Sun Ra

Useful primer here https://daily.bandcamp.com/features/sun-ra-album-guide

Several albums now on Bandcamp

And a new album from the Arkestra is due to be released next month

http://www.strut-records.com/sun-ra-arkestra-under-the-direction-of-marshall-allen-swirling/

 

Sound American journal recently dedicated an issue to Sun Ra: https://soundamerican.org/issues/sun-ra

 

Nice primer.

The 1960’s Choreographer’s Workshop still my favourite Ra period. Anything could - and usually did - happen.

I see the RSD Egypt Live vinyl box set evaporated quickly, with quite a few copies already on Discogs at least double retail. Surprise, surprise, my copy never appeared. For the early 70s live Cosmo Drama material, this is as good as it gets, and Sun Ra felt very much at home and inspired in Egypt.

 

I thought the Egypt Live might be worth getting as well, but had no luck either.

 

I saw him live in NYC in the 1960s. The kitsch theatricality always detracted from the otherwise excellent musicianship.

 

Would that have been Slug’s Saloon? Or one of the universities?

More Ra in the Wire, out today:

https://www.thewire.co.uk/issues/440

It includes an invaluable and highly informed article by Chris Trent on posthumous Ra reissues and rediscovered material, what to aim for and which to avoid.

 

He was from Saturn!

Why would he and rest of the band dress like they were from earth? they were from another dimension!

 

The Art Yard Facebook page says the Egypt set will be available soon on CD.

 

Slugs'. Hah. Takes me back. What a funky place. I was from the Lower East Side and very into Free Jazz as a kid. But no, it wasn't at Slugs'. I saw him & the Arkestra twice, once in a loft somewhere downtown and then a year or so later in a performance space in Chelsea -- all long gone now.

 

Yes, I let my Wire digital subs elapse; I've been thimking of renewing it of late.

 

I was thinking of letting mine expire, but as long as I treat it as an extended news bulletin I find I’m not too disappointed. Occasionally there are some good articles.

 

There was a thread sometime back along the lines of having access to a time machine and which musical event(s) would you visit? Mine would be where you were in the late 60s, attending Slugs on a weekly basis to hear Sun Ra’s band evolve, and catching artists such as Terry Riley, La Monte Young, Tony Conrad and Angus McLise etc do their stuff. I have yet to meet anyone who was actually there.

 

The downtown music & arts scene stayed very vibrant right up to the 1980s and gentrification. I left the city (and the States) in '85 when crack was wreaking havoc in shitty neighbo(u)hoods like the Lower East Side. I now lead a nice quiet life tending the veg and fruit in my allotment and don't really think too much about the past. Now's the time.

 

There is hope - the Art Yard website - posted yesterday - is now saying LP, CD and DL available later this week.

Art Yard have also kindly posted the entire sleeves notes from the forthcoming set, some having appeared in the Omniverse book. Some great anecdotes from the people who were there and generally entertaining bedtime reading:

http://artyardrecords.co.uk/new-releases/sun-ra-egypt-71/

 

The three main Sun Ra Egypt titles on Strut LP are available individually at Honest Jon’s (but not the RSD LP box set with extra material).

The complete Egypt CD box set is also there - which includes extra unreleased material.

For those that enjoy Ra’s Moog flights, I highly recommend Nidhamu - a personal favourite.

 

Love Sun Ra. What a character. They don't do them like him anymore.

 

I like this story...

‘Admitted to hospital during his last illness, Ra so perturbed the doctor on duty, having listed his birthplace as Saturn on his medical card, that he called down a neurologist to check the old guy out. The neurologist came down, looked at him and said, "This is Sun Ra. Of course he's from Saturn."’

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/oct/22/jazz

 

Art Yard have posted some great photos from the recording session of the new Arkestra release Swirling.

Both Danny Ray Thompson and Akatune have passed away since this session.

https://artyardrecords.co.uk/new-releases/the-sun-ra-arkestra-directed-by-marshall-allen-swirling/

 

Strut have a bundle of the three previously released LPs for £41.99: https://strut.k7store.com/release/205342-sun-ra-egypt-1971

 

I have original Saturn LPs of Egypt Vol 1 and Nidhamu, and Horizons arrived today so I now have the Egypt trilogy. It looks nicely done, a copy of a DIY cut and paste original, including the record labels (the original probably belonging to Peter Dennett of Art Yard). Interesting to compare the hand made roughness of an original to the pristine appearance of a reissue.

Still tempted by the CD set for the unreleased material.