Sun Ra Arkestra

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The Sun Ra Arkestra

My first introduction to Sun Ra's music was at Michael Ray (one of Sun Ra Arkestra's trumpet players) house in New Orleans in the late 1990's.

Michael Ray put on a show after Jazz Fest at his home and I had never heard music like that before. It blew me away.

The next year at Detroit's Jazz Festival I was able to see the Sun Ra Arkestra band perform with out the late great Sun Ra. Again, the music was mind blowing and it took me to outer space.

From then on I have been a Sun Ra Arkestra fan and I greatly appreciate what they did for music and culture.

Sun Ra Bio 

Sun Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, legal name 'Le Sonyr Ra'Swzed, p. 83; May 22 1914 in Birmingham, Alabama - May 30 1993 in Birmingham, Alabama) was a jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his "cosmic philosophy," musical compositions and performances.

"Of all the jazz musicians, Sun Ra was probably the most controversial," critic Scott Yanow said,http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:39ftxqtgld0e~T1 due to Sun Ras eclectic music and unorthodox lifestyle. Claiming that he was of the "Angel Race" and not from Earth, but from Saturn, Sun Ra developed a complex persona of "cosmic" philosophies and lyrical poetry that made him a pioneer of afrofuturism as he preached awareness and peace above all. He abandoned his birth name and took on the name and persona of Sun Ra (Ra being the ancient Egyptian god of the sun), and used several other names throughout his career, including Le Sonra and Sonny Lee. Blount denied any connection with birth name, saying "That's an imaginary person, never existed ? Any name that I use other than Ra is a pseudonym."

From the mid-1950s to his death, Sun Ra led "The Arkestra" (a deliberate re-spelling of "orchestra"), an ensemble with an ever-changing lineup and name (it was also called "The Solar Myth Arkestra", "His Cosmo Discipline Arkestra", the "Blue Universe Arkestra", "The Jet Set Omniverse Arkestra", and many other permutations; Sun Ra asserted that the ever-changing name of his ensemble reflected the ever-changing nature of his music.) His mainstream success was limited, but Sun Ra was a prolific recording artist and frequent live performer, Sun Ra's music ranged from keyboard solos to big bands of over 30 musicians; his music touched on virtually the entire history of jazz, from ragtime to swing music, from bebop to free jazz; he was also a pioneer of electronic music, space music,Szwed (1999), according to author Norman Mailer in 1956, quoted on page 154: "a friend took me to hear a jazz musician named Sun Ra who played 'space music.' " and according to Sun Ra himself, also in 1956, quoted on page 384: "When I say space music, I'm dealing with the void, because that is of space too... So I leave the word space open, like space is supposed to be." and on page 247, in an interview, Sun Ra states: "sometimes when I'm playing for a band, playing space music... I'm using ordinary instruments, but actually I'm using them in a manner... transforming certain ideas over into a language which the world can understand." and free improvisation, and was one of the first musicians, regardless of genre, to make extensive use of electronic keyboards.

Sun Ra Arkestra - Retrospect (1990) 

David Sanborn interview and introduction of Sun Ra and his Arkestra on "Night Music" in 1990.
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Sun Ra, New York City 1976

Sun Ra Arkestra Music 

Destination Unknown

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New Horizons

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Space Is the Place

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Jazz in Silhouette

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What Planet Is This?

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Sun Ra - Space Is The Place DVD Video Clip 

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Space Is The Place On DVD 

Sun Ra - Space Is The Place

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This peculiar, rather warped feature is a product of the highly original mind of the late "musician-thinker" Sun Ra (the former Herman "Sonny" Blount, an accomplished jazz pianist and bandleader). The 82-minute, 1974 film melds effects that are straight out of '50s Japanese sci-fi, politics reflecting '60s racial radicalism, and the overall vibe of '70s blaxploitation films, with some African-Egyptian mythology thrown in for good measure. It isn't exactly a masterpiece of cinema; the production values are mediocre, the story is thin (Ra, who co-wrote, portrays an alien who offers oppressed African Americans the opportunity to seek their "alter-destiny" in outer space; complications ensue before his spaceship departs with true believers on board), the acting amateurish. But it's entertaining--Ra's array of costumes (especially his headgear) is impressive, and we do at least get a taste of his Intergalactic Solar Arkestra's heady brew of avant-garde jazz. --Sam Graham

Sun Ra On The Keys Live 

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Sun Ra Arkestra Performing Face The Music 

Sun Ra and his Arkestra performing "Face the Music" on the TV show "Night Music" in 1990. The band features John Gilmore, Marshall Allen, June Tyson, etc.
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Sun Ra Arkestra "Shadow World" West Berlin 

We must all learn to travel the spacewaves if we want peace in this world.
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SUN RA "Calling Planet Earth" 

Arkestra and Bill Sebastian take us
on an outerspace voyage.
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Sun Ra Arkestra

Literature On Sun Ra And His Music 

Sun Ra: Collected Works Vol. 1 - Immeasurable Equation

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Space Is The Place: The Lives And Times Of Sun Ra

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Pathways to Unknown Worlds: Sun Ra, El Saturn and Chicago's Afro-Futurist Underground, 1954-68

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Sun Ra: The Immeasurable Equation. The collected Poetry and Prose

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Sun Ra Arkestra Online Resources 

Official website of the Sun Ra Arkestra
Home of the Sun Ra Arkestra under the Direction of Marshall Allen.
SATURN: Sun Ra and the Arkestra
Sun Ra, the Arkestra, and Free Jazz
Sun Ra: Stranger from the Outer Space
Article by Mike Walsh about the life, music, and philosophies of jazz band leader Sun Ra. This article is part of mission creep online publishing.

What Do You Think About The Music Of The Sun Ra Arkestra 

susannaduffy wrote...

I've never heard if this group before but, after reading this and watching the videos, I'm practically an expert! Thanks

ReplyPosted April 26, 2009

RolandTumble wrote...

I got to see the Arkestra, with Sun Ra, play live twice in the late '70s/early '80s (don't recall exactly, at this remove...). Wonderful stuff--I find most "straight" jazz boring, but that's something you could never accuse Sun Ra of being.

ReplyPosted December 11, 2008

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