Search & Destroy: Sun Ra

Dude has quite the impressive Ra array in his store; he's never cracked one open before?

haha! actually i bought that album that came out in like 1988? the normal one. well, kinda normal big band stuff. and i think i heard one side of astro black. i think i actually might even own astro black. and i used to have that 2-disc singles comp of old stuff. a lot of that stuff wasn't actually sun ra though. stuff they put out on their label.

listening to Monorails and Satellites now. solo piano. don't know how i feel about it yet...

i'm definitely keeping The Magic City though. that's a record i know i will want to hear again.

Just before Demonoid went down there was somebody on there reworking the Detroit Jazz Cafe discs because apparently they had been mistransferred and gave a double image or something. I think he would have gradually worked his way through a lot of that material but the medium went down and I now don't know if he was continuing.

I love the band from around that era, seems to be amongst the more psychedelic stuff. Especially when he's electric and funky. IO think he covers some other styles in that set cos there's so much of it.

I just came across the repeat of the These advert for the box set further up the thread. If that set was selling for £45 I'm kicking myself for missing it.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511e00fsqJL._SS500_.jpg

This comp looks like a bit of a bargain, £8.99 on Amazon:

- Jazz by Sun Ra
- Jazz in Silhouette
- The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra
- another one I can't identify

Any thoughts? I'm relatively new to Sun Ra but have been enjoying the Singles comp loads. This set seems to concentrate on his early early output.

that one is "super-sonic jazz"

it is some of his more "pedestrian" stuff by which i mean there are no freakouts, special effects, weird instruments, overdubs, etc. it is mostly late 50s jazz played w/ a slightly skewed perspective, kind of like if you got four or five thelonious monks in a room together and let them jam in a room.

that said ... BUY IT

BTW i've never heard "jazz by sun ra"

instead of pedestrian i might as well have said "accessible", there is no more than a touch of avant-garde on this stuff

but i LOVE the three albums i've heard, especially super-sonic jazz, and i listen to them a lot

in fact, "futuristic sounds" was the first sun ra i ever bought, and i definitely didn't "get it" ... i was like huh? this isn't avant-garde freakout space jazz at all?!?!

I just looked at the John Szwed Space Is The place a couple of days ago for the first time in ages. I was looking for what he says on the late 70s/early 80s era and he barely touches on it. Seems to go over the whole era in a few pages.
Subsequently I'm wondering if there is anything that does go into things a bit more deeply. A critical discography or something, even if not a more in depth bio.
What other books are there on Ra?

i don't trust old records on cd that have been "enhanced".

oh and by the way, Atlantis! wow, what a record!

atlantis is pretty decent but the artwork is next-level! is that mighty cthulhu?!?

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/s346712.jpg

that said ... BUY IT

― the late great

thanks - will get on board. probably a fairly safe introduction to Sun Ra... which the Singles collection is not. it's all over the place (in a good way!!).

it's not really going to help you understand why people think sun ra is special but it's a great set of transitional bop/cool into post-bop/modal jazz and very accessible AND it's an awesome price, i paid at least 10 bucks for each of those

!

http://fromnowherehere.blogspot.com/2013/03/esp-sun-ra-radio-tribute-14-hrs-in-6.html

Well now. Guess I know what I'll be doing this weekend.

Thanks for posting that!

I started listening to this today and it's been excellent so far. Thanks!

he's the subject of toady's jazz profiles on wkcr. heard the Sound of Joy album which was great. i didn't realize he started playing electric piano in 1956.

Who knows which album has the weird jaunty acoustic version of "Outer Spaceways Incorporated" on it?

which jaunty acoustic version?

idk. but if you haven't heard the paris tapes 1971, you should check it out. the untitled synthesizer solo that closes it is so amazing. it really does sound like it is following an extraterrestrial musical logic that we are only on the cusp of comprehending. in general, his keyboard playing on that is top notch... how it kind of intervenes in the midst of the performance and does its own thing, that is less recognizable as "jazz" or "music" than what the other players are doing.

It's a version of the "Outer spaceways" from "space is the place" but with only acoustic guitar and maybe some keyboards, clavi/moog type things that sound like guitars, and sombre sounding vocals.

I cant remember which album, but it's a studio one, and the rest of it isn't related to "space is the place".

I meant 'wonky', not 'jaunty'.

There is a very mellow and stripped down version on Solar Myth Approach disc 2 with the only instrumentation some distant bassoon-ish sounds and Ra's funky rocksichord electric piano.

That's the one thanks. allmusic says it's only 1:21, doesn't sound right/fair. Any recommendations for more similar melancholy/sombre ra tracks?

Sleeping Beauty from the album of the same name is a 12:00 minute long space lullaby! And some of his very best stuff, IMO. It is from the late 70s. It features the whole Arkestra and the whole album is very lush, down tempo and sleepy sounding. Very aptly named and with very good/clean high fidelity sound quality. Still pretty "out" at times but in a nice calm way that doesn't disturb the overall mood. Sunny plays Fender Rhodes on this album and the singers do a lot of humming and whisper-singing.

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

That's just what I needed, thanks for sharing.

Anymore?

yeah that's a great album
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBNTfXfJhhs

Sleeping Beauty is awesome, thanks. I'm also loving the On Jupiter album.

Agreed, On Jupiter is tons of fun! Ditto Strange Celestial Roads and Languidity from the same era and which have the same funky/groovy aesthetic.

yeah this was a great period for Ra, maybe my favorite

Just got Continuation, which I'd put up there with Strange Strings or Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy -- utterly unclassifiable, and absurdly ahead of its time.

There's a period I'd still like to know the extents of from late 70s tol early 80s when they're doing liquid electric space jazz stuff. My introduction to the band was through Strange Celestial Road which my brother got as a review copy when he was at Birmingham University. Think that was the copy I wound up with though it may have been a different one prompted by my liking his copy.
Period includes Lanquididty, Sleeping Beauty, possibly Disco 3000 and a few others.
I love that stuff to bits.
Is Cosmos as good?

& to repeat a question I asked a while back, is there a critical discography of his work anywhere. Book form or website. Would love to know what was what at a glance.
I need to hear more by him & probably always will. He can be a tad addictive.

most authoritative written work about Ra is surely the Szwed book?

which includes a discography, although I don't think he has details on every single release (dunno if such a thing is even really possible, is there actually someone out there that's heard everything?)

cosmos is the best of that period imo

There was a nice pictorial spread of Sun Ra album covers in an issue of wax poetics years ago, I think. But not complete and not much critical review iirc.

I think when I first asked the question re critical discography I'd just looked up the era I'd really enjoyed and seen that he'd covered it all in about a page or two. Certainly far less in depth than I was looking for.
Subsequently wondered what else there had been written about the music the band had performed.

Search: The Antique Blacks
― Xochipilli, Friday, May 11, 2007 5:22 PM (6 years ago)

YES

definitely, been giving that and Sleeping Beauty a lot of play lately.

what else has that weird funky fusion thing you get on e.g. Antique Blacks or Lanquidity?

the beginning of atlantis

strange celestial roads, night of the purple moon

those are more in the vein of antique blacks, less so lanquidity. but ra has a soul jazz sort of vibe going in all three

On Jupiter

Xp Sleeping Beauty is incredible. I love how beloved Sun Ra is on this board.

Picked up The Paris Tapes on your recommendation, Treeship. That synth solo at the end is brilliant!

and just listened to Black Myth...is Eloe Omoe using some kind of a Varitone or something? Sounds like he's got some kind of octave-doubler dealie happening.

"Disco 3000" is pretty great