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

or it's probably a clave i guess

yep, clave!

so, total noob here, but should I be paying attention to key members of the Arkestra at this point, or was the membership pretty dynamic?

ha, i'm noticing the squeaky pedal in other 1956 songs too (like the "new horizons" song off of the "we travel the spaceways" comp)! that's awesome

re: interlude, 1948-1954

Boy, that Solovox is an interesting instrument. Got me looking at eBay auctions.

Sun Ra reminiscing about Stuff Smith is great. Smith was a bit of an innovator - apparently one of the, if not the first violinist to use electronic amplification for his instrument. It doesn't seem like he recorded again with Sun Ra though.

To expand a little on what was mentioned before, Billy Bang and Sun Ra played several of Stuff's compositions and favourite tunes on some Italian dates in September 1992 and released the following tribute album.

This is the last known recording of Sun Ra. Short after, his health went worse and had to retire from music scene, leaving the planet some months later.

Little bit poetic, going out similar to the way you came in isn't it?

re:1955

2. sun ra w/ wilbur bare, "can this be love?" (released on the LP "deep purple" in 1973)

The double bassist Wilbur Ware was introduced to Sun Ra through Stuff Smith (with whom he debuted with in the late 1940s) and he would go on to work sporadically with Sun Ra into the 1970s.

"(a 45 with the inexplicable catalogue # Z1111)"

it's probably explicable, but only if you ran in chicago black occult circles in the 1950s. :)

both Sunologys (parts 1 and 2) on Supers-Sonic Jazz are entrancing. It took me a long time to notice, but I love the subtle percussion elements during the slow main theme that gets introduced during the first minute or so of both parts - not so much the drums, but the quiet tambourine pulse punctuated by a tap of the triangle. now i hear it and enjoy it every time. his band of this period has a knack for paying attention to detail while still sounding loose.

re: 1956
3. "supersonic jazz" (lp, saturn) rec. march / november

April 13, 1956, Chicago. Sun Ra and his friend and manager Alton Abraham arrive at Balkan Music Co., a small record and musical supply wholesaler at 1425 W. 18th Street, in the neighborhood now known as Pilsen. Helping the other seven musicians unload, they file into the storefront, which doubles as a recording studio, to record the first full-length session for their new label, El Saturn Records.

The band is in top form, coming off a lengthy engagement at Budland, the basement venue at the Pershing Hotel. Originally called Birdland, the club was threatened with lawsuit by the owners of New York's Birdland, an eventuality that Sun Ra helped avoid by renaming it with a word that's spelled differently, but pronounced almost the same. Ra was a logophile — words were another form of music, which was the ultimate artform — and he loved homonyms just about as much as he loved tangy, dissonant harmonies, aggregations of low horns, and parallel unison. Homonymity is why he called his group the Arkestra — on one hand, he slipped in a Biblical reference to the Ark, but on the other hand, Ra always explained that where he came from, in Alabama, that's how you said the word "Orchestra."

It's midnight and the session is in full swing. One take and the band nails "India," the loping, percussion-thick, quasi-Egyptian number with electronic piano and penetrating Art Hoyle trumpet. Things are off to a very good start. Two takes of "Sunology," vehicle for Pat Patrick's meaty baritone and James Scales' tart alto, are so solid that they'll both end up released, but on the longer second version the tape breaks. The band waxes a couple of numbers with singer Clyde Williams ("Dreams," "As You Once Were," which remain unissued until Delmark adds them to the CD reissue of the first Transition Sun Ra LP), then again hits a bullseye with "Big Charles," a tune re-titled "Kingdom of Not." A full take of "Eve" doesn't work, but the dark, stormy piano, bass, percussion part is a killer, and an edit of the first minute-and-a-half cuts out the full band section and turns it into "Portrait Of The Living Sky." They're into the second long tape reel when Ra calls a blues, with John Gilmore's smoldering post-Rollins tenor; it's after 2am, but they call it "Blues At Midnight." And for good measure, the recording closes with a tremendous single take of the Arkestra classic "El Is A Sound Of Joy." Three in the morning, the band packs up for the night, everyone gets a check (union scale, $41.25/hr., with Ra getting a royal $165 leader's fee), and a little bit of history is made.

The second track Sunology is where this album grabs my attention properly. The two sax solos and the way it just melts into just Ra tinkering and the wonderfully recorded bass.

I would name the individual players but the personnel, on a track by track basis, is a nightmare and seems to differ at every source I look at.

1948

Sonny Blount's apartment, Chicago, July 29, 1948

Darn That Dream (Composed by Jimmy Van Heusen and Eddie DeLange)
Herman “Sonny” Blount (piano, Solovox)

Youtube Link

Uploaded this piece. I have the 14 disc Eternal Myth 1 set so if you're after anything in particular give me a shout and I'll upload. I'll have a listen through and upload highlights over the next while.

1948

Sonny Blount's apartment, Chicago, August 10, 1948

If They Only Knew (written by Herman “Sonny” Blount)

Herman “Sonny” Blount (recitation, piano, Solovox).

Youtube Link

Interesting poem by Sonny.

these are fantastic additions, thanks fionnland! "Darn That Dream", in particular, is very lovely

wow, amazing. thanks fionnland!

1949

Sonny Blount's apartment, Chicago, July 21, 1949

"I've Got Some New Blues" (Herman “Sonny” Blount)

"Smile" (Charlie Chaplin)

"Old Man River" (Jerome Kern, ‎Oscar Hammerstein II)

Herman “Sonny” Blount (vocals, piano)

Youtube Link

"Smile" is particularly nice after accustoming to his voice. Funnily enough I was just reading Groucho Marx's letters re: Chaplin. Love it when it all comes together!

I love the delivery on "Old Man River".

Gotsta love Sonny any day of the week.

Singles has surprises around every corner; especially the doo wop material.

I keep coming back to Sound of Joy from 1956 as my fave from front to back.

(form Wikipedia)
All tracks were written by Sun Ra, except "Two Tones," by Pat Patrick and Charles Davis.
Side A:

"El is a Sound of Joy" - (4.04)
"Overtones of China" - (3.25)
"Two Tones" - (3.41)
"Paradise" - (4.30)
"Planet Earth" - (4.24)
Side B:

"Ankh" - (6.31)
"Saturn" - (4.01)
"Reflections in Blue" - (6.21)
"El Viktor" - (2.33)

Bonus Tracks
"As You Once Were"
"Dreams Come True"

could you possibly upload the "space trio" session from february, 1951? it's on disc 5.

xpost

Sure thing, I'll put it up tomorrow as I'm heading out in a minute.

thanks. great posts btw. it's really nice to have the thread being filled out with some of the more obscure recordings.

agreed, good stuff

1949

Sonny Blount's apartment, Chicago, July 21, 1949

"Song Introduction"

"Somewhere over the Rainbow" (Harold Arlen, Yip Harburg)

"Out of Nowhere" (Johnny Green, Edward Heyman)

Herman “Sonny” Blount (vocals, piano)

Youtube Link

wow, that is great!

1949

Sonny Blount's apartment, Chicago, July 21, 1949

"Song Introduction"

"Somewhere over the Rainbow" (Harold Arlen, Yip Harburg)

"Out of Nowhere" (Johnny Green, Edward Heyman)

Herman “Sonny” Blount (vocals, piano)

Youtube Link

^oops!

1949

Beige Room, Chicago, August 17, 1949 - The Sunny Blount Trio

"You Go to My Head" (J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie)

"Blue Chicago Blues" (Herman “Sonny” Blount)

Herman “Sonny” Blount (vocals, piano)

Youtube Link

1951

Chicago, February 6, 1951 - The Sunny Blount Trio

"The Nearness of You" (Hoagy Carmichael, Ned Washington)

"Sunny's Place #1" (Herman "Sonny" Blount)

"The Man I Love" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin)

"All Alone" (Herman "Sonny" Blount)

Herman "Sonny" Blount (piano, celeste, Solovox); Leo Blevins (electric guitar); Wilbur Ware (double bass)

Youtube Link

X-Files vibe to that last ditty.

1952

Chicago, June 9, 1952

"Wonderful You" (?)

"A Place in My Heart" (?)

Herman "Sonny" Blount (piano); Laurdine "Pat" Patrick Jr. (baritone sax)

Youtube Link

so, total noob here, but should I be paying attention to key members of the Arkestra at this point, or was the membership pretty dynamic?

― Karl Malone, Monday, January 8, 2018 11:40 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

tbh i've been pretty lazy in this regard. and i'm not at all an authority on this, but it does seem there was a good deal of personnel fluctuation, with the exception of john gilmore maybe. some of that probably has to do with small combo vs. big(ger) band stuff, but also the well-documented rigors of working with sun ra, the lack of finances, etc. i'll start posting the line ups for 1957 and onwards (and also point out soloists who can be identified) so it will be easier to keep track of that in the thread -- much like fionnland has been doing, greatly to our collective edification.

I haven't listened to these Youtube uploads yet, but thank you in advance fionnland

Just here to say this thread is really special to me, devouring everything and listening my ears off, but it's almost at a too fast a pace! Which isn't to say it should go slower, mind! Just that: so much goodness. Do keep it up you beautiful ppl.

Haha, no problem guys! Inspired thread idea budo jeru..this is going to be a lot of fun!

I'll upload some really choice '53 tracks either late tonight or tomorrow morn (UK time).

And please call me Finn! :)

1953

Chicago, March 9, 1953

"The Many Thoughts of..." (Sun Ra)

"The Inner Being" (Sun Ra)

"The Haunted Melody" (Sun Ra)

"Pennies from Heaven" (Arthur Johnston, Johnny Burke)

"You and the Night and the Music" (Arthur Schwartz, Howard Dietz)

Sun Ra (organ); "Thea Barbara" (vocals); unidentified (vocals)

Youtube Link

1956

RCA Studios, Chicago April or May 1956 - Billie Hawkins, Sun-Ra and His Orchestra

I'm Coming Home (Berryl Orris, Sunny Lane)

Last Call for Love (Tom Seymour)

Billie Hawkins (vocals); Sun Ra (piano, arranger); Art Hoyle (trumpet); Dave Young (trumpet); Julian Priester (trombone); John Gilmore (tenor sax); Pat Patrick (baritone sax); Wilburn Green (electric bass); Robert Barry (drums)

Youtube Link

1956

RCA Studios, Chicago, May 16, 1956 - Le Sun-Ra and his Arkistra

Velvet (take 1, false start)
Velvet (take 2, false start)
Velvet (take 3, false start)
Velvet (take 4, complete)

Sun Ra (Wurlitzer, piano); Art Hoyle (trumpet); Julian Priester (trombone); John Gilmore (tenor sax); Laurdine “Pat” Patrick (baritone sax); Wilburn Green (electric bass); Robert Barry (drums); Jim Herndon (tympani).

Youtube Link

^ Velvet is a Sun Ra composition

now i have my afternoon listening set out, thanks again Finn!

just curious - are these all from the Eternal Myth boxset, and are you uploading all of the early ones or just your faves? (either way is obviously appreciated!)

1956

Chicago, April 23, 1956 - Sun Ra Arkestra

Somebody Else's World (Sun Ra)

Blues in Outer Space (Sun Ra)

Space Aura (Sun Ra)

Sun Ra (piano, Wurlitzer); James Scales (alto sax, bells); Wilburn Green (electric bass)

Youtube Link

xpost

All from the Eternal Myth box set. I've restricted it to my favourites of the ones where Sun-Ra is definitely playing or leading. From the ones where he is playing I think I've only missed some solo piano recordings and some rehearsals with Pat Patrick that seemed a little superfluous. I can however upload or send the other tracks on request.

That's all of the 1956 material I currently intend to upload from the boxset - though there are a couple more recordings from 1958 and 1960 that I will upload when we are there.

awesome, thanks so much. speaking for myself, I think this is plenty, no need to hear him as a sideman really

is that cool version of "It's A Good Day" on that box set?

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

Nope it doesn't but here you go

really loving the "haunted melody" that finn posted (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5KNQ2uwjBA - starts at 5:40), part of 4 songs recorded that on March 9, 1953, somewhere in Chicago. there's so little information on it. the campbell website lists the personnel as:

Sun Ra (org); "Thea Barbara" (female voc -1); unidentified (male voc -2).

Thea never shows up again in the Chicago years, and she only sings on one song from this set (she sings along with the unidentified vocalist on "haunted melody")

i did not mean to embed the youtube in the middle of the sentence there. sorry!

Finn, thanks again for this material. i'll get around to listening to these recordings in the next couple of days and then post 1957 on sunday.

also thanks for the john corbett link!

So was catching up on 1956 and the Jazz by Sun Ra / Sun Song reissue cover reminded me a bit of the Screamadelica cover.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/73/SunRaSunSongAlbumCover.jpeg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d4/Screamadelica_album_cover.jpg

On actual viewing they aren't so similar. However the search found this article with Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie talking about their 2013 album More Light.

“River of Pain” sticks out as one of those songs where you might have been stretching yourself more than before.
Oh yeah. “River of Pain” and “Tenement Kid.” Structurally and lyrically, we’ve never really done anything like that. It’s like cartoon-future-Sci-Fi-psychedelia. I love the groove on “River of Pain,” it’s this desert blues folk song. Even before the lyrics start, it conjures pictures in your mind. It’s very cinematic. The middle section where it breaks down has the Sun Ra Arkestra. It has this real sense of mystery and beauty.

How did that Sun Ra collaboration come about?
They were stranded because of a volcano eruption in Iceland. All transatlantic flights were cancelled for a week or ten days so they were stuck. They played three nights in London and I went two nights. A couple nights later I went to go see Lou Reed play Metal Machine Music and I started talking to a promoter he mentioned to me that the Sun Ra guys were stranded and he was trying to do a benefit gig for them. I had the idea that we should hire them to come play on their album so the next day I gave the idea to the promoter and he managed to sort it out that Marshall Allen and three of the other guys came up and played on “River of Pain” and “Sideman.”

Obviously this is the Sun Ra Arkestra post Sun Ra but still a funny link to crop up. Link to River of Pain

Back to Jazz by Sun Ra/Sun Song, hot damn that drum and tympani work on A Street Named Hell

1957

http://campber.people.clemson.edu/frontlinemarshalle.jpg
"An unrecorded Arkestra: from left, prob. Lucious Randolph, trumpet; John Gilmore, tenor sax; Marshall Allen, alto sax; unidentified, baritone sax. Budland, 1957 or 1958; from The Cry of Jazz."

(all quotes from the campbell discography unless otherwise noted)

kind of a thin year, but some interesting stuff nonetheless. here's some context:

During the period that concerns us, Saturn was a singles label. The first three Arkestral releases were on 45s (though some reappeared on LP much later). There were just two LPs: Supersonic Jazz, which came out in 1957, after it was clear that there would be no more Transitions, and Jazz in Silhouette, from 1959. An item in the Chicago Defender, from June 1959, announced that Saturn had released 6 singles by then. The bulk of the Arkestra's Chicago recordings would go unreleased until 1965, and some waited a good deal longer.

(...)

As 1957 began, the Arkestra was still at Budland, sometimes restricted to the Monday morning "breakfast dance." Cadillac Bob must have regretted the expense after Dinah Washington did a return engagement over the holidays. In the future, it was Herman Roberts of Roberts Show Lounge who would lay out the fees she demanded. No longer would Budland regularly book big-name singers from out of town. During the first six weeks of the year, gigs at the club were not being advertised and the place was nearly empty. But organ trios were suddenly popular in the Black community and Cadillac Bob decided to put one together in mid-Febuary. By early March, Tom Archia was fronting the trio on tenor sax and customers were returning. For the next six months, the club was able to sustain itself, but its resurgent advertisements kept passing over Sunny's contribution.

Studio time cost money, too. For the next couple of years, Ra and Abraham usually made do with tapes cut at rehearsals or in the clubs. The 1957 Arkestra isn't well documented on records—just a handful of instrumental tracks were ever released, all of them from rehearsals. By the beginning of 1958 there had been major alerations to the lineup. An adventuresome alto saxophonist from Indianapolis named James Spaulding (1938- ) came into the fold in July or August of 1957. Spaulding sounded the same then as he would years later — about halfway between Cannonball Adderley and Ornette Coleman. Alto saxophonist Marshall Allen (born May 25, 1924 in Louisville, Kentucky) had wandered into Chicago in 1952, after a sojourn in Europe. Playing in his spare time while he maintained a day job at the Rivier Camera Company, he sought out Sun Ra after hearing the Transition album. He and Spaulding added their flutes to the Arkestral armamentarium. And then there was bassist extraordinaire Ronnie Boykins (born in 1932), another graduate of DuSable High School who had been playing in R&B bands.

(...)

Despite the sore lack of publicity, the band did get some use out of Budland. One of Sunny's conditions on any club gig was that the Arkestra be allowed to rehearse at the club when it was empty. The next session was recorded at such a rehearsal.

that session being:

1. recordings with hattie randolph on vocals, resulting in four cuts.

Sun Ra (p); Calvin Newborn (eg); Victor Sproles (b); Tito (cga).
Budland, Chicago, August 25, 1957

http://campber.people.clemson.edu/hattie102955p29nocaption.jpg
listen to 's wonderful' on youtube

Hattie Randolph says these tracks were made live at Budland after Art Hoyle left the band. The bassist is not Ronnie Boykins; Victor Sproles was credited on the Saturn LP jacket. Tito is the only conga player that other musicians have recalled working with Ra during the 1950s. The three sides were first released in 1973 on Side A of Saturn LP 485, Deep Purple (some copies titled Dreams Come True). All tracks from Side A were reissued on Evidence 22014 (CD, 1992). Transparency 0316, The Eternal Myth Revealed Vol. 1 is a 14-CD set released in 2011. It includes a second take of "Don't Blame Me" as well as a scrap of conversation between the takes.

2. session with calvin newborn on guitar

Sun Ra (p); Calvin Newborn (eg); Victor Sproles (b); Tito (cga).
Budland, Chicago, August 25, 1957

http://www.ponderosastomp.com/bphotos/calvinnewborn.jpg

the two tracks are available on the "eternal myth" box set.

calvin newborn is an interesting figure and the "last living member of the newborn family jazz dynasty." according to the ponderosa stomp website:

The family band held down the floor at Memphis' Flamingo Room every weekend (where young Calvin often beat Pee Wee Crayton in legendary after-hours 'Battles of the Blues') and even hit the road as Ike Turner's band with 'Rocket 88' - the hit that according to Calvin, started rock 'n roll. Ike taught Calvin how to drive - in return, Calvin taught Ike his first guitar licks. Calvin also taught Elvis Presley how to gyrate, using his own 'Calvin's Boogie' as inspiration for hip-shaking. In '55, Calvin and Phineas Jr. hung up their rock 'n roll shoes and moved to New York, where they opened for Count Basie at Birdland and recorded their jazz debut for Atlantic. Calvin spent the '60s playing with Earl 'Fatha' Hines, Wild Bill Davis, Mingus, Lionel Hampton, Ray Charles, and Sun Ra.

3. sessions with yochanan (the space age vocalist)

Yochanan (voc) with Sun Ra (p); John Gilmore (ts); prob. Victor Sproles (b); prob. Robert Barry (d).
Studio recording, Chicago, probably 1957

http://campber.people.clemson.edu/saturn4236ct.jpg
listen to 'muck muck' on youtube

it looks like most or all of this material is split between the '96 2xCD "singles" release and the norton 'rocket ship rock' CD comp

There is residual uncertainty about the date of the first Yochanan single, but if it was made in 1957 (as seems fairly likely), it was the only studio recording for Saturn that year. We have yet to locate any bills or paperwork, either for the recording session or for the production of the single.

Yochanan (an extra 'n' was later added to his name, perhaps for numerological reasons) was an eccentric R&B performer in Chicago who wore 'sun colors' and open-toed sandals, said he was 'descended from the Sun,' and gave 'wild man' performances in clubs and along Maxwell Street. Although his work with Sun Ra would sometimes take him in other directions, Yochanan is best understood as a fringe blues performer.

(...)

What Yochanan's birth name was remains a mystery. His place of origin is also unclear, though as noted above others on the Chicago blues scene thought he was from Memphis. John Gilmore recalled Yochanan hanging around rehearsals while the band was playing at Budland but after Jazz by Sun Ra. By contrast, Julian Priester (who left the band in the Fall of 1956) does not remember him. Hattie Randolph recalls Yochanan, whose nightclub act at least occasionally included jumping over tables, as well as this single. We have learned from other sources (see Miriam Linna's notes to the Rocket Ship Rock CD) that Yochanan had a longstanding affiliation with Alvenia Fulton, who ran the Fulton Institute of Health and Fasting at West 63rd and Damen Avenue.

4. two recordings, from late 1957 or early 1958, which ended up on "visits planet earth" (the rest of that LP consisting of the '56 sessions covered above)

-- "planet earth" (ra)

Sun Ra (p, solar p [Wurlitzer ep], Egyptian sun bells), Lucious Randolph (tp); Nate Pryor (tb); James Spaulding (as); Marshall Allen (fl); John Gilmore (ts, solar bells, tambourine); Pat Patrick (bars, Rhodesian bells, solar drum); Ronald Boykins (b); Jim Herndon (timb); Robert Barry (d)
Rehearsal, Chicago, late 1957 or early 1958

-- "overtones of china" (ra)

Sun Ra (ep, p, spiral percussion gong, Chinese solar gong); Lucious Randolph (tp); Marshall Allen (as, fl); James Spaulding (as); John Gilmore (ts, solar drum); Charles Davis (bars); Pat Patrick (space lute); Ronnie Boykins (b); Robert Barry (d); Jim Herndon (tymp, timb).

Rehearsal, Chicago, late 1957 or early 1958

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

These two tracks were released in 1966 on Side A of Saturn LP 9956-11-A/B, Sun Ra Visits Planet Earth. (A third track, "Eve" from Side A of the same LP was formerly listed here, but turns out of have come from the same session on November 1, 1956 that produced side B of the album; see above.) In 1967, it was given the catalog number 207. In 1992, all tracks from this LP were reissued on Evidence 22039 (CD). The extensive solo credits on the Saturn jacket were helpful in establishing the personnel. James Spaulding joined the Arkestra soon after his arrival in Chicago in August 1957; Marshall Allen and Ronald Boykins were in the fold by the beginning of 1958 and may have joined earlier. Julian Vein gives early 1958 as the date for these three items. Lucious Randolph said that the date is approximately correct, and was positive about his appearance on “Planet Earth” (on which he solos) but not completely sure about “Eve” and “Overtones of China.” (And that is just as well, since no trumpet is actually audible on "Eve," which we have now placed with the session of November 1, 1956).

whoops, the hattie randolph personnel should read:

Sun Ra (p); Victor Sproles (b); Tito (cga); Hattie Randolph (voc).
Budland, Chicago, August 25, 1957

I kind of love that nobody knows jack shit about the Yochanan guy

haha yeah

i think the only new additions to the playlist are the tracks from Sun Ra Visits Planet Earth. I arranged them so they're sequenced after Jazz by Sun Ra, with the five 1956 tracks first and the two 1957 tracks afterward.

I'm listening to Visits Planet Earth right now and really enjoying it so far. "Eve" is one of my faves so far

thanks man! gonna check it out now

I also LOVE that brief Calvin Newborn bio above

Back to Jazz by Sun Ra/Sun Song, hot damn that drum and tympani work on A Street Named Hell

― call me by your name..or Finn (fionnland), Monday, January 15, 2018 12:43 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

no kidding! also check the tympani solo on "reflections in blue" around 5m22s

I will do!

A tiny bit more colour re: Yochanan

one Hattie Randolph remembers catching his shtick in a nightclub in Kokomo, Indiana--"When he started his act and began leaping over the tables, one woman jumped up and shouted, 'He's possessed'! and ran out of the club"

- The Hound