Sun Ra - Monorails and Satellites Vols. 1 & 2 (1968, 69)

 Monorails and Satellites Vols. I & II

Monorails and Satellites (Evidence ECD 22013-2)
Originally released as El Saturn SR 509 in 1968

Monorails and Satellites Vol.  II

(released as El Saturn SR 519 in 1969)

Material for both LPs recorded at Sun Studio, New York, NY prob. 1966

Saturn SR 509, Monorails and Satellites, was issued in 1968, according to John Szwed, who bought his copy then.  All titles from this album were reissued in 1992 on Evidence 22013 [CD].  Saturn LP 519, Monorails and Satellites Vol. II, was probably issued in 1969.  Some copies carry the serial number Saturn ESR 9691.  Date given on the Evidence reissue; 1967 is also possible.  The amateurish recording quality and the ringing telephone at the end of "Skylight" suggest a home recording.

In the first edition of the discography, Sun Ra was also credited with "electronics" on "Astro Vision" (these have even been heard as a synthesizer, but the date is too early for that).  Hartmut Geerken correctly pointed out that the "electronics" were produced by recording bass and drums with reverb so heavy as to produce major distortion.  The likely suspects are Ronnie Boykins and Tommy Hunter.  James Wolf believes a conga player was also present.

From The Earthly Recordings of Sun Ra 2nd ed.

While Sun Ra is highly regarded as a pioneer of electric keyboards in jazz, his prodigious gifts as a pianist have largely been overlooked, obscured by and subsumed within the Arkestra’s overall musical activities. Monorails and Satellites is one of the very few solo piano recordings Ra ever made and it is a fascinating document of his instrumental technique and singular musical thinking. Ra does not possess a dazzling virtuosity, but he approaches the piano as an immense orchestra, full of vibrant colors and contrasting timbres. Like a child at play, Ra delights in the resonant rumbling of the lowest octaves and the plinking, chattering chimes of the highest notes above. But Ra’s two-hand independence is sometimes truly astonishing: each hand in a different meter, in a different key, ten fingers layering multiple outer and inner melodies to create complex rhythmic/harmonic webs. Ra’s touch is aggressive yet supple, achieving illusionistic “bent” note effects. In a 1991 interview with Keyboard magazine, Ra was asked if he could hear quarter tones, the notes “between the notes” on a piano:

Oh, yeah, I’m using these intervals. You see, the way you attack a note can create those effects. Depending on how hard you hit the key, you can hear the third or the fourth or the fifth – those sounds in the cracks – coming out. So the touch, the attack, is very important. When I hit a note, the undertones also sound. With the undertones and overtones blended, I can get quarter-tones. Not too many piano players have that touch. […] I sing that way too, dividing the octave into 24 or 36 steps, just like the Indian singers do. I’m doing world music (quoted in Szwed, p.240).

To continue reading the entire review please visit Nuvoid's Sun Ra Sundays.

It’s too bad Evidence was unable to secure the rights to reissue Monorails and Satellites Vol.2 (released as El Saturn SR 519 in 1969), which contains additional solo piano music recorded at the same session (and would have easily fit on CD). Interestingly, “Astro Vision” opens with a bit of musique concrete with Ra’s sprightly piano set against sheets of howling electronic noise, generated by contact microphones and overdriven, distorted reverb (Boykins and Hunter are the likely suspects). It sounds to me like the effect was overdubbed after the fact, since Ra does not interact with it in any way and the noise eventually subsides some time before he finishes. Curious. The remainder of the album consists of four piano solos that are more expansive than on Vol.1, but also more diffuse. Several of the longer pieces reply upon an improvised, episodic construction that moves from ambiguous chordal statements through gentle ballad forms until finally evolving into furiously dissonant two-fisted attacks. “Solar Boats” is a little different and sounds more pre-arranged: Ra’s left hand sets up an off-kilter 5/4 groove while his right hand tosses off pan-tonal melodies and strident, widely-spaced chords. Vol.2 contains a great deal of dynamic pianism, but lacks Vol.1’s compact cohesiveness. Even so, it is well worth seeking out, if only for another opportunity to hear Sun Ra alone at the piano with his musical thoughts.

from  Nuvoid's Sun Ra Sundays

Sun Ra (p); Ronnie Boykins (b -1); Tommy Hunter (d, reverb -1); unidentified (cga -1) 

 Monorails and Satellites / Monorails and Satellites Vol. II

Monorails and Satellites

Space Towers    3:37

Cogitation    6:35

Skylight    3:59

The Alter Destiny    3:08

Easy Street   3:38
Blue Differentials    2:54

Monorails And Satellites    5:36

The Galaxy Way    3:17

Monorails and Satellites Vol. II

Astro Vision (-1)    3:21

The Ninth Eye    9:21

Solar Boats    5:05

Perspective Prisms of Is    6:28

Calundronius    8:20

(Both Volumes)

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Many THANKS to Paul W. for the FLAC rip of his Vol. II LP.