SUN RA

anyone else caught the Sun Ra fever? so many reissues/concert recordings, they're all pretty much great. the dude's so interesting.

he was born on jupiter.

june tyson has voice of glory.

sun ra forever.

<<<<real fan

p.s. acquire live at praxis discs 1 and 2 if not have already.

I'm gonna sing this song tooooooooooooo! A greater tomorrow!

I'm gonna sing this song tooooooooooooo! Abolish sorrow!

the truth about planet earth is a bad truth

the truth about planet earth is a bad truth, a bad truth

edit: Media Dreams is idm in spirit

Fuckin A. I love Sun Ra, he made soooooooooooooooooooooo many great albums and was batshit crazy. What a champ.

Heliocentric Worlds is the current "favourite" but then again how do you choose? So many records.... And he was so far ahead of his time organizing the pressing, design and distribution of his own records in the '60s. Plus he was an absolute champ for helping to look after his neighbourhood and having his band work with and for the community. A true visionary.

see, i haven't even heard Heliocentric Worlds yet, tho I know of it and know it's a more important work.

current favorites:

disco 3000

media dreams

sleeping beauty

dance of the living image

I love sun ra. his music is so diverse, from swing to weird bop to free jazz and back again. I love how his bands were loaded with more bass and baritone instruments and extra percussion compared to other jazz bands. he never did things the easy way, either, and demanded a lot from his players. he would do dozens and dozens of different arrangements of some tunes, some of which were only performed once.

anyone know where this recent sun ra fever thing came from?

does it have something to do with tumblr or something?

it's like how i'm seeing twin peaks shit everywhere now.

did some cool band say something about sun ra on some blog a few months ago?

  On 1/28/2011 at 9:59 PM, nsixqatsi said:

anyone know where this recent sun ra fever thing came from?

 

does it have something to do with tumblr or something?

 

it's like how i'm seeing twin peaks shit everywhere now.

 

 

 

did some cool band say something about sun ra on some blog a few months ago?

Jazz in Silhouette is one of my favourite records of all time, possibly my favourite jazz record of all time. Just so damn smooth.

I'm all about 'lanquidity'. Amazing album. People should check out John szwed's 'space is the place: the life and times of sun ra.' really solid bio. There's also a really great doc floating around the web called 'brother from another planet'

Sun ra was indeed the man. A highly intelligent guy.

This bit from the Wikipedia entry is both hilarious and horrifying:

  Quote

Sun Ra was personally responsible for the vast majority of the constant changes in the Arkestra's lineup. According to contrabassist Jiunie Booth, himself a member of the Arkestra, Sun Ra would not confront any musician whose performance he was unsatisfied with. Instead, Sun Ra would simply gather the entire Arkestra minus the offending musician, and skip town, leaving the fired musician stranded. After repeated instances of US jazz musicians becoming stranded in foreign countries, Sun Ra's unique method of dismissal became a diplomatic liability for the United States. The U.S. State Department was compelled to tell Sun Ra to bring any fired musicians stateside rather than leaving them stranded.[citation needed]

Man. What an asshole.

Ok "horrifying" is being a bit melodramatic, but yes, an assholish thing to do.

my Sun Ra fever came because the stars and pyramids finally aligned themselves so that the cosmic energy could spring forth from saturn, sending dimensions swirling across time and space, resulting in cosmic consciousness

  On 1/28/2011 at 11:58 PM, Z_B_Z said:

I'm all about 'lanquidity'. Amazing album. People should check out John szwed's 'space is the place: the life and times of sun ra.' really solid bio. There's also a really great doc floating around the web called 'brother from another planet'

 

Sun ra was indeed the man. A highly intelligent guy.

yeah, i'm reading Space Is the Place right now. about halfway through, causing extreme Ra fascination.

  On 1/29/2011 at 5:51 AM, Hanratty said:

my Sun Ra fever came because the stars and pyramids finally aligned themselves so that the cosmic energy could spring forth from saturn, sending dimensions swirling across time and space, resulting in cosmic consciousness

I can dig that equation.

oh, also, here is a Sun Ra tip:

There is a new Sun Ra album on the Transparency label: "The Road to Destiny". It has a 28 min live version of "Discipline 27-II" that is making my head spin.

  On 1/29/2011 at 12:41 AM, Wall Bird said:

This bit from the Wikipedia entry is both hilarious and horrifying:

 

  Quote

Sun Ra was personally responsible for the vast majority of the constant changes in the Arkestra's lineup. According to contrabassist Jiunie Booth, himself a member of the Arkestra, Sun Ra would not confront any musician whose performance he was unsatisfied with. Instead, Sun Ra would simply gather the entire Arkestra minus the offending musician, and skip town, leaving the fired musician stranded. After repeated instances of US jazz musicians becoming stranded in foreign countries, Sun Ra's unique method of dismissal became a diplomatic liability for the United States. The U.S. State Department was compelled to tell Sun Ra to bring any fired musicians stateside rather than leaving them stranded.[citation needed]

 

Man. What an asshole.

Reminds me of Captain Beefheart, who used to physically assault bandmembers who didn't perform to his liking and would encourage other members to do the same. The guy who transcribed and arranged Trout Mask Replica ended up leaving the band after Beefheart pushed him down a flight of fuckin stairs!

  On 1/29/2011 at 7:00 PM, Greg Reason said:

  On 1/29/2011 at 12:41 AM, Wall Bird said:

This bit from the Wikipedia entry is both hilarious and horrifying:

 

  Quote

Sun Ra was personally responsible for the vast majority of the constant changes in the Arkestra's lineup. According to contrabassist Jiunie Booth, himself a member of the Arkestra, Sun Ra would not confront any musician whose performance he was unsatisfied with. Instead, Sun Ra would simply gather the entire Arkestra minus the offending musician, and skip town, leaving the fired musician stranded. After repeated instances of US jazz musicians becoming stranded in foreign countries, Sun Ra's unique method of dismissal became a diplomatic liability for the United States. The U.S. State Department was compelled to tell Sun Ra to bring any fired musicians stateside rather than leaving them stranded.[citation needed]

 

Man. What an asshole.

 

 

Reminds me of Captain Beefheart, who used to physically assault bandmembers who didn't perform to his liking and would encourage other members to do the same. The guy who transcribed and arranged Trout Mask Replica ended up leaving the band after Beefheart pushed him down a flight of fuckin stairs!

Yeah drumbo got it bad. His new book about his time with the band is in desperate need of an editor, but some of the beefheart anecdotes are crazy..

any suggestions on which album to start with?

heard a song on the radio yesterday as I was driving, it catched my attention and made me want to hear more. It was "Somebody Else's World".

  On 1/23/2015 at 4:50 PM, Antape said:

any suggestions on which album to start with?

 

heard a song on the radio yesterday as I was driving, it catched my attention and made me want to hear more. It was "Somebody Else's World".

Great start with June Tyson on vocals, she made a lot of tracks stand out. Anyway, I'd say try these first:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NJ2oXwWEvw

(and the rest of Sleeping Beaty and On Jupiter, two of my alltime faves)

http://youtu.be/rmqe_v11q3U?t=1m59s

And then according to what you like (really far out or more traditional) move your way forwards or backwards :)

Far out albums: The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy, Hiroshima

More 'traditional': Jazz In Silhouette, Lanquidity, Supersonic Jazz

Lanquidity is wonderful.

I'm not into jazz, but I like some Sun Ra.

I think if you're really new to him a good place to start is that compilation that came out last year. In The Orbit Of Ra, it's really very good.

Yes that's a great compilation, though some tracks really test my patience with the skip button

I have always felt that Ray "Golden Scarab" Manzarek should have given Sun Ra more credit for "Riders On The Storm".

.

One of my musical idols... No one will ever be Sun Ra again. :)

A great performance on TV, preceded by an interview.

And of course, Sun Ra at his best. Try following him: