Sun Ra
Assorted Reissues
»
Sun Ra
Assorted Reissues
Evidence, 2000
RiYL: Miles Davis' On The Corner, Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman |
The indie label Evidence has already built quite a case for the genius of avant-garde keyboardist/composer Sun Ra with 16 reissues. Having scoured the archives of Sun Ra's own El Saturn label, Evidence here offers four more rare albums and a greatest hits collection: When Angels Speak Of Love, Pathways To Unknown Worlds + Friendly Love, Lanquidity, The Great Lost Sun Ra Albums: Cymbals And Crystal Spears, and Greatest Hits: Easy Listening For Intergalactic Travel
Sun Ra, born Herman "Sunny" Blount (1914-1993), was known as much for the otherworldly sideshow that followed the various incarnations of his Arkestra band as the music it created. Bizarrely costumed dancers and the occasional fire-eater and plate-twirler joined the band onstage.
And then there was the mythology: Sun Ra claimed to be an extraterrestrial from Saturn. His band had all the makings of a cult. Some members like tenor saxophonist John Gilmore, alto saxophonist Marshall Allen, trumpeter Doug Williams and multiple reedman Leroy Taylor were not only devoted to Ra for many decades, they changed their name to Ra-like pseudonyms (Taylor to Eloe Omoe and Williams to Akh Tal Ebah) and lived with their leader in the commune-like House of Ra in Philadelphia and New York.
But, of course, none of this should overshadow the music, with its polyrhythms, R&B and world-music influences, frequent lapses into atonality and trademark sci-fi electronic effects. It wasn't free jazz -- let's make that very clear. Sun Ra held a certain disdain for those "freedom boys" Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor and Albert Ayler.
"I don't play freedom," he said, "because there is no freedom in the universe."
Indeed, even during moments of "guided" improvisation, Sun Ra kept firm control over his soloists. John Corbett, in his liner notes to the Evidence release When Angels Speak of Love, writes that Sun Ra often said that when musicians joined the Arkestra they entered the "Ra jail."
"I can write something so chaotic you would say you know it's not written. But the reason it's chaotic is because it's written to be. It's further out than anything [the musicians] would be doing if they were just improvising," Ra said.
The true surprise, however, of Evidence's latest batch of releases is that Sun Ra and his Arkestra were just as likely to play straight, to play swing tunes by Ellington and Gershwin with little or no deviation from the mainstream. Sun Ra's experience with the seminal swing outfit led by Fletcher Henderson in the 1940s shines through on the early tracks of Greatest Hits: Easy Listening For Interstellar Travel.
And then there's the album Lanquidity, whose groovy rhythms and organ noodling by Sun Ra sound more like flat-out R&B and funk than the jazz avant garde. With this disc it becomes clear how funkmeister George Clinton and Phish count the Arkestra as one of their influences.
There's much to be explored here. Initiates to Sun Ra would be best off starting with Evidence's Greatest Hits compilation. It spans the Arkestra's peak recorded output on El Saturn records from 1956 to '73 and aptly demonstrates the band's innovations while remaining accessible to average listener.
My only beef is that this disc makes absolutely no effort provide any band info, making it impossible (unless, of course, you pick up the individual releases from which this compilation was composed) to give credit where credit is due to any of the soloists.
"Kingdom Of Not," a hip, laidback tune with handclap accompaniment and vaguely bosso synthesized rhythm, and the bluesy "Enlightenment," with its sweet swinging tenor intro, are two highlights from the late '50s recordings.
As far as pure pop statements go, nothing beats the infectious "We Travel The Spaceways," with its vocal chant/chorus "We travel / the spaceways / from planet / to planet" and memorable comping by Ra on keys.
And then, for those looking for something a little more out there -- way out there -- there's the bizarre "We'll Wait For You," with its "so bad it's embarrassing" opening script and sci-fi sound effects.
The true gem of Evidence's series, however, is the incredible Cymbals, the first disc of a 2-CD set of "lost" Sun Ra albums. Cymbals and its companion Crystal Spears were two albums scheduled for release on ABC's Impulse! label, but, as detailed by Ed Michel's extensive liner notes, the "shirts" backed out at the last moment. Cymbals and Crystal Spears were boxed up, shipped back to El Saturn, and shelved.
It's a tragedy that Cymbals took so long to see the light of day. "Thoughts Under A Dark Blue Light" is arguably the best track in this entire batch of Evidence releases. Sun Ra lays down some serious grooves on organ while John Gilmore on tenor and Akh Tal Ebah on trumpet tear into some quality solos. The whole tune is on par with anything you'd hear on an Art Blakey or Horace Silver Blue Note recording -- except perhaps, for the tail end of Gilmore's solo, when he starts wailing with little attention to melody or form. Powerful stuff.
The rest of Cymbals, as well as the less-impressive Crystal Spears, feature the Arkestra at its most experimental. This strange music isn't for everyone, but for those listeners with open ears, Sun Ra's solos on organ, electric piano, Rockichord, and Moog (particularly on "The Order of the Pharonic Jesters" and the eerie, sparse runs over Ronnie Boykins' bass on "The World of the Invisible") are not to be missed.
The other albums, When Angels Speak of Love and Pathways to Unknown Worlds + Friendly Love, are worth investigating if Cymbals whets your appetite.
On Angels, the earliest of the albums in this batch, Sun Ra sounds vaguely like a young Cecil Taylor, with his dense clusterbomb attacks on the keys. The title track, a loungy ballad, features an appealing baritone solo by Pat Patrick, managing -- just barely -- to overcome Thomas 'Bugs' Hunter's horse-plodding percussion.
"Friendly Love," a four-part suite of "guided" improvisation, is the highlight of the Pathways disc. Trumpeter Kwame Hadi makes a remarkably graceful statement amidst the schizophrenic wails of Akh Tal Ebah on such experimental noisemakers as the "Neptunian libflecto" and "space dimension mellophone." And just when you might think the steam has run out on this meditative piece, Atakatune's congos escort Gilmore into a passionate solo to finish things off.
Do you need any more "evidence" that the Arkestra was an incredible band?
RYAN HAWKINS |