Sun Ra Live 3LP Box Set!
Carefully Mastered by Matt Bordin at Outside Inside Studio!
Born Herman Poole Blount in Alabama in 1914, Sun Ra first emerged on the Chicago jazz scene during the late 1940s. One of the great avant-garde composers of his generation - leading the way on piano, organ, and (eventually) synthesizer - beginning in the mid-1950s and lasting until his death in 1993, led the Arkestra, a band through which a near-countless number of important artists passed and collaborated with, and many remained for the duration of their careers, notably Marshall Allen, John Gilmore, and June Tyson. Known for their wild costumes and theatrics, Ra's eccentric image and claims that he was from Saturn were deeply political, imagining an alternate social order, history, and future for African Americans that rests as a pioneering force in the Afro-Futurist movement.
Recorded live at Teatro Giulio Cesare on March 28, 1980, comprising an astounding 27 compositions, including the highly celebrated "Astro Black," "Mr. Mystery," "Romance of Two Planets," "Space Is the Place," "We Travel the Spaceways," and "Calling Planet Earth," over six vinyl sides. High among the greatest live gigs by the Arkestra captured on tape, carefully mastered by Matt Bordin at Outside Inside Studio, Live in Rome 1980 is a near-perfect snapshot of the band's versatility and range, including many of their most notable and famous songs, as well as striking renditions of the Horace Henderson-penned Benny Goodman number "Big John's Special," Fletcher Henderson's "Yeah Man!," and "Limehouse Blues," displaying Ra's willingness to address and rework the entire, diverse history of jazz in a single go.
Heard in its totality, perhaps what makes Live in Rome 1980 most striking is the way in which the concert plays out. Roughly the first half encounters the band locked in some of the most out-there, free jazz fire that can be imagined, weaving a startling sense of interplay and furious energy into a brilliant tapestry of writhing sonority, the likes of which were only really achieved by this band. The second half, with only moments of exception that return to the furious energy of the first, is a very different affair, easy toward the vocal standards, led by June Tyson's vocals and the joyous collective chanting of the band, for which they have become so widely celebrated, threading the sounds of off-kilter big band swing with heavy grooves and imagines of outer space.
Features
- 3LP Box Set
- Mastered by Matt Bordin at Outside Inside Studio
- Lacquer Cut by Daniel Krieger at SST, Frankfurt am Main
- Box with Lift-Off Lid
- Import
Musicians
Sun Ra | piano, keyboards, vocals |
---|---|
Noel Scott | alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, percussion |
Marshall Allen | alto saxophone, flute, oboe |
Danny Ray Thompson | baritone saxophone, flute |
Chris Henderson | drums |
Eric "Samurai" Walker | drums |
Kenny Williams | tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, percussion |
John Gilmore | tenor saxophone, percussion |
Michael Ray | trumpet |
June Tyson | vocals |
Selections
Side A:
- Kora and Drum Intro
- Pleiades
- Cosmo-Communication
Side B:
- Tapestry from an Asteroid
- Astro Black / The Strange Worlds in My Mind
- The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise / Mr. Mystery
- Discipline 27
- Romance of Two Planets
Side C:
- Blues Roma
- Big John's Special
- Yeah Man!
- Springtime Again
- Limehouse Blues
Side D:
- Watusa
- Lights on a Satellite
- Spontaneous Simplicity
Side E:
- Enlightment
- Space Is the Place / We Travel the Spaceways
- Nothing Is
- Children of the Sun
Side F:
- Calling Planet Earth / On Jupiter
- Hit That Jive Jack
- King Porter Stomp
- Sun Ra and His Band from Outer Space