Search & Destroy: Sun Ra

huh I wonder how that book of poetry compares with the other one I already have

WKCR centennial celebration:

http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/wkcr/story/sun-ra-centennial-festival-monday-may-19-sunday-may-25

Our festival will involve both show-specific programming throughout the week, as well as a 48-hour continuous broadcast on Thursday May 22nd and Friday May 23rd. To begin, the Monday May 19th, Tuesday May 20th, and Wednesday May 21st "Out to Lunches" (12-3pm) will consist of "Intro to Ra" programming, featuring some of Ra's most acclaimed recordings, as well as archived interviews with Ra himself. The Wednesday May 21st "Musician's Show" (6-9pm) will air a recent interview with long-time Arkestra trumpeter Chris Capers. The culminating event, the 48-hour broadcast on Thursday and Friday, will look at a range of Ra's work, including pivotal live sets, regional sessions, his solo work, key Arkestra members, and more. The centennial festival will conclude on Sunday, May 25th, with an in-depth look at some of Ra's earlier controversial, avant-garde work on the early morning "Jazz 'til Dawn" (1-6am) and a focus on notable Arkestra members with significant distinct careers on the afternoon "Jazz Profiles" (2-7pm).

Thanks so much for posting that, Tarfumes. Today's Out To Lunch started with the more mainstream-progressive, Ellington-influenced tracks from LPs like Jazz In Silhoutte (which incl maybe the earliest version of "Ancient Aethopia", which leads us to the brink, with breezes from afar), and then to more adventurous music from the same era (late 50s-early 60s). Thee stealthy cosmic brinkmanship becomes a recurring tactic in these selections; also a not-R&b/rock-yet-r&b/rockhead-luring approach (though no electric bass etc., not yet)keeps things from being too navel-gazing. Overall, the courteously challenging approach suggests Dr. Leary & associates' set-and-setting acid sessions; DJ is describing the intriguing artwork and other marketing aspects (LPs would appear at campus radio stations, with no prior or following press sheets etc.)

These bold-edged, small combo and maybe octet selections from The Nubians of Plutonia seem like good places to start, whatever your tastes: tautly, unmistakably Ra.

this is fantastic office listening, thanks for the heads up

Not that I like them all in the same way, or to the same degree, but the album seems meant to be more of a sampler. Now: "Circe," getting more exotica again, while leading off When Sun Comes Out.

"We travelll, the space-wayys, from plan-ett, to planet."

Finally! Into the Skronk!

This existed at the same time as Giant Steps and Ornette and Mingus...and yet somehow, is in another dimension entirely.

Cosmic Tones! Might be my favorite Ra record.

Dig the beginning:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BslNucq9jXo

Yep, finishing today's lunch with selections from Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy, a pick-me-up (and veer me through the spheres, set me down walking briskly). And a couple from one I haven't heard, The Universe In Blue/. Clavinet shuffle, June Tyson singing: "I hope you understand/Pharoah was sittin' on his throne/When the black man ruled this land/I hope you understand/I hope you understand..." Now the clavinet lattice is swaying, drum is not swayed.

I don't think I've heard The Universe In Blue!

Rightat the end with a couple (first a slightly refracted starlight boogie) from Night of the Purple Moon.

Part of press release email I received today

The Sun Ra Mastered for iTunes releases include material culled from session and rehearsal tapes, and production and album masters. The series includes a significant amount of previously unreleased material, some stereo mixes of tracks previously available only in mono, and complete versions of tracks which had been edited for the original LPs. Many of these tapes, and the records that were made from them, are high-quality lo-fi, having been recorded in studios, nightclubs, and ad hoc rehearsal spaces.

list of the remasters

Angels and Demons at Play
Astro Black
Atlantis
Bad and Beautiful
Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy
Fate In a Pleasant Mood
Holiday For Soul Dance
Interstellar Low Ways
The Invisible Shield
Jazz In Silhouette
The Magic City
Monorails and Satellites Vol. 1
Nubians of Plutonia
Other Planes of There
Sound Sun Pleasure
Strange Strings
Supersonic Jazz
Universe In Blue
Visits Planet Earth
We Travel the Spaceways
When Sun Comes Out

Holy shit I was AT that '91 Toronto gig! (Or at least may have been - saw 'em twice during the weeklong engagement.)

Currently: tracks from Nothing Is, the 1966 college tour. At the moment: "Space Aura," with rollicking piano and rhythm section, tenor and bari saxes, suave, brawny trombone, a bit of freaky unison, steaming drum solo---if doing the Downbeat blindfold test, I'd guess Mingus. Next album: Atlantis.

Man, Ra was such an underrated pianist.

Ho, this last (?) one from Nothing Is is high North Africa-suggesting reed, bass figure I've never heard anywhere before, appropriate bell tree, cowbell, cymbals, kick drum in, piano now too---nobody but Ra's crew now; starting to sing, "This is the theme of the Stargazers now/Stargazers in the sky/This is the theme of to-morr-ow's world", horns cut loose. Piano, and: "If you find Earth bor-ing, just the same old place/C'mon sign up, Outer Space-ways, in-cor-por-ray-ted", jaunty now, and splee splonk splash the good rain.////
Something else: rocksichord and oboe? Electric guitar, or more keyboard? Into Atlantis now, I think.

Yep, definitely Atlantis.

Amazingly specific sound qualities to these selections. A lot of the albums are on that xpost iTunes remasters lists; wonder of some of this is from advance copies? Heretical thoughts amidst the Vinyl Return. On tracks from Other Planes of There, feel like I'm walking around in the bells of soloing horns. Finishing up today's Lunch with some Heliocentric Worlds. Vol. 2, I think. xpost Thurs.-Fri.'s 48 hr. marathon may have me calling in, staying home in the headphonesverse.

Ha, I seriously considered calling in sick just to listen to that.

Those Atlantis tracks were terse, emphatic grooves: bass, drums, versatile electric keys; no horns (needed) on the ones I heard. True of the album as a whole? I'll have to find out.

I sure hope those remasters really are remasters. The cd versions of all those things on the Evidence label are no-noised to death and it drives me crazy! Not that I'd even remotely consider purchasing them all again, at least not in download form, but for the sake of future generations!

A physical release would be nice. I used to hope for a Mosaic-like "complete Saturn recordings of Sun Ra" box, but I suspect such a thing is impossible.

Horizons on WKCR right now! This is a great one, still un-reissued.

More fun: my buddy Josh is going to play "Space Is The Place" on the organ at Fenway Park today!

That sounds awesome. Was up in Boston this past Sunday and enjoyed the organist's work at Fenway that night.

He's fun to follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jtkantor

He'll take requests!

Thanks, I'll be thinking about that. Today I've heard more acerbic small-group flexing (really dig that sproingy keyboad) from Atlantis, natural echo, tympany and arco basses in rehearsal, but no stop-starting, just dinosaur workouts on Strange Strings, and captivating flute via "Spontaneous Simplicity," from Outer Spaceways Incorporated: more rehearsals, but with applause. Now more space boogie from xpost Night of the Purple Moon(flute, piano, oboe at the moment, in reverberating jellyfish jello). Oh yeah, and this, from this morning's Morning Edition--incl audio--music &interview excerpts--and a video; see prev. NPR on Ra linked at the bottom of text)http://www.npr.org/2014/05/22/314593139/saturn-still-swings-celebrating-sun-ra-at-100 Commotion now.

From Dow's descriptions I think I want to add Nothing Is to my modest Ra library. Emusic has a thing on ESP Disk called The Complete Nothing Is... Am I well served if I get that?

Whoa, really digging this synth thing on right now (after "My Favorite Things")! Anyone know what it's from?

It was from either New Steps or Other Voices, Other Blues; both are 70s quartet sets.This afternoon's focus on smaller groups is now curving back through the the 50s: "Deep Purple," a duet with Stuff Smith (overdubbed? Seems to be plucking and bowing simultaneously)(now it sounds like a modified organ), and others from Sun Sound Pleasure.
Jon, The Complete Nothing Is is worth checking out, if you like that approach, and prob more easily available than the original, at this point (reminds me I still haven't looked up Ra on Spotify).

Cool, thanks! I don't have much late-70s Ra, for some reason. Definitely gonna seek those out.

Just saw on Twitter than Fenway Park's organist Josh Kantor has played "Space is the Place" at today's game.

This is getting to be like supper club music (right now: "Don't Blame Me," with an unpretentious chanteuse), but really well done of its kind: like Tarfumes says, Ra really is a good pianist, whatever the context.

couple tracks with congas!

Just saw on Twitter than Fenway Park's organist Josh Kantor has played "Space is the Place" at today's game.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, May 22, 2014 4:45 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yup, posted upthread.

And of course, back up to the rooftop gardens/stations: Live At The Wonder Inn, Chicago 1960.

xpost -- Roxor. I caught that, I was more posting confirmation (and ergo, search YouTube...)

Aha, got it.

Mr.Ra providing most cogent replies to astute, erudite interviewer Phil Schaap right now (from 1980s, I think.)

The interview continues, but every now and then he pulls out something like this excursion with Wilber Ware, times the Ra core combo ( the sometimes vibes-like keys reminding me to hope that the marathon or Sunday's slight return will incl. tracks from Visions, with Vic Dickerson). This Ware shot is tip-toe through the trigger warnings, keep on keeping on.

He's also brought along an edit of the overture from nine-volume Manhattan Undertones, reminding me of the star of that movie Q The Winged Serpent, with a nest in the top of the Chrysler Building--but really, going by the tone of the preceding comments, it's tough love from the tone scientist, as he calls himself now (also a restored outtake from the Space is The Place documentary: refreshing ballad, headed upstream)

Overnight, the next five hours or so, anyway: concerts, starting well in Helsinki.

Like I said, I was wondering if some of these were the iTunes remasters--obviously some weren't, judging by occasional surface noise, tape hiss, distance, distorion (barely noticed the first two, liked the effects of the d. and d.). Well, this morning, we got a bunch of remasters announced as such, by the series co-producers, Irwin Chusid and Michael D. Anderson (keeper of the Ra-mandated sub-archive of masters, incl. material still being released for the first time). The xpost Wonder Inn tracks were brought forward a bit, closer to our table, without (any of the tracks played) losing any of their pungency. Digital has come a lonngg way.
So, they're offering samplers, as well as original albums, with prev. unreleased bonus tracks on some sets in both series. The samplers are theme-y, but even the Exotica tracks sounded fine, for the most part: the flute on one started out as watery as expected, but got a lot better, and whatever the subgenre etc,Ra always likes lots of bass (frequently arco) and percussion (frequently tympani, also timbales and whatever's handy).
Chusid said he's also working with Sun Ra LLC (in the Schaap interview, Ra said he set that up early on), "to find out where the money's going," and get some of it for Ra's heirs, like those very early members of the Arkestra still touring, and maybe not always entirely by choice.

I only have cosmic tones, magic city, Atlantis and (forgot the title) but it's p tempting to rebuy them if the sound is really refreshed.

Now: Monorails and Satellites Volume Two-- so far, more suspenseful than Volume One,, which was just played all the way through, as this will be, I assume. More about the reissues:
http://jazztimes.com/sections/news/articles/130149-sun-ra-music-archive-reissues-21-albums-exclusively-for-itunes

Solo Piano, Volume One, from 1977, produced by Paul Bley, and now Solo Piano Recital, which so far sports shorter pieces, aimed at live audience: the former (a studio set) occasionally too reliant on spaces between notes (dramatic pauses; encouraged by the usually excellent Bley's more ECM-ish influences? Surely Ra's not susceptible, so no excuse), but more often with varied ways of playing the same note, outbursts like a self=starting player piano, undertow-defying/shading waves though "Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child"--overall, both albums have me thinking of Mondrian's "Broadway Boogie Woogie" and weather.