might have the audio of that night in June 84 cos I don't think I've seen it in the time I've been torrenting. Which is like 16 years.
Have heard some of his more classic jazz sets from the time which are pretty good and wondered to what extent a particular lineup of the band changed the sound o fa tune from 30 years or more earlier. Assuming that it was largely the same lineups playing the deep space funk and these standards etc anyway. Like if experience playing other musics put new slants on interpretation etc.
Do prefer the deep space funk but the standards and other older songs were done pretty well anyway.

I think I was still thinking that he was a pretty out free jazz player at the time so may have shaped my hearing of the set if he didn't get weirdly out. But have listened a lot more widely since. I think I enjoyed the set but probably didn't think it was quite up to like Say or the noisier parts of live at Montreux or something. So would love to get to listen back

― Stevolende, Sunday, 28 August 2022 10:01 (three years ago)

one year passes...

https://www.library.upenn.edu/events/kislak-stacks/collecting-sun-ra

Zoom event tomorrow (Oct. 20 noon) with John Szwed talking about assembling an archive of Sun Ra recordings.

― Beyond Goo and Evol (President Keyes), Thursday, 19 October 2023 14:45 (two years ago)

Thanks for sharing!

― budo jeru, Thursday, 19 October 2023 22:44 (two years ago)

three months pass...

Marshall Allen interview - 100 years young this year!

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/feb/02/a-man-cannot-learn-without-discipline-jazz-guru-marshall-allen-on-life-with-sun-ra-and-turning-100

― The British Boy of Film Classification (Tom D.), Friday, 2 February 2024 10:51 (two years ago)

five months pass...

yes please

https://sunramusic.bandcamp.com/album/pink-elephants-on-parade

― I painted my teeth (sleeve), Sunday, 7 July 2024 16:36 (one year ago)

There was an earlier record of Disney tunes, may be OOP:

https://www.discogs.com/master/2260915-Sun-Ra-His-Intergalaxtic-Arkestra-Second-Star-To-The-Right-Salute-To-Walt-Disney

― Dick Cavett Poo Party (Boring, Maryland), Sunday, 7 July 2024 17:01 (one year ago)

yep, and these are all different versions believe!

― I painted my teeth (sleeve), Sunday, 7 July 2024 17:07 (one year ago)

*I believe

― I painted my teeth (sleeve), Sunday, 7 July 2024 17:07 (one year ago)

That seems so. I bought the new one, wish that old one was streaming or available in a legit download.

― Dick Cavett Poo Party (Boring, Maryland), Sunday, 7 July 2024 17:29 (one year ago)

I can YSI if u ilxmail me, I have a flac rip

― I painted my teeth (sleeve), Sunday, 7 July 2024 17:30 (one year ago)

I've seen the Sun Ra Arkestra twice live in the last two years, and two by streaming. They are so much fun, even though Marshall Allen sat out the most recent DC appearance. Knoel Scott's just as valuable a leader, even if he hasn't been with the band since day 1.

― Dick Cavett Poo Party (Boring, Maryland), Sunday, 7 July 2024 17:31 (one year ago)

Search: Excelsior Mill, Ra's only(?) solo pipe organ recording, from 1984 on a Wurlitzer Theatre Organ at the Dupre Excelsior Mill in Atlanta. Up and down and around the twists and turns of the instrument, a pretty thrilling 42-minute ride, highest recommendation. Released this past April on Modern Harmonic.

― Ippei's on a bummer now (WmC), Sunday, 7 July 2024 18:24 (one year ago)

ooooh!! that album of sun ra disney tunes is one of my faves -- "the forest of no return" is SO GOOD

― Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Monday, 8 July 2024 14:43 (one year ago)

I love it so much I made it the theme song to my radio show!

― I painted my teeth (sleeve), Monday, 8 July 2024 14:43 (one year ago)

ha! good choice

― Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Monday, 8 July 2024 14:48 (one year ago)

hi Boring, I got yr ilxmail but you need to send me another one with an email address, sender is not visible in ilxmail - I got yr flac files!

― I painted my teeth (sleeve), Wednesday, 10 July 2024 05:56 (one year ago)

two months pass...

NTS is streaming live Sun Ra all day today, just tuned in.

First thing that stands out on whatever track I'm listening to right now is the percussion. The Arkestra's rhythm section is probably my favorite in jazz, they bring a lot of swing to the music.

― Ubiquitor, Sunday, 15 September 2024 19:49 (one year ago)

three months pass...

Well, now...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp29FTEnPJg

― Please play Lou Reed's irritating guitar sounds (Tom D.), Saturday, 11 January 2025 13:28 (one year ago)

wow!

― ( X '____' )/ (zappi), Saturday, 11 January 2025 14:20 (one year ago)

need to check that out.

saw the Walt Dickerson / Sun Ra album in a new arrivals bin today, need to check that out as well

― budo jeru, Sunday, 12 January 2025 00:21 (one year ago)

This guy has one of the greatest Youtube channels I've ever come across. Lots of film of European jazz festivals from the 60s/70s. Some mind blowing stuff on there.

― Please play Lou Reed's irritating guitar sounds (Tom D.), Sunday, 12 January 2025 20:14 (one year ago)

yeh was watching the incredible Ayler sets from 1966 earlier, going to dig deeper

― ( X '____' )/ (zappi), Sunday, 12 January 2025 21:24 (one year ago)

― sleeve, Sunday, 12 January 2025 21:46 (one year ago)

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

― Judge Judy, executioner (stevie), Monday, 13 January 2025 09:09 (one year ago)

soz, I meant
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videos

― Judge Judy, executioner (stevie), Monday, 13 January 2025 09:09 (one year ago)

sorry, just trying to link to the guy's video page and it's not working for some reason

― Judge Judy, executioner (stevie), Monday, 13 January 2025 09:09 (one year ago)

That’s my homie Jay’s channel he is a super sick drummer

― kurt schwitterz, Monday, 13 January 2025 09:58 (one year ago)

Probably the right thread to celebrate that Marshall Allen has his debut solo album coming out next month.

― Overtoun House windows (aldo), Thursday, 16 January 2025 20:25 (one year ago)

First musician to release their debut solo album at age 100?

― Ubiquitor, Thursday, 16 January 2025 23:43 (one year ago)

First musician to release an album of any sort at age 100 I would have thought?

― it's been almost a decade and I am still enraged about this (Matt #2), Friday, 17 January 2025 00:00 (one year ago)

Elliott Carter lived to see the release of an album of only the compositions he wrote at age 100 and up.

― The Whimsical Muse (Boring, Maryland), Friday, 17 January 2025 02:11 (one year ago)

people who have figured out how to live #onethread

― sleeve, Friday, 17 January 2025 02:11 (one year ago)

one month passes...

the marshall allen "solo debut" is more than a great story, it's incredibly lovely

― gestures broadly at...everything (voodoo chili), Thursday, 27 February 2025 15:27 (eleven months ago)

FYI he's doing a show at Roulette this spring which will be his solo album's live debut.

― birdistheword, Thursday, 27 February 2025 17:11 (eleven months ago)

https://roulette.org/event/marshall-allen-the-new-dawn/

― birdistheword, Thursday, 27 February 2025 17:11 (eleven months ago)

this really is great, thanks xxp

― sleeve, Thursday, 27 February 2025 17:20 (eleven months ago)

eleven months pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpZOcDPjV20

gonna get an american masters feature on the 20th. don't know if it's been mentioned elsewhere, and definitely excited enough to repeat things.

― austinato (Austin), Monday, 2 February 2026 23:22 (two days ago)

trailer looks great.

― austinato (Austin), Monday, 2 February 2026 23:22 (two days ago)

I checked out"Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy" recently, pretty wild this was recorded in '63, legit psychedelia and even some dubby sounds

― Saxophone Of Futility (Michael B), Monday, 2 February 2026 23:29 (two days ago)

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