Sun Ra - Dieswärts (1982) [bootleg]

The Dieswärts bootleg LP (the title is a German coinage that means "thiswards") was released in small numbers in 1998 in Germany; the sleeve claims 300 copies were pressed.  Its sleeve and (misleading) insert both give it a catalog number Ur-Anus TRT0198; the center label has no number; and the matrix numbers are MZE 8785/A and MZE 8786/A.

The LP contains material from both July 22 and 23, 1982 (this session and the preceeding one), and also rips off the 1933 Clarence Williams track "Chocolate Avenue" composed by Sonny Blount -- see below.

Dieswärts somehow manages to confuse track titles even more than its cassette predecessors (Sun Ra on Earth [Cosmic Duck] / Sun Ra Live in Berlin [JVK]) ("Summit of Love," "Duke," "Helloween") -- a difficult task, but they managed it!  Artwork from both the JVK and Cosmic Duck cassette releases is reproduced on the insert included with Dieswärts, along with unauthorized extracts from Geerken and Hefele's book Omniverse Sun Ra (including portions of an essay by rlc).

Dieswärts claims that the July 23, 1982, material comes from Mannheim, June 24, 1982.  The Material does not in fact come from that date (our thanks to Hartmut Geerken for thoroughly checking several different tape sources) -- it is definitely from the current session.

Chocolate Avenue

Sonny began to compose when he was 15 or 16 years old; his best friend, Avery Parrish, challenged him to write a piece.  According to an interview with the Hinds brothers on My 3, 1990, his first composition was titled "Chocolate Avenue."  Sonny sent it to Clarence Williams, who used it on a recording session without crediting him or,  of course, paying him.  James Jacson confirmed that Sunny occasionally mentioned this episode, though without naming the composition.

"Chocolate Avenue" was indeed recorded by Clarence Williams (p, idr) with Ed Allen (cnt), Cecil Scott (cl), and Floyd Casey (washboard) -- we can safely assume this was not Sonny's intended orchestration! -- on September 1, 1933.  It appeared on Vocalion 2584, with no composer listed on the label (John Szwed has verified this by inspecting an original 78 at the Institute of Jazz Studies).  It was reissued in 1995 on the CD Clarence Williams 1933, Classics 845.  It has also been reissued on Robert Parker's Clarence Williams 1927-1934 compilation CD (Australian Broadcasting Company 836-829) and on a Swaggie LP.  Once it became widely known in 1996 that Sonny was the composer of "Chocolate Avenue," the piece even showed up on a bootleg Sun Ra LP from Germany (Dieswärts).

 From The Earthly Recordings of Sun Ra 2nd ed.


368. [275] Sun Ra Arkestra

Sun Ra (p, org, syn, voc); Ronnie Brown (tp); Longineu Parsons (tp); Tyrone Hill (tb); Marshall Allen (as, fl, ob, EVI, kora, perc); John Gilmore (ts, cl, EVI, timb); Danny Ray Thompson (bars fl, EVI,  perc); James Jacson (bsn, fl, Inf-d); Eloe Omoe (as, bcl, cacl, EVI, perc); Rollo Radford (standup eb); Hayes Burnett (b); Tommy "Bugs" Hunter (d); Clifford Jarvis (d); Samarai Celestial (d); June Tyson (voc); Beverley Parsons (dance); Carla Washington (dance); Greg Pratt (dance).

Quartier Latin, West Berlin, 

West Germany, July 22, 23, 1982

MANY Thanks once again to Vinylust for offering a FLAC rip of his treasured LP.

Dieswärts

1. Summit Of Love    7:00 

2. Karawane    24:38 

3. Helloween (Halloween in Harlem)    5:55 

4. Tomorrow (?) (Theme of the Stargazers)     7:24 

5. Who In The World    4:33 

6. Duke    3:03 

7. Chocolate Avenue (Clarence Williams And His Orchestra)    2:56

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