Sun Ra Music

This 2-CD set was released in February 2008 and is a companion to Disco 3000, as both chronicle Sun Ra's experimental 1978 concert tour of Italy.

Utilizing a Crumar Mainman synthesizer - which allowed for pre-programmed bass lines and electronic percussion - Sun Ra was on the cutting-edge of what was soon to become a revolution of sound in the avant-garde/free jazz movement.

The band is down to a quartet, with John Gilmore (s), Michael Ray (t) and Luqman Ali (d) filling in the spaces to Sun Ra's sonic vision, while being given the space to blast off into incredible solos. The most solid performances are Constellation and the title track.

The original tape source had deteriorated, so there are rough spots in the recording. But the historical importance of this tour makes for a satisfying journey.

Given that this was recorded by the same quartet that produced the wonderful Disco 3000, I truly looked forward to another chapter of Mr. Mystery's Italian sojourn. But upon cracking open the package, it was not especially encouraging to read that the master that this was produced from was in terrible shape and missing several cuts from the original album (!). I also have to say that the second disc here, while not deficient neither is especially exemplary. However, the first disc is fairly packed with some uniquely mind melting material. Sonny does some amazing things with the rare Crumar synth, and Gilmore pushes his tenor to places where no horn has gone before.

Altogether, I think I prefer this to Disco, which is more consistent, but does not push the envelope near as much. I'm very happy to have gotten my hands on some of the fabled Italian stuff as it represents something of a highlight relatively late in Ra's creative period. (How much music did this guy pump out?)

i've got more than 70 sun ra cd's. this is one of the best. five live cd's featuring the best free musicians available. you just read their names: archie shepp, john gilmore, don cherry, marshall allen and so on. what are you waiting for? go and buy it!

more modern jazz than funky time, which was the impression I had from their concert in central park in july 05.

"Mystery Mr. Ra" provides a fascinating look at a most incredibly talented and misunderstood (by his own designs) musician who shaped the world of jazz according to a brilliant cosmic schema. Outstanding performances by Sun Ra, alto saxist Marshall Allen, tenorist John Gilmore and the rest of the Arkestra, with some tantalizing insights into Ra's philosophy and life mission. My only complaint is a lack of English subtitles: the narration and Archie Shepp's brief interview are in French; only Ra speaks in English. This did not, however, really diminish my enjoyment of the video. Highly recommended for viewers who like their jazz on the outside.

This is an outstanding release, with the initial seven numbers comprising the 1987 album, A Night in East Berlin, and the final cut - My Brothers the Wind & Sun No. 9 - previously unreleased and recorded in 1990.

The East Berlin performance from 1986 is electrifying, as Sun Ra & His Cosmo Discipline Arkestra are in outstanding form and taking their performance art to electifying levels in Mystic Prophecy, Interstellar Low Ways and The Shadow World. The new selection is textures of sound that creates a sensational soundscape.

Issued in February 2000 - and clocking in at 59:02 - it is a great collectible, since the album had not been readily available and My Brothers the Wind & Sun No. 9 is a gem of a find from the vast Sun Ra archives.

Now that I finally got around to hearing Sun Ra, I wonder where he's been my whole life. I thoroughly enjoyed this record. In addition to the album being unique and accessable, it is quirky which makes the listener feel as though he is part of a small esoteric club of like minded people, kind of like listening to Daniel Johnston or in my experience appreciating the brilliant pyschedilic pop of the beach boys. Sun Ra's keyboard sounds otherworldy as it is in tone and the rhythms here are fascinating and original. I am sure to pick up more Sun Ra. If you are new to his music then I recommend that this is a good place to start.

I once heard of a physics class that the professor described as the physics of the bits of stuff that DON'T go down the drain when you pull the stopper. How they end up spinning off in their own difficult to describe dynamics of motion skirting but never joining the curve of the flow, was the topic.

Sun Ra's style of music reminds of this. Sun Ra's music of topic is the dynamics of those musical elements that don't ease in with the flow.

This record, however, has some of his most bluesy and accessible pieces. Many of the pieces are solo keyboard bits, and stand alone as great creative improvs, the last three are tacked on from home recordings 10 years earlier, and are very beautiful.

The band bits, are of a much stripped down band. For my money this allows more focus to be placed on Sunny's keys, and he fills in the space with wonderous chordal splashes, noisy flourishes, and the usual bedlam that is the trademark of the genius from another world.

I've you've been curious about Sun Ra but didn't know what to buy (he released something like 20 albums in 1978 alone!) this is a great place to start. It's Dreamy, inspiring, and at times danceable!

And nothing much like anything else he recorded.

Studio recorded in 1970, New York, with the small gathering of Sun Ra, John Gilmore, Danny Davis and Stafford James, Night of the Purple Moon is a unique recording all about Sun Ra's fantastic, yet quiet, meditations. Just recently reissued on CD, the original LP's eleven songs have been augmented by three 60's home recordings of Sun Ra on electric piano and an alternate take of Love in Outer Space.

About half of this collection is Ra, solo, sweetly thinking on his Rocksichord, Mini-Moog or electric piano, while the other half features the quartet. Gilmore plays a wonderfully strong, classic tenor sax on Impromptu Festival, yet works as drummer for the rest, with James backing on electric bass. Davis dominates with alto sax on A Bird's Eye View Of Man's World and the catchy opener, Sun-Earth Rock, which you might find yourself humming throughout the day. On others he variously plays clarinet, flute and bongos.

Purple Moon is not Big Band Arkestra in a showy mood, with explosions, tsunamis and choral singing. In fact, there are no vocals. Mr. Ra conducts this little fireside chat through music alone. It's like his mind is wired to yours. Put it on and you will feel him with you, fire in his eyes, joy in his heart, and love in his soul. The moon may even look purple.