Sun Ra Astro Back (LP)

(Modern Harmonic) 4 tracks

Astro-Black mythology, astro-timeless immortality!

Astro Black has long been known as a cornerstone of the Ra catalog. It is well recorded, features a superb Arkestral lineup, and successfully combines several of the styles in which Sun Ra orbited, from Saturnic jazz to astro-funk. And now it’s finally back in the earthly bins! Pressed on colored vinyl, and packaged with new cover art, with liner notes by Robert Campbell (author of The Earthly Recordings of Sun Ra), and includes a poster insert of the original album artwork!

Although Astro Black was obviously professionally produced in a recording studio, no one is entirely sure where or when. The jacket of the original release gave the date as May 7, 1972, and the location as “El Saturn Studio,” Chicago. There never was such an animal as the El Saturn studio, in Chicago or in any other town. Yet it was routinely cited as the venue for Saturn/Impulse! recordings, no matter how old they were or where they were originally from. Besides, May 1972 was the month that the Arkestrans had to pack up all their belongings and leave the house they had been staying in in Oakland, California, because they gotten on the wrong side of the Black Panthers. The road trip from Oakland back to Philadelphia would have taken some time.

The title track was a vehicle for Arkestral vocalist June Tyson, who had been with the band since 1967 and was in absolute peak form in 1972. Meanwhile, Ronnie Boykins, who had been Sunny’s full-time bassist from 1957 through 1968, was a welcome guest on this occasion. It is his ostinato that holds the theme statement together, and his arco that guides and accompanies Sunny on his space wandering, where they are joined by Akh Tal Ebah on trumpet, and by the ecstatically interweaving alto saxes of Marshall Allen and Danny Davis. A trio of wriggling alto (Danny Davis), mini-Moog synthesizers, and high bowed bass develops, with Sunny and Ronnie accompanying Tyson’s hushed recapitulation. This is one of the Arkestra’s greatest performances.

Packaged with new cover art, with liner notes by Robert Campbell (author of The Earthly Recordings of Sun Ra).

Sun Ra

Sun Ra

Sun Ra was an American experimental and avant-garde jazz composer and musician (piano, organ, keyboard), poet and philosopher. He was born on 22 May 1914 as Herman'Sonny' Blount in Birmingham, Alabama and died on 30 May 1993 in his birthplace.

myth

Sun Ra was already considered a myth during his lifetime and until today as one of the most wicked jazz musicians of this world (or the Orbit?). With his very own style and innovative ideas, he polarized the critics and the audience. For some he was a brilliant innovator, for others a charlatan. However, it is undisputed that Sun Ra is one of the pioneers of free jazz.

Arkestra

His bizarre astrological sermons and philosophies made him as famous as his musical compositions and performances. In 1952 he gave up his birth name and took the name Sun Ra (Ra is the name of the ancient Egyptian sun god) and conducted an orchestra with a constantly changing line-up, the famous Arkestra. The most notable members of the Arkestra were the saxophonists John Gilmore, who in turn strongly influenced John Coltrane, and Marshall Allen, who still leads the Arkestra today. The word Arkestra was developed by Sun Ra as a connection from ark to orchestra.

Cosmic Jazz

In the 1950s, Sun Ras first developed music from swing, with which he began his career in the 1940s,'reinventing' himself by using the science fiction hype, devoting himself to space issues and giving his new sounds the label'Cosmic Jazz'. According to music critics and jazz historians, some of his best works were created during this period. Notable Sun-Ra albums of the 1950s include many Super-Sonic Jazz, Sun Ra Visits Planet Earth, Interstellar Low Ways, Angels And Demons At Play, We Travel The Spaceways and Jazz in Silhouette.

Saturn

As early as the 1950s, the eccentric began wearing strange costumes and headdress in Egyptian style. He claimed he came from the planet Saturn and developed an artificial figure of lyrical poetry and'cosmic' philosophies preaching peace and consciousness. Unlike many black musicians of his generation, he rarely talked about controversial topics. He preferred to make music while the ensemble of musicians who worked with him and toured with him was constantly changing.

The Sixties, 70s and beyond

In the 1960s, Sun Ras music became increasingly experimental with a tendency towards chaos. During this period his popularity reached its peak when Beat Generation and Psychedelic Rock discovered Sun Ra for themselves.

During the 1970s and beyond, the music of Sun Ra and the Arkestra developed in conventional directions, but still highly eclectic and energetic. With the singer June Tyson he brought jazz standards to the stage in a captivating way and began to process parts of Walt Disney's music from the Disney films. In the late 1980s, the Arkestra even gave a concert in Disney World.

Sun Ra has recorded over 100 albums from 1956 to 1993. Some were released on his own label El Saturn and many others under the name Sun Ra & His Arkestra and numerous variations of them (Sun Ra & His Solar Arkestra, Sun Ra & His Myth Science Arkestra, etc.).