Sun Ra Music

Sun Ra had always projected music as a global vehicle to better understand the meaning of life and this solo piano concert conveys that message quite masterfully.

The 11 numbers cover the vast artistic knowledge of Sun Ra travels over jazz classics - St. Louis Blues, Take the "A" Train - his catalog of material - Love In Outer Space, Outer Spaceways Inc. - and the exploration of vision and sound with two improvisational pieces.

This rhapsody of Sun Ra is the genius of a true artist within a solo platform to launch an outstanding performance.

Not much to say, really - except that you are not likely to find another solo piano jazz record with such a stylistic scope, such humor, such swing, such depth, such beauty, such anger, such blues. The incredible Sun Ra and his vision really shines.

Sun Ra was often written off as a so-so keyboard player (probably by people who didn't listen to him much!). Fortunately, his enormous catalogue proves otherwise, and no recording does so more definitively than this Solo Piano Recital.

It is pure delight to hear Ra dig deeply into this program of his own compositions and jazz standards, pulling them apart with great joy and then rearranging the pieces into delightful tapestries of sound. Purists may not like what he does to "St. Louis Blues," but his great ability to _do it_ cannot be denied. You will hear echoes in his playing of the entire range of piano jazz from Jelly Roll Morton all the way up to Cecil Taylor.

Sun Ra recorded solo all too infrequently. Of the solo recordings I have heard I consider this the best, the fullest, the most delightful. It's a recording I will be able to use to convince those who doubt Sunny's celestial abilities. It's that good -- really.

If you're a longtime listener of Sun Ra, this CD emerges as a
special treat. If you're unfamiliar with the legendary Myth
Realist, or have been shooed away from Ra by the current wave
of archival conservatives posing as Jazz classicists, then be
advised that SOLO PIANO RECITAL is a live concert recording
which makes the joyful truth ringingly clear.

Recorded in the late 1970s, this is Sun Ra alone at the piano,
spinning rhapsodic balladry which covers the whole spectrum of
Music, from the most beguiling Blues to the fiercest freeform,
marvelously structured and -always- wondrously soulful!
Try Ra's puckish take on Billy Strayhorn's epic "Take The 'A' Train",
or his wily ruminations on "St Louis Blues" for an
idea of how much of a master the Birmingham-born Cosmic Blues
Talker was of all the Music. Dare the intrepid swing of his
own "Friendly Galaxy" or "Spontaneous Simplicity", both
presented here as a snappy medley which charms and ignites
the ear and mind.

Even if you've enjoyed Ra's other collections of solo piano
music (released through Evidence and Improvising Artists), this
CD is a standout; a balanced presentation of a Jazz giant
holding gleeful court with great power and tremendous heart.
Listen well, and onward...

The Jazz CD "Some Blues But Not the Kind That's Blue" by Sun Ra & His Arkestra that I purchased on 03/05/2008 arrived on time in a perfect aspect. I'm very pleased, thank you so much !
Best regards,

martin rudloff

This CD is a good entry point for someone with only a mainstream feel for Jazz. It's a far less noisy and experimental record than what you might normally get from a random Sun Ra choice!

For my ears however, it's a bit too easy-listening. I recommend Night of the Purple Moon for something a little more rough, and featuring Sun Ra's eclectic and wild keyboard excursions.

For an artist with as many recordings out as this one, someone should have written a guide by now! :)

Initially released in December 1988, the tracks feature very large bands - up to 21 pieces - along with sextets and quintets. Sun Ra returns to acoustic piano on a few of the tracks in this wonderful gem; these are some of the last numbers recorded before ill health began to diminish his incredible work.

A retrospective musically, the selections alternate from swing to free jams, which is comparable to the concert vibe. The source tapes have been cleaned up very well, though there are several abrupt breaks in the music , possibly due to the recording tape running out.

One does not have to look somewhere else for an outstanding release of latter-day material by Sun Ra....that somewhere is here.

Let me say up front that I got a pretty good idea of good jazz since I have been collecting for 20 years. I have 28-30 Sun Ra albums and this one is a nice collection of songs and very representative. It is just not the best value for the money. Pick up any of the two album titles on one CD. They have a lot more songs for the money. If you are new to Sun Ra, go for Sun, Sound Pleasure or one of the earlier ones with recognizable jazz standards. Don't stop there, however. Just proceed cautiously if you are a jazz newbie. Sun Ra is not for children exactly. It is seriously complex and scary music sometimes for the new jazz listener. I remember one the Jazz Times musician/reviewer doing a "Before and After" that said it sounded like a bad high school orchestra...... Fool idiot can stick with Glen Miller. Feel freee to email me if you have any questions.

I know absolutely nothing about music except that I have over 500 artist recordings and I know what I like. I can't believe this is #51 on the Sun Ra list. Nothing else I've heard from Sun Ra comes close to this package. Like the last person said, the bass line on 'Priest' is great. ''S Wonderful' is uplifting, but in a 60s game show kind of way. 'Somewhere Else Part I' is fast becoming my favorite on the album. The texture and rhythms up and down, back and forth is like a 40-year marriage. And 'Everything Is Space' is a proclamation from a soap box -- everyone likes to look at freaks. I have four Sun Ra albums. Janus is the worst. Long, live and boring. His early stuff is pretty good and tighter, more in sync with the jazz of yesteryear. But there is nothing he has that compares to this. Trust me.

This CD is or should be significant to Sun Ra listeners. It constitutes one of Sun Ra's last studio sessions prior to his first in a series of strokes which ended his earthly life on May 30, 1993.

While one can quibble with such fancifully detached notions as whether this represents the best value for the money, the true worth of the album resides in several other non-material dimensions.

For example, the arrangement of "Somewhere Else" played here is
very different in feeling and tone than that offered on the album "My Brother the Wind, Vol. II".

Apart from this, the tone, touch, and strength that Sun Ra displays in his piano playing, illustrates why he must be considered among the very greatest innovators, composers and arrangers ever produced by the music. His versatility and accessibility in a number of different "idioms" of so called Jazz is completely unparalleled by anyone in Jazz history including the Titans like Ellington, Henderson, Monk, Mingus, Coltrane, and others.

The real Treasure of this release however is " A Hole in the Sky". Don Cherry (Pocket Trumpet), Marshall Allen (Alto), Pat Patrick (Alto) complemented and spurred by Sun Ra's energy and drive on synthesizer really paint a vivid picture of the range
of new energies and new possibilities that might positively and supra-energetically flow into our lives if a figurative "Hole in the Sky" were opened. By the way listen carefully to the propulsively energetic ensemble drumming (Bugs Hunter, Luqman Ali, Lex Humphries or Samuri Walker)in this composition, it is among the very best you are likely to hear for quite a while.

Another sleeper here is "Everything is Space". This tune was previously released on a limited addition printed by the band during the mid-seventies. As with "Somewhere Else' it represents a very diffferent treatment than the initial release.

On a bottom line basis, this CD not only contains histroical and artistic treasures, but also illustrates the fact that Sun Ra NEVER did a composition the same way twice. Among his many other musical virtues this characteristic places him in a class by himself.

I have to say up front- sometimes I can't tell "good jazz" from a guy with a saxophone falling down a flight of stairs. I know what I like and I like this. I tried to do some research on this CD and the best I can tell is that it is a collection of outtakes from A&M sessions released posthumously. I am probably in love with the concept of Sun Ra as interplanetary traveller more than I am with his music but this CD has much cool music that would not sound out of place in a lounge on Sun Ra's "home planet" of Saturn. Priest and Tristar have intriguing bass lines that open and close the CD. The centerpieces Somewhere Else Pts. 1 & 2 and Love in Outer Space really take me to another time and another place; the former to the past, the latter to the future. Everything Is Space is accompanied by a vocal chant that is awesome. Only a few tracks miss my ears, sounding more like noise than anything else. Discipline/Tall Trees on the Sun begins with some interesting snare work before devolving into atonal screeching. Overall, a very good album. If his leftovers are this good, I look forward to a real meal.

Initially released in December 1988, the tracks feature very large bands - up to 21 pieces - along with sextets and quintets. Sun Ra returns to acoustic piano on a few of the tracks in this wonderful gem; these are some of the last numbers recorded before ill health began to diminish his incredible work.

A retrospective musically, the selections alternate from swing to free jams, which is comparable to the concert vibe. The source tapes have been cleaned up very well, though there are several abrupt breaks in the music , possibly due to the recording tape running out.

One does not have to look somewhere else for an outstanding release of latter-day material by Sun Ra....that somewhere is here.

Let me say up front that I got a pretty good idea of good jazz since I have been collecting for 20 years. I have 28-30 Sun Ra albums and this one is a nice collection of songs and very representative. It is just not the best value for the money. Pick up any of the two album titles on one CD. They have a lot more songs for the money. If you are new to Sun Ra, go for Sun, Sound Pleasure or one of the earlier ones with recognizable jazz standards. Don't stop there, however. Just proceed cautiously if you are a jazz newbie. Sun Ra is not for children exactly. It is seriously complex and scary music sometimes for the new jazz listener. I remember one the Jazz Times musician/reviewer doing a "Before and After" that said it sounded like a bad high school orchestra...... Fool idiot can stick with Glen Miller. Feel freee to email me if you have any questions.

I know absolutely nothing about music except that I have over 500 artist recordings and I know what I like. I can't believe this is #51 on the Sun Ra list. Nothing else I've heard from Sun Ra comes close to this package. Like the last person said, the bass line on 'Priest' is great. ''S Wonderful' is uplifting, but in a 60s game show kind of way. 'Somewhere Else Part I' is fast becoming my favorite on the album. The texture and rhythms up and down, back and forth is like a 40-year marriage. And 'Everything Is Space' is a proclamation from a soap box -- everyone likes to look at freaks. I have four Sun Ra albums. Janus is the worst. Long, live and boring. His early stuff is pretty good and tighter, more in sync with the jazz of yesteryear. But there is nothing he has that compares to this. Trust me.

This CD is or should be significant to Sun Ra listeners. It constitutes one of Sun Ra's last studio sessions prior to his first in a series of strokes which ended his earthly life on May 30, 1993.

While one can quibble with such fancifully detached notions as whether this represents the best value for the money, the true worth of the album resides in several other non-material dimensions.

For example, the arrangement of "Somewhere Else" played here is
very different in feeling and tone than that offered on the album "My Brother the Wind, Vol. II".

Apart from this, the tone, touch, and strength that Sun Ra displays in his piano playing, illustrates why he must be considered among the very greatest innovators, composers and arrangers ever produced by the music. His versatility and accessibility in a number of different "idioms" of so called Jazz is completely unparalleled by anyone in Jazz history including the Titans like Ellington, Henderson, Monk, Mingus, Coltrane, and others.

The real Treasure of this release however is " A Hole in the Sky". Don Cherry (Pocket Trumpet), Marshall Allen (Alto), Pat Patrick (Alto) complemented and spurred by Sun Ra's energy and drive on synthesizer really paint a vivid picture of the range
of new energies and new possibilities that might positively and supra-energetically flow into our lives if a figurative "Hole in the Sky" were opened. By the way listen carefully to the propulsively energetic ensemble drumming (Bugs Hunter, Luqman Ali, Lex Humphries or Samuri Walker)in this composition, it is among the very best you are likely to hear for quite a while.

Another sleeper here is "Everything is Space". This tune was previously released on a limited addition printed by the band during the mid-seventies. As with "Somewhere Else' it represents a very diffferent treatment than the initial release.

On a bottom line basis, this CD not only contains histroical and artistic treasures, but also illustrates the fact that Sun Ra NEVER did a composition the same way twice. Among his many other musical virtues this characteristic places him in a class by himself.

I have to say up front- sometimes I can't tell "good jazz" from a guy with a saxophone falling down a flight of stairs. I know what I like and I like this. I tried to do some research on this CD and the best I can tell is that it is a collection of outtakes from A&M sessions released posthumously. I am probably in love with the concept of Sun Ra as interplanetary traveller more than I am with his music but this CD has much cool music that would not sound out of place in a lounge on Sun Ra's "home planet" of Saturn. Priest and Tristar have intriguing bass lines that open and close the CD. The centerpieces Somewhere Else Pts. 1 & 2 and Love in Outer Space really take me to another time and another place; the former to the past, the latter to the future. Everything Is Space is accompanied by a vocal chant that is awesome. Only a few tracks miss my ears, sounding more like noise than anything else. Discipline/Tall Trees on the Sun begins with some interesting snare work before devolving into atonal screeching. Overall, a very good album. If his leftovers are this good, I look forward to a real meal.

After listening to this double cd for the 20th time in the last 6 or 7 months, I was wondering what other people thought and was very surprised not to find any reviews. For me, this is one of the great cds of any music form of all time. The songs were inspired by W.E.B. Dubois' book of music and poetry, The Souls of Black Folk. The band is a group of the very best--Harris, Bluiett, Byron, Ragin, Lake, Hart, Graham Haynes and Kahil El Zabar. It is full of great solos and ensemble work, raucous but not dissonant. I am not a music critic but I would classify it as avant-garde and close to the edge without falling over it.

"Sound Sun Pleasure" is a good, fairly conventional set of 6 tracks, mostly other writers' material, well-recorded and played by an Arkestra that has a very tight and very beautiful reed section at work, trafficking primarily in low tones (provided in part by Pat Patrick's baritone sax). Female vocalist Hatte Randolph sings on the majority of tracks. The session is not unlike the similarly lush and conventional "Holiday For Soul Dance".

The CD is augmented with some of Ra's earliest recordings, previously released as Side 1 of a Saturn LP entitled "Deep Purple". These 7 tracks are less even and less impressive, but nice to have.

The 1974 release is the soundtrack for a movie with the same title which merged elements of sci-fi, mythology and politics in the Sun Ra production.

The music is incredible, with numerous tracks becoming mainstays of the Sun Ra live sets. With the universe being the backdrop, Sun Ra and His Intergalactic Solar Arkestra take free jazz to astonishing heights and develop an intriguing sonic trail.

The creative powers are awesome and the genius of Sun Ra shines brightly with the use of a vast artistic canvas that includes music and cinema.

Space is the Place was the soundtrack to a low budget film that Sun Ra helped write, star and produced. The movie may be forgettable but the music will live on. Some of Sun Ra's best music can be found on this disc. Filled with celestial jams and galactic funk, Sun Ra's from outer space!
There's not one bad track on this one. You can see why George Clinton made a second career by copying off of the master of space jazz. If you like real jazz or psychedelic music this is a must!

Highly recommended music.

This is a stupid review but I'm a stupid kid. The above statement is false. My dog is not only alive but infact is a female. This CD is reccomended. It's just as weird as Trout Mask Replica if not more surprisingly so but on the other hand hasn't made me vomit yet like Trout Maks Replica did... It's After The End of the World! Now you know.

If you have seen the Arkestra live, you will know that these songs represent songs that he performed quite a bit live. It just seems that this doesn't represent quite the strength that these tunes usually represent. It's still good, and not a bad one to pick up if you are new to Sun Ra, but you might start with Sun Song and Sound Sun Pleasure.

...don't you know? this album cries for an ode to RA! Space is the place, don't you know? get with it people, get lost with this album, or just leave this planet. You're obviously bored with planet earth if haven't heard this yet.