Sun Ra - Nearly 15 Minutes of Ra, Unaccompanied (1979, 1980)

I stumbled across these videos while poking around the web this morning.  I thought they were both quite nice.  I hope you enjoy.

If anyone can point me in the direction of these shows, I'd love to hear more.  THANKS!

Sun Ra - Horizon (1972)

In 1971, in Denmark, at the end of a tour, Sun Ra suddenly decided to take his whole band to Egypt. They had no concerts and no contacts there but Ra sold some recording rights to Black Lion to pay for the tickets and they flew out. They were stopped at customs and their instruments were temporarily impounded but they were let through as tourists. Then they booked into a hotel facing the pyramid at Giza. Word got to Hartmut Geerken, then working at the Goethe institute, and he quickly threw a concert together at his house in Heliopolis, for which Brigadier Salah Ragab borrowed  army instruments for the Arkestra to play (he was later disciplined for it). Ra’s Moog had made it through customs and a Tiger Organ was hired. One of the audience (of 25) booked the band in for a Cairo TV session the following day. Then Ragab persuaded the Ministry of Culture to book a concert at the Balloon Theatre (for another tiny audience: only the first 4 rows were occupied). Two more concerts followed – at the American University (for the cab fare) and the Versailles Club. They stayed for more than a fortnight, making a film while they were there and finally, by band-members selling various personal items, raised the money to fly home.

Horizon (also known as Starwatchers and Sun Ra in Egypt Vol. 2) contains a big chunk of the now legendary Balloon Theatre concert (it burned down soon after their visit, as did the hotel in which the Arkestra stayed while they were in Cairo). The Balloon extract is an uncut block (tracks 1- 4 on the CD, side 1 of the LP) and features a lot of Sun Ra’s all-hell-let-loose Moog soloing, as well as a great version of Discipline 2. The rest of Horizon is from the Heliopolis concert, kicking off with an instrumental version of Enlightment and Love in Outer Space  (neither are on the original LP) segueing slowly into Space is the Place - followed by drum orchestra, more Ra soloing on Moog, Tiger Organ and detuned piano (bloops, hoovering, whistles, concords taking off) leading to a first lurching, then wild, Discipline 8. Two bonus tracks, for the first time restored from the original concert, follow: We’ll Wait for You (with June Tyson) and The Satellites are Spinning – which ends in full-on percussion. A classic recording of a classic band in great form.

from Jazzloft

Sun Ra & His Intergalactic Myth Science Solar Arkestra:
Horizon (Art Yard CD)

With the money obtained from Black Lion, the Arkestra was able to board the waiting plane and travel to Cairo, arriving in the evening of December 7, 1971. But they did not know anyone in Egypt and neither did they know where they were going to stay nor how they were going to pay for it. Szwed describes the scene:

When they landed they were held up at Egyptian customs because of the unlikelihood of an entire orchestra arriving as tourists and because of the name on Sun Ra’s passport. To be named after the sun god twice was really a bit too much. On the latter objection Sun Ra resourcefully suggested the guard call the curator of the National Museum of Antiquities with whom he was ready to discuss Egyptology. They let him in, but customs kept most of their instruments just in case. The band took cabs to the Mena House Hotel outside of Cairo, and they woke up the next day to see the morning fog slowly lifting to reveal the pyramid of Giza. A day later Tommy Hunter began taking motion pictures of members of the Arkestra as they faced the pyramids, while the wind made their costumes billow so it appeared they were flying. These were the films that Sun Ra would later project behind the band at Slug’s and at concerts (p.292).

Here is the film:

Thanks to Sun Ra fan, Hartmut Geerken, a German writer and free musician who was teaching at the Goethe Institute in Cairo, a series of performances were arranged, including an invitation-only concert at Geerken’s home in Heliopolis on December 12. While most of the Arkestra’s instruments were still being held by customs, they were aided by a most unlikely personage named Salah Ragab:

[He was] a brigadier general and the head of military music in the Egyptian army and himself a jazz drummer. Though he was later disciplined for the contact, he continued to meet with the band under various disguises, including once when he came with the son of [Egyptian President] Gamal Abdel Nasser, also a jazz musician. Musicians and dancers were jammed into the house with several dozen guests, but they still managed a light show and dancing, and a march throughout the house and into the garden (while the Egyptian secret police kept watch from outside) (pp.292-293).

The Arkestra also performed at the famed Ballon Theatre in Cairo on December 17 courtesy of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, who had cancelled ballet previously scheduled for that date (p.293). The concert was recorded from the stage (in mono) by Tommy Hunter and released on various impossible-to-find Saturn LPs over the years (see Campbell & Trent, pp.180-183). Most of this material was finally compiled onto a CD entitled, Horizon, and released by Art Yard in 2008. It is a truly special performance: after the cold, grueling tour of Europe, the Arkestra sounds well-rested and inspired by the ancient, mystical-- and warm -- environment. Ra sets the stage with some ominous electronics before a brief “Theme of the Stargazers” and a howling a cappella solo from Danny Davis on alto sax. The band then launches into “Discipline 2,” a moody and mysterious piece that begins with throbbing, densely harmonized horns which give way to a twittering flute choir before returning with a somber coda. Sonny then signals “The Shadow World” and we’re off to the races. This is a spectacular, seventeen minute rendition, with Ra driving the band hard and the ensemble responding with near-perfect execution of the extraordinarily complicated melody lines. Ra takes the lead with a skittering organ solo before an energetic group improvisation section that yields to Gilmore’s furiously wailing tenor sax. Yes, it’s another incredible Gilmore solo! Kwami Hadi also takes a turn on trumpet and acquits himself well, ranging around from high-wire acrobatics to smeared, low-register noodling before Ra signals the reprise. After a brief pause, Ra lightens the mood by moving into “Enlightenment,” which is joyfully taken up by June Tyson and her male choir. “Love In Outer Space” predictably follows and while this version lacks the menacing darkness heard in Paris, there’s plenty of exciting organ work and another tasty solo from Hadi.

Continue reading at NuVoid's Sun Ra Sundays

190. [166]  Sun Ra and his Astro Intergalactic Infinity Arkestra
Horizon /
Nidhamu

(personnel list adapted from 187. [163])
Sun Ra (Tiger org); Kwame Hadi (tp, cga); Marshall Allen (as, fl, perc); Danny Davis (as, fl); Larry Northington (as, cga); John Gilmore (ts, perc, d); Pat Patrick (bars, eb); Danny Thompson (bars, fl); Eloe Omoe (bck, fl); Hakim Rahim (as, fl); Clifford Jarvis (d, perc); Tommy Hunter (d, as, announcement); Lex Humphries (d); June Tyson (voc, dance); prob. Cheryl Banks (dance, voc); prob. Wisteria el Moondew [Judith Holton] (dance, voc); Richard Wilkinson (light show).

Balloon Theater, Cairo,
December 17, 1971

Saturn 1217718 was issued in the mid-1970s on the Philadelphia label as Horizon.  It also appeared on the Chicago label as Saturn LP 849.  Some copies are titled Starwatchers; others had Live in Egypt Vol. III printed on the jacket by Danny Ray Thompson.  The band was identified on this release as "Sun Ra and his Arkestra."  A final LP release of Horizon took place in 1989; the serial number was Saturn 121771, there were red-and-green labels by the Hinds Brothers, and the press run was 300 copies (Geerken and Hefele).

The concert was taped by Tommy Hunter.  All titles from this album are also included on a 60-minute audience tape; Mark Webber points out that "The Shadow World" was edited on the LP.  A tape of "Starwatchers," "The Shadow World" (edited), and "Enlightenment" was played on WKCR-FM during the 1995 Sun Ra memorial broadcast.

The Ballon (sometimes called Balloon) was a huge inflatable tent, according to Geerken; Hunter confirms this.  Shortly after this concert, the theater burned to the ground.
from The Earthly Recordings 2nd ed. Campbell/Trent

Sun Ra - Horizon 
Art Yard CD (2008)

1.    Introduction / Theme of the Stargazers   1:22 

2.    Discipline #2    5:28 

3.    The Shadow World    16:42 

4. Enlightenment    2:37 

5.    Love In Outer Space    7:13 

6.    Third Planet    6:44 

7.    Space Is The Place    6:10 

8.    Horizon, Moog Solo    5:31 

9.    Discipline #8    11:22 

10. We'll Wait For You    1:38 

11. The Satellites Are Spinning    11:14

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Sun Ra - Cosmos (1976) New Links

First issued in France on Cobra COB 37001, Cosmos, in 1976.  Also issued shortly thereafter on Musicdistribution 600005 and Inner City IC 1020.  All tracks reissued in France on Buda 82479 [CD] in 1991; unfortunately, Bunn's electric bass is mixed too loud on this reissue.  Information from the album jacket.  The band had to be reduced in size because of the smallness of the studio (Vincent Chancey).  According to Buzelin and Hardy's 1979 discography, the Arkestra recorded an (unissued) album's worth of Duke Ellington tunes the same day.  Abdullah, however, says this report is incorrect.

233. [200] Sun Ra
COSMOS

Sun Ra (Rocksichord); Ahmed Abdullah (tp); Craig Harris (tb); Vincent Chancey (Fr hn); Marshall Allen (as, fl); Danny Davis (as, fl); John Gilmore (ts); Danny Ray Thompson (bars, fl); Eloe Omoe (bcl, fl); James Jacson (fl, bsn); R. Anthony Bunn (cb); Larry Bright (d).

Studio Hautefeuille, Paris, August 1976

from The Earthly Recordings 2nd ed.

Sun Ra: Cosmos (Spalax 14561) (1999)

Recorded at Studio Hautefeuille, Paris, France, August 1976
Originally released as Cobra (France) COB 37001 (1976)

According to Robert L. Campbell’s discography (1st ed.), this LP was also issued on Musicdistribution 60005 and Inner City IC 1020 shortly after the original Cobra release. It was first re-issued on compact disc by the French Buda label (82479) but the original CD apparently suffers from a boomingly bass-heavy mix. This 1999 issue on Spalax purports to correct that deficiency - but I’m not so sure; it sounds lopsided still, with prominent electric bass and distant drums. Regardless, this is one of my very favorite Sun Ra records.

The sonic imbalances no doubt have to something to do with the cramped quarters of the recording studio. According to French horn player (!), Vincent Chauncey, the Arkestra was reduced to a core group of twelve musicians for this session due to the limited space (Campbell (1st ed.) p.73). Oh, but what a group! Along with Chauncey, Ra’s faithful stalwarts, John Gilmore, Marshall Allen, Danny Davis, Danny Thompson, Elo Omoe, and Jac Jackson fill out the reed section while Ahmed Abdullah plays sensitive, tasteful trumpet and the incredible Craig Harris virtuosically holds down the trombone chair. The rhythm section consists of R. Anthony Bunn on (nice, but overloud) electric bass, Larry Bright on (barely audible) drums, and, of course, Sun Ra himself on the electric Rocksichord. Caught in the midst of a European tour, the Arkestra sounds well-rehearsed, at the top of their game.
Continue reading at NuVoid's Sun Ra Sunday 

Sun Ra - Cosmos

1. The Mystery Of Two   5:52
2. Interstellar Low- Ways   5:24
3. Neo Project #2   5:04
4. Cosmos   2:59
5. Moonship Journey   6:17
6. Journey Among Stars   5:13
7. Jazz From An Unknown Planet   7:10

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Sun Ra - United World in Outer Space (1975)

A gig at the Smiling Dog Saloon in Cleveland, OH on January 30, 1975 was broadcast by WMMS-FM and preserved on this sixty-minute recording but the band sounds a bit ragged, exhausted, perhaps, by the long-distance travel and inclement weather. Sadly, they never quite seem to get warmed up. But somewhere along the way, Sonny has picked up a hotshot bass-player, whose identity is unknown (see Campbell & Trent p.218). Whoever it is, he provides an unusually funky bottom-end to the proceedings. The Arkestra had to make do without a bassist at many shows during this period (particularly after the final departure of the inimitable Ronnie Boykins in mid-1974) making the rhythm section sound thin and incomplete, so the presence of the bass is always a welcome addition during this period (even if it isn’t the best show ever). Audio quality is pretty good (especially compared to other “bootlegs” we’ve been listening to recently) suffering more from careless microphone placement and poor balance than subsequent generational loss (my copy indicates the original broadcast was recorded to reel-to-reel, with only one cassette generation prior to being converted to digital). For better or worse, our anonymous bassist is certainly mixed front and center throughout!

After an introduction from the resident DJ, Ra fingers a dissonant organ chord before launching into “Astro Nation.” Loud electric bass anchors the groove and though he tends to overplay, he never loses the beat. The whole band joins in on the weirdly assymetrical chant , clapping and singing as they traipse around the nightclub with vocalist/dancer Eddie Thomas (a/k/a Thomas Thaddeus) adding some soulful yelps and moans. But it goes on for far too long without anything happening, ending with a desultory space chord. I’m sure it was a visual spectacle if nothing else. Sonny teases “Love In Outer Space” before changing his mind and queuing up “Enlightenment” in a new, rhythmically clipped vocal arrangement, ending a cappella. Sort of interesting, but nothing special. Then “Love In Outer Space” follows, propelled by Ra’s BBQ organ comping. Curiously, the theme is never played and after a few minutes, Ra drops out completely, leaving spacey African percussion and handclaps. Eventually, the organ vamp returns, accompanied by some bleating horns, but it ends inconclusively.

“Theme of the Stargazers” and “The Satellites Are Spinning” are presented as a brisk medley and is nicely sung by the band—but the audience doesn’t quite know what to make of it. When it ends, there’s total silence, not even a smattering of applause! Undeterred, Sonny brings up the pulsing drone of “Friendly Galaxy No.2” joined by the electric bass and, later, by pealing trumpets. The mellifluous flutes are woefully off-mic but a ringing vibraphone is crystal clear (presumably Damon Choice). But then Sonny steps up to pontificate, riffing on “I Am The Brother The Wind” and “I, Pharoah.” Here we go again! The unbalanced recording combined with an uncharacteristically subdued performance is disappointing: rather than hypnotic, it is merely boring. Oh well. Next up is a long keyboard solo which also seems to be less than totally inspired. It’s the usual spaceship synthesizer noises and dissonant organ clusters and the fact that the tape repeatedly fades up and down (and cuts in and out) doesn’t really help matters very much. However, after about seven minutes, Sonny speeds up the cheesy “rhythm machine” on his organ and plays along briefly, a hint of Disco 3000 to come!

(Continue reading at NuVoid's Sun Ra Sundays)

225. [194c]  Sun Ra and his Intergalactic Myth Science Arkestra

Sun Ra (org, syn, p, voc); Kwame Hadi (tp); Akh Tal Ebah (tp, voc); Marshall Allen (as, fl, perc); Danny Davis (as, fl, perc); John Gilmore (ts, timb, voc); Eloe Omoe (bcl, fl, perc); Danny Ray Thompson (bars, fl, perc); James Jacson (bsn, fl, Inf-d); unidentified (vib); unidentified (b, eb); unidentified (d); prob. Atakatune (cga); prob. Odun (cga); June Tyson (voc, dance); Eddie Thomas [Thomas Thaddeus] (voc, dance, perc).

Smiling Dog Saloon, Cleveland, OH,
January 30, 1975

There was a 60-minute broadcast of this concert over WMMS-FM.  All information from ct.  According to Jack Lefton, the arrangement of "Sophisticated Lady" (slow, featuring a vocal by Sun Ra reproving wicked women) is not known from any other concert tapes.
from The Earthly Recordings 2nd ed. Campbell/Trent

January 30, 1975

United World in Outer Space (180g LP rip)
(Vinyl Lovers 2009)

1. Astro Nation (of the United World in Outer Space)   11:00
2. Enlightenment   2:10
3. Friendly Galaxy 2 (I, Pharaoh)   12:49

4. Theme of the Stargazers / The Satellites are Spinning   2:28
5. Synthesizer Solo   8:29
6. Sophisticated Lady   14:10

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New Links in Comments!

Live in Cleveland
(Golden Years of Jazz [Leo Records] CD (2009)

1. Astro Nation (Of The United World In Outer Space)   11:02
2. Enlightenment   2:13
3. Love In Outer Space   9:30 (not included on LP)
4. Theme Of The Stargazers - The Satellites are Spinning   2:33
5. Friendly Galaxy 2 - I Am The Brother Of The Wind - I Pharaoh   12:49
6. Synthesizer Solo   8:34
7. Sophisticated Lady   14:09

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Sun Ra - The Nubians of Plutonia (1967)

In the late '50s, Sun Ra emerged from big band to modern/progressive big band status, began to employ electronics, and used a more Afro-Centric percussive focus. This recording perfecly demonstrates those qualities, and more. There are several definitive themes from The Arkestra included, such as "Plutonian Nights," "Nubia," "Africa," "Watusa" and "Aethiopia."

The [album] consists of rehearsal tapes from 1960 with The Arkestra steadily progressing and moving beyond conventional jazz modes into multiple rhythms, chants, and twisting, roaring arrangements spiced by vividly expressive solos.
from AMG Reviews by Michael G. Nastos and Ron Wynn

"The Nubians of Plutonia... evidence an Arkestra moving into ever looser, more abstract ground. The percussion becomes more varied and moves ever closer to the foreground. 'The Golden Lady' seduces with a swaying groove created by a combination of simple parts: hi-hat, cow bell, wood blocks, rolling floor toms and bass. Ra then sets up a dark melodic theme, and then the Arkestra proceeds to weave a series of jaunty, blues-tinged solos into the fabric of the groove. 'Nubia', 'Africa' and 'Aiethopia' continue this excursion into more mystical, rhythm-based territory. The Arkestra utilizes the same ominous, simmering percussion beds, now augmented by more exotic instruments like Pat Patrick's 'space lute', which gives a playfully sinister sound to 'Africa'.... This powerful, multi-faceted music is a great place to start if you are just beginning to travel with Sun Ra, or a great way to continue the journey." 

by Mathew Wuethric from Wikipedia
     

54. [39]  Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra

Lady with the Golden Stockings
(The Nubians of Plutonia)

Sun Ra (p.); Lucious Randolph (tp); Nate Pryor (tb); James Spaulding (as solo); Marshall Allen (as); John Gilmore (ts); Pat Patrick (bs solo); Charles Davis (bars); Ronnie Boykins (b); Robert Barry (d); Jim Herndon (timb, perc).

Rehearsal, Chicago, 1958

Star Time (Ra)

Initially released (in a generic Tonal View of Times Tomorrow cover) by Saturn in 1966 as SR 9956-11E/F, Lady with the Golden Stockings.  In 1967 this album was given the catalog number 406; by the end of 1967 (according to Vein), it was retitled The Nubians of Plutonia, and by 1969 given a new cover by Richard Pedreguera.  Subsequent reissues (on Impulse AS-9242 in 1974 and Evidence 22066 [CD] in 1993) have used the later title.  Personnel from the 1969 Saturn and Impulse issues.  Charles Davis left the Arkestra some months before going on the road with Dinah Washington's band; by 1959 he was in New York.  Lucious Randolph confirms his presence on this cut.


57. [41]  Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra

Lady with the Golden Stockings
(The Nubians of Plutonia)

Sun Ra (p, Wurlitzer ep); Lucious Randolph (tp); Marshall Allen (as); John Gilmore (ts); Pat Patrick (bars); Ronnie Boykins (b); Robert Barry (d).

Rehearsal, Chicago, 1958 or 1959

Plutonian Nights (Ra)

Lucious Randolph is not sure whether he was present here, but Phil Cohran (the other trumpeter credited by Saturn and Impulse) was not in the band at this time.


58. [42]  Sun Ra (Wurlitzer ep); Lucious Randolph (tp); Marshall Allen (fl, perc); James Spaulding (as, perc); John Gilmore (ts, perc); Ronnie Boykins (b); Robert Barry (perc); Jim Herndon (perc); prob. Pat Patrick (bgo).

Rehearsal, Chicago, 1958 or 1959

(The) Lady with the Golden Stockings (Ra)

Retitled "The Golden Lady" on the jacket (but not the label) of the later Saturn  releases and on Evidence 22066 [CD].  The Saturn label (but not the jacket) refers to the band as "Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra."


59. [43]  Sun Ra (Wurlitzer ep, bells); Ronnie Boykins (b); Robert Barry (d); Jim Herndon (cga, tymp, timb, perc); John Gilmore (Nigerian bells).

Rehearsal, Chicago, 1958 or 1959

Nubia (Ra)

60. [44]  Sun Ra (Wurlitzer ep); Nate Pryor (tb); Marshall Allen (fl); James Spaulding (as, poss. voc); poss. Charles Davis (bars); Pat Patrick (spae lute, voc); Ronnie Boykins (b, voc); Robert Barry (d, perc, voc); Jim Herndon (timb, perc); John Gilmore (voc).

Rehearsal, Chicago, 1958 or 1959

Africa (Ra)

This listing has been somewhat revised from the first edition of the discography.  Careful listening to the CD release, with its superior sonics, reveals that the baritone sax and the space lute are being played simultaneously (for instance, at the beginning of the track).  The baritone work is rather "outside" for Charles Davis; it could be that Patrick played baritone sax and another Arkestran was entrusted with the space lute (which is prominent in the arrangement).  Also, Spaulding's alto sax can be heard in the background near the end of the piece.  Meanwhile, Marshall Allen's flute work is too continuous for him to be contributing to the vocal ensemble.

The vocal ensemble is clearly an arranged one for (most likely four) males singing and humming wordlessly.  John Gilmore is almost certainly among them (and, contrary to what was said in the first edition, his tenor sax is not audible anywhere in this piece).  The other vocal identifications are guesses.  Although the arrangement is more complicated than those of "space chants" like "Interplanetary Music," the vocal group is definitely not the Cosmic Rays, and it doesn't sound much like the Five Joys minus Juanita Rogers.  When Sun Ra copyrighted "Africa" in October 1960, it had lyrics (the same ones used on the December 31, 1980, concert in Detroit).


61. [45]  Sun Ra (p.); William Fielder (tp); Marshall Allen (as); John Gilmore (ts); Ronnie Boykins (b); Robert Barry (d, perc); prob. Jim Herndon (perc); prob. Pat Patrick (perc).

Rehearsal, Chicago, 1958 or 1959

Watusa [Watusi] (Pitts-Sherrill; arr. Ra)

The trumpet player is clearly not Hobart Dotson, and Lucious Randolph, Phil Cohran, and Everett Turner do not remember playing this piece.  Bill Fielder does remember playing it.  Tommy Hunter and Richard Wilkinson claim that "Watusi" was written by Ronnie Boykins.  Research at the Library of Congress has revealed that "Watusi" (which Sun Ra got around to copyrighting in 1967) was composed by André Pitts and Terri Vanne Sherrill (perhaps a dance team?) and arranged by Sun Ra.  Its name was changed to "Watusa" on its first Saturn release, and it was incorrectly attributed to Ra thereafter.


62. [46]  Sun Ra (p.); Lucious Randolph (tp); Nate Pryor (tb); Marshall Allen (as, fl); John Gilmore (ts, bells); Pat Patrick (bars, bells); Robert Barry (d); Jim Herndon (timb, perc); unidentified (tambourine).

Rehearsal, Chicago, 1958 or 1959

Aiethopia (Ra)

Lucious Randolph recalls recording this piece in a club with bad acoustics; "The mike was on the other end."  On the Saturn label this title is recast as "A Ie Tho Pia."

from The Earthly Recordings 2nd ed.  Campbell/Trent

The Nubians of Plutonia (1967)

1. Plutonian Nights   4:21
2. The Golden Lady   7:42
3. Star Time   4:16
4. Nubia   8:13
5. Africa   5:06
6. Watusa   2:38
7. Aiethopia   7:12

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See the Comments for new links!

Impulse covers via Just:Jazzart

Ronnie Boykins - The Will Come, Is Now (1976)

Listening to The Will Come, Is Now on my iPod as I type; I can't help but revisit this ESP-Disk' release at least once a month.  Ronnie Boykins' first and only release as a leader has so much replay value and it it leaves me wanting more and more. A bassist that is as versatile to play along with Muddy Waters, Marion Brown, Steve Lacy, Bill Dixon, Sam Rivers, Mary Lou Williams. Rashaan Roland Kirk, at many others, Boykins is mostly famous for his time with the Arkestra. Where we can hear Boykins providing the bass lines for some of the most pivotal Sun Ra LPs.

In an era when Jazz was becoming more and more fusion as well as electric, Boykins rejected the norm and recorded this earthy, acoustic session in 1974. It's very rhythmic, with bass licks that draw from eastern music and polyrhythmic influences from African drumming. Yet his beautiful arco playing on the upright amalgamates classical western sounds with eastern and African influences.

The opening title track exemplifies everything I described in the prior paragraph. However we then make a left turn with the following cut, "Starlight at the Wonder Inn." A buoyant ballad pulling from traditional jazz melodies that even a composer like Strayhorn would write. Although Boykins' technique allows it to be off teetered enough to comprise of its own aesthetic. Fitting perfectly with the rest of the album.

"Demon Dance" is the most Post-Bop in nature, but once the theme is played the whole ensemble wails together as if they were a New Orleans band from the earlier part of the century. It's swinging while offering a change of pace just as the album starts to really grip hold of you.

(continue reading)
by Matthew Ditullo at This Shape of Jazz

Ronnie Boykins is probably best known for being a member of the Sun Ra Arkestra. During that time, the Arkestra made some of its best recordings and Boykins was an integral part of the equation. He integrated his relationship with Sun Ra to gear the forward movement of the music. In his individual contributions on the bass he gave the instrument an underlying voice in developing the thematic concept through his choice of notes, the use of arco and his chord patterns.

Boykins' ability saw him called up by Marion Brown, Bill Barron, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Steve Lacy in a long list of collaborations. Challenging music was not his only forté, he moved from free invention into the mainstream with Mary Lou Williams and played the blues with Muddy Waters. Boykins went on to lead the Free Jazz Society and then went into the Melodic Art-Tet. In spite of all his accomplishments, Boykins was modest. When Bernard Stollman asked him to record for ESP in 1964, Boykins said that he was not ready. Eleven years later in 1975, he was.

Boykins' music is the confluence of several streams. He places as much emphasis on composition as he does on improvisation, with the title track profiling the two. Boykins sets up the groove for the Middle Eastern melody, the antithesis for horns which blow asymmetrical lines. It's a constantly shifting vortex, with Joe Ferguson indulging in the melody before the other horns come in to dissect it. The final shift comes from Boykins, whose bow arcs both melody and dissonance while the percussion dances niftily below.

"Demon's Dance" is a wild swinging tune with a generous dollop of New Orleans rhythm, quite mainstream and a delicious romp. Boykins gift for melody is apparent on all the tracks. "The Third I" loosens that grip for an open invitation to percussion and congas. The insistent rhythm is scarped by the bassist, whose arching lines cut deep into the pith. The flute flutters in but the resolution is completed by Boykins, who bares the melody and then wraps it up with the rest of his band.

Boykins made just one record as leader, but it marks his place as an adventurous bassist and a composer with a gift for style and genre. 

All About Jazz review By Jerry D'Souza

The Will Come, Is Now
ESP 3026 (LP 1976) (CD 2009)

1. The Will Come, Is Now   12:33
2. Starlight At The Wonder Inn   7:33
3. Demon's Dance   3:21
4. Dawn Is Evening, Afternoon   6:19
5. Tipping On Heels   4:50
6. The Third I   12:26

Personnel: Ronnie Boykins (sousaphone, bass instrument); Joe Ferguson , Jimmy Vass (flute, saxophone); Monty Waters (saxophone); Daoud Haroom (trombone); George Avaloz (congas); Art Lewis (percussion).

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The Eternal Myth Reviewed

Here is a review of the new set published in the most recent edition of The Wire.

Sun Ra

The Eternal Myth Revealed Volume1

Transparency 14xCD + Pbk

A phone rings and Sonny Blount answers; Michael D Anderson from the Sun Ra Archive back on Earth wants to talk. After a brief cosmic chit chat there follows, as if channeled via seance, almost 20 hours of material which attempts to tell the story of Sun Ra's early years, from adolescence to his first albums of the mid-1950s, with extensive excerpts from Ra's personal archive, apparently entrusted to Anderson when he played with The Arkestra around the late 1970s (he is sometimes credited with percussion on 1978's Lanquidity).

Buyers take note: much of this box is not Ra's music but a ragbag of interviews with an apparently elderly Sun Ra, recordings he supposedly played on or arranged, pieces that inspired him, and third party talking heads pontificating about blues and jazz, all threaded together by a historical timeline written and narrated by Anderson. You have to get halfway through the first disc before you encounter Ra's own music in "Chocolate Factory", by The Clarence Williams Quartet. Ra had mailed them the music in 1930 and they borrowed it uncredited for this single released three years later. And it's the second disc before you hear Sun Ra on his first known recording, playing barrelhouse piano on Wynonie Harris's "Dig This Boogie", recorded in Nashville, Tennessee in 1946.

Given the sprawling and sometimes shoddy state of Sun Ra's Earthly recorded legacy, you have to wonder what this long, chaotic and somewhat subjective history will add to an understanding of his life and work- But at the start of disc four, these words make you forget all those worries, at least for the time being: "In 1946 Sonny purchased an Ampex paper-tape reel-to-reel tape. By 1948 he was recording himself on organ in an unknown church playing standards and venturing into the abstract. "

Such self-made recordings, consisting of idle doodles, rehearsal notes, intimate poetry and artist auditions taped in the late 1940s and early 50s, provide the enigmatic lure of this strange set. Did Sun Ra even want later generations to hear them? At this time he was hustling arrangement and coaching gigs for any and every kind of group in Chicago, and a tape recorder was likely a selling point for, and a witness to, all kinds of pot boiler jobs. Who knows if he expected them to stand the test of time?

A poetry piece, "If They Only Knew" (also made available on the recent Norton LP Strange Worlds In My Mind) is so intimate as to be utterly harrowing. In a sad, exhausted voice he reels out a paranoid fantasy that God has played a cosmic joke on him, and talks of taking his revenge on straight society. Conversely on "Smile", a version of the Chaplin song from Modern Times cooked up for his piano trio, he circles awkwardly back to the chorus again and again, perhaps trying out different phrasings, but with such conviction that he seems to transcend sorrow through sheer force of imagination. Not for the first time you're reminded that, due to a testicular hernia, Sun Ra might have been in physical pain his whole life.

"The Darkness Within" and "The Haunted Melody" are abstract tonal sketches apparently from 1948 and 1953. There's little corroboration in the sleeve notes, and you wonder when those titles were coined, but the music is so startling that perhaps it doesn't matter: the former explores the dimensions of the Solovox, an early electronic keyboard, while ghostly bebop bleeds through the walls from a session elsewhere; the latter is a heavy organ mode with an unidentified vocalist ululating operatically over the top, not so far away from Sunn O)))'s weirder vocal collabs. 

Even more revelatory, perhaps, is how, despite the loose narratives and tangential digressions, The Eternal Myth Revealed does indeed trace deep connections to where his music came from. Sun Ra's doo-wop recordings with The Nu Sounds and The Cosmic Rays have been covered on the brilliant collections Spaceship Lullaby and lnterplanetary Melodies, but the singles here with The Red Saunders Orchestra, one of Ra's paymasters, yield cosmic tones from celeste, reverbed piano and soaring falsetto. You can hear a piano, surely Ra, rolling with benevolent anarchy beneath.

Also included are early live recordings of poor fidelity and historical interest only, and outtakes of the early studio recordings such as Sun Ra And His Solar Arkestra Visits Planet Earth are barely different to previously released versions. But many of the 78s have never been reissued, and other tracks are so absurdly rare to be virtually available for the first time. In the end, the box works like a marathon radio broadcast that drifts in and out of consciousness, between truth and guesswork. By hook or by crook, you end up within spitting distance of what Sun Ra's early years were like, with jazz, R&B, Afro-Cuban and popular music of the day all woven into a homemade patchwork of obsessive but intuitive genius"

Derek Walmsley
The Wire

Thanks to Martinmathers for the article and to  I-) for converting the pdf to text!

Sun Ra - Egypt Strut (1983, 1984)

"In 1983 Sun Ra travelled to Egypt, a kind of spiritual homeland for Ra, to record two compositions by the godfather of Egyptian jazz, percussionist Salah Ragab.

Side A: Recorded at El Nahar Studio, Cairo/Heliopolis, May 1983
Side B: Recorded at Il Capo Jazz Club, Cairo/Zamalek, January 13, 1984

"In June 1971, I sent an invitation to Sun Ra from Cairo and six months later the Arkestra came to the land of the pharaohs in order to play for the first time at the foot of the pyramids. When Sun Ra and his Arkestra played in my living room in Heliopolis on December 12, 1971, Salah Ragab was one of my guests. It was their first personal contact.

Sun Ra set out again 12 years later to gaze into the eyes of Sphinx. In May 1983 he went into El Nahar Studio in Heliopolis with Salah Ragab in order to record side one of this record, two compositions of Salah Ragab. To my knowledge it had never happened before that Sun Ra and his Arkestra played compositions of a contemporary musician from outside. Maybe he was taken with the initials of Salah Ragab which were the same as in his own name, or he was fascinated with the fact that his own name was part of Ragab's name. To my knowledge, Salah was the only non Afro- American, apart from Leah Ananda from Kashmir and Roger Aralamon Hazoumè from Dahomey, to be documented on record with Sun Ra.

In 1984 Sun Ra came to Egypt for the third time. Also for this last visit Salah played the drums in the Arkestra when the band played at the small Jazz club Il Capo (later renamed as Il Boko) in Zamalek.

DAWN is based on an Islamic hymn people sing after leaving their houses at exactly 4:51 in the morning, the beginning of the Arabic month "Shawall". Sun Ra plays the main voice on a Hohner melodica.

WATUSA, recorded in 1984 in the intimate atmosphere of the El Capo Club in Cairo, is a composition for bigband, large percussion ensemble and dancers from the year 1967. During the long middle section all musicians of the Arkestra play percussion instruments. After Jacson's solo on the big "infinity drum" and Matthew Brown's conga-break, Salah Ragab takes an extensive drum solo.

The second drum solo is by Clifford Jarvis. The screams of the dancers Myriam Broche and Gregory Pratt can only give a vague impression of the visual aspects of this Egyptian March."

(Hartmut Geerken)
from Discogs

386. [286]  Sun Ra Arkestra

Sun Ra (syn, Ondioline); Tyrone Hill (tb); Marshall Allen (as); John Gilmore (ts); Danny Ray Thompson (bars); Leroy Taylor [Eloe Omoe] (bcl); James Jacson (bsn); Chris Henderson (d); Claude Broche (d); Samarai Celestial (d); Salah Ragab (cga).

El Nahar Studio, Heliopolis,
Cairo, May 1983

Egypt Strut (Ragab)
Dawn (Ragab)

Praxis CM 106, Sun Ra Meets Salah Ragab in Egypt, was issued in Greece in 1983.  Side A features the Arkestra playing two Salah Ragab compositions.  Side B is Ragab with the Cairo Jazz Band (recorded back in the 1970s, according to Hartmut Geerken).  Information from the album jacket, except that Samarai Celestial says he was also present, and various sources indicate that Sun Ra was playing the Ondioline (a small portable keyboard of French manufacture, with dynamics alterable by blowing into a tube).  This was the Arkestra's second tour of Egypt.

The Praxis LP was reissued in 1999 on CD on the "Golden Years of Free Jazz" label, an offshoot of Leo Records.  The CD includes all the previously issued music from the LP, plus an 18-minute Watusi, and other material not featuring Sun Ra.

407. [304]  Sun Ra Arkestra

Sun Ra (p, org, syn, voc); Ronnie Brown (tp, flg, tambourine); Marshall Allen (as, cl, fl, ob, kora, EVI); Eloe Omoe (as, bcl, cacl, fl, EVI); John Gilmore (ts, cl, timb, EVI, voc); Danny Ray Thompson (bars, as, fl, bgo, EVI); James Jacson (bsn, fl, ob, Inf-d, EVI, voc); James Glass (eg); Rollo Radford (standup eb); Matthew Brown (cga); Clifford Jarvis (d); Salah Ragab (cga, perc); Myriam Broche (dance); Greg Pratt (dance).

Il Capo / Il Buco, Cairo, Egypt,
January 13, 1984

Watusi (Pitts-Sherrill)

According to Danny Ray Thompson, this was the Arkestra's third and last trip to Egypt.  Like the other two, it was "unannounced" and only the "hard core" of the Arkestra went.  Personnel ct and rlc, with help from Thompson.  Thanks to Samarai for a program from Il Capo, and Italian restaurant with an adjoining "show-bistro" area called Il Buco.

from The Earthly Recordings 2nd ed.  Campbell/Trent

Click to enlarge

Egypt Strut

1. Egypt Strut   6:41

2. Dawn   12:10

3. Watusa   18:50
 

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These tracks are also available on the CD

Sun Ra Arkestra Meets Salah Ragab in Egypt

What Would Sun Ra Do? - Occupy SPACE

What Would Sun Ra Do? - Occupy Space

The Absolute Like - Sun Ra

This their 'life' is a comedy of errors

For it is human-life

That graces the roles that people play

And the play never ends

It never really begins to be

Producers produce

Plays but play and people unknowingly

act their parts

Like willing puppets...absolute upon

a string

Puppet by puppet upon a string. 

Thanks Robin!

via

Include Me Out

Sun Ra - ESP Radio presented by The Good Doctor part 6

In celebration of the recent release of Transparency's The Eternal Myth Revealed Vol. 1.  I'm checking my mailbox every day!

Several years ago, Arkestra member and official Sun Ra archivist, Michael D. Anderson "The Good Doctor," enhanced the ESP-Disc website with a 14-hour Sun Ra retrospective.  The Good Doctor, just as what I expect to hear from the forthcoming 14-CD Transparency Release, The Eternal Myth Revealed Vol. 1, presents a timeline of Sun Ra's career featuring both classic releases and unheard nuggets from the Archive.  The tribute is divided into 6 parts, each approximately 2 hours for a total of 14 hours of amazing information and music.  Throughout the broadcasts, Michael D. Anderson relates biographical information about Ra and shares many anecdotes of his time with the Arkestra; I find these are particularly interesting and entertaining.

A few of my favorite moments from these broadcasts have already been featured here.  You might remember Rusty Morgan's "Blame Shame" or the Arkestra's remarkable performances of Universe in Blue and I Roam the Cosmos (if you missed these, rectify!).  There are plenty more incredible rarities peppered throughout these broadcasts so stay tuned as each will be featured here over the next weeks.  Each post will feature the original master tape offered in both FLAC and 320k mp3 as well as an mp3 audio stream of the show.

MANY THANKS to our friend, I-), for sending me these wonderful recordings.

ESP Sun Ra Radio Tribute Part 6

FLAC (pt 1/3)
FLAC (pt 2/3)
FLAC (pt 3/3)
(linked files)

or

320

New Links in Comments!

Part 6 Setlist

1. The Good Doctor (0:02)

2. Sun Ra speaking (older than other speaking tracks?) "What a great joke God has played on humanity" (4:13)

3. The Good Doctor (intro to "proclamations") (0:41)

4. Sax solo intro (19710817, Slug's Saloon, NYC) [not in RLC] (1:10)

5. I Roam the Cosmos (Discipline 27, incl. Astro Black) (19710817, Slug's Saloon, NYC) [not in RLC](51:48)

6. The Good Doctor (0:26)

7. Blackman (19710817, Slug's Saloon, NYC) [not in RLC] (30:09)

8. The Good Doctor (1:13)

9. The Sound Mirror/Mayan Temples (19781031, Grendel's Lair, Philadelphia) from GD personal cassette [not in RLC] (13:47) - this is the Saturn LP version

10. The Good Doctor (1:17)

11. I Pharaoh/Mayan Temples (1979, Italy) [from LP "I Pharaoh"] (27:18)

12. The Good Doctor (0:46)


13. Eulogy (19930605, Bottom Line, NYC, Ra memorial service) Amiri Baraka, recitation (6:55)

14. Departure Day [RLC has it as Untitled improvisation] (19930605, Bottom Line, NYC, Ra memorial service) [dr, perc; brass; MR, tp; Gilmore, ts; freakout ens; MA, as; tb & AA, tp] (8:49)

15. Departure Day [RLC has it as Untitled improvisation] contd. (19930605, Bottom Line, NYC, Ra memorial service) [Inf-d; freakout ens] (1:46)

16. Carefree (19930605, Bottom Line, NYC, Ra memorial service) [not in RLC] (21:13)

17. Untitled improvisation/Door of the Cosmos (19930605, Bottom Line, NYC, Ra memorial service) [not in RLC] (13:14)

18. We Travel the Spaceways (19930605, Bottom Line, NYC, Ra memorial service) [not in RLC] (10:27)

19. The Good Doctor (2:42)

20. "It's been nice talking to you" (Sun Ra studio recitation over pre-recorded music: "Images") "Transmolecular Teleportation Vehicles"
(1:04)

21. Radio spot for Bud's Medical Center (0:36)

Saturn Rarity: Pat Patrick's Baritone Retinue - Sound Advice (1977)

Many thanks to the Sun Ra Trading community for recently dropping this wonderful LP into my lap.  Though I believe this rip has circulated for some time, a copy of Baritone Saxophonist Pat Patrick's only album as a leader recently sold on Ebay for over $1,500.00.

This is a fine album and one which helps make clear the importance of Patrick to Sun Ra and the Arkestra.  In fact, as award-winning author John Szwed points out in his much admired biography of Sun Ra, Patrick played an extremely important role in the career of the young bandleader, back when Ra was the Chicago pianist still known as Herman “Sonny” Blount. This was before he created his personal philosophy, a mystic hodgepodge hybridized from science fiction and Egyptian mythology, which became one of Sun Ra’s trademarks -- along with the visionary, rollicking music that accompanied it.

Patrick, who specialized in baritone sax but also excelled at alto (and occasionally played electric bass), had moved to Chicago primarily to study at DuSable High School with the legendary bandleader Walter Dyett. Even then, Dyett enjoyed a reputation for developing disciplined and motivated musicians. And Patrick stands out among the most impressive DuSable alumni, who have included saxophone great Von Freeman, bass icon Wilbur Ware, and the peerless vocalist Dinah Washington).

In 1952, Patrick joined Blount/Ra in a new trio on Chicago's south side; it would eventually blossom into one of the most unusual and influential orchestras in jazz, the Sun Ra Arkestra (as it was most often called). The band was known as much for their metallic capes and headgear -- trust me, Gene Simmons had nothing on these guys -- as for their innovative, other-worldly music. Over the decades, Patrick would come and go, a testament to the high regard in which Sun Ra held him: other key members of the Arkestra lived communally under the watchful eye of the leader (in part so that “Sunny” could ensure their abstinence from vices of all kinds).

In 1963, the versatile Patrick hired on as musical director of Mongo Santamaria’s Latin-jazz group – the one that had the giant hit “Watermelon Man.” Everyone knows that tune. Not so many recall another Santamaria hit called “Yeh! Yeh!” Patrick wrote that one; eventually it gained lyrics and climbed the pop charts, thanks to British rock-&-roller Georgie Fame’s hit recording of 1965.

Patrick also recorded with John Coltrane and performed in Duke Ellington’s band. He worked with Thelonious Monk and Clark Terry and co-founded a group called Baritone Retinue.
via Sun Ra Arkive

Insterstellar Low Ways:
Pat Patrick and Free Jazz

Evan Smith

The history of jazz is littered with figures who never seem to be appropriately appreciated for their contributions. Recording mainly on baritone saxophone, longtime Sun Ra sideman Pat Patrick does not generally inspire the same abundant name recognition as the instrument’s best known players Gerry Mulligan, and longtime Duke Ellington sideman, Harry Carney.

Therefore, it is my purpose here to demonstrate that Patrick is one of the most important and overlooked voices in the history of the baritone saxophone. First providing a more comprehensive early biographical background for this little researched player, I will then show that Patrick represents a direct link from the early swing style of Harry Carney to “free jazz” while establishing that Patrick’s tenure with Sun Ra in the 1950’s and 1960’s was influential on the band’s movement away from conventional, swing oriented music.

Laurdine Kenneth “Pat” Patrick Junior was born in East Moline, Illinois on November 23, 1929. His career in jazz was set in motion from an early age as he studied drums and piano while also taking trumpet lessons from his father (also named Laurdine) and Clark Terry, who was living at the Patricks’ home at the time. When he was twelve, Patrick’s parents separated; and, his father moved to California. Soon after, Patrick suffered a hip injury playing football, and relocated with his mother, Laverne Williams, to Boston to receive treatment that would keep him in a cast for almost a year.  After his recuperation, his mother took the family to the Chicago suburbs. However, after hearing about the influential music program led by Captain Walter Dyett at DuSable High School in the city, his family moved so that he could attend.  About this time, Patrick notes “my interest in music was sharply increased when at sixteen I first heard Lester Young. Right away, I had to have a saxophone and my mother helped me to get one, an alto. Later in the school band I was switched to baritone as someone had robbed our apartment and taken the alto.”  It is clear that his early years in Chicago were a major contributor to his eventual success with Sun Ra. Not only was Patrick learning from Dyett, who is credited with teaching a formidable roster of jazz notables, including future Sun Ra band members Von Freeman, John Gilmore, Julian Priester, and Ronnie Boykins, he was also active professionally as the house baritonist at the Regal Theatre. Patrick himself notes the importance of these formative years:

I wrote and arranged some music while still in high school and at about 18 I would say that my so called professional career began as I started playing jobs. Before leaving Chicago in early 1960, I had played with quite a few giant Blues and Jazz talents that came through town with numerous lesser known but no less talented artists and groups such as Sun Ra.  

Indeed, in these early years in Chicago, Patrick had the chance to work with such legendary figures as Muddy Waters, Nat “King” Cole, Cab Calloway, Lillian Armstrong, and Pearl Bailey.  While he briefly moved to Florida in 1949 to attend Florida A&M on scholarship, he soon returned to Chicago and enrolled at Wilson Junior College.  By the time that Patrick was recruited by Sun Ra in 1952, it was evident that the young saxophonist was already steeped in the jazz tradition. Patrick cites a wide range of influences at the time, recounting that “my other influences were Coleman Hawkins, Von Freeman, Harry Carney, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, and Johnny Hodges, and they helped shape my own style.”  As Carney is widely considered the player who brought the baritone saxophone into its modern acceptance, his inclusion on this list, along with bandmates Ellington and Hodges, is of special importance. Carney’s influence on Patrick provides a direct link from the earliest stages of jazz baritone playing to the free jazz aesthetic later espoused by Patrick in Sun Ra’s band.  Patrick goes on to cite how the longtime Ellington sideman influenced his early playing, noting that “I first dug the work Carney was doing; the role of the baritone saxophone in the reed section and its blend with the other horns and also his solo work. At first I used to mistake his baritone solos for tenor solos, because he is very fluent and his style is hip.”   This link to Carney further materialized when Patrick briefly played with the Ellington band. While the dates of this engagement are not known for certain, evidence at the time places this event around 1960.  Patrick says of his time with Duke, I took Russell Procope’s place on alto saxophone in Duke Ellington’s band for a week on the road, and this gave me an opportunity to sit between Carney and Hodges. I noticed a similar approach to music in Duke and Sun Ra, in terms of their ear and the music they hear. They’ve both got keen ears. Sun Ra has been a fan of Duke’s also…he used to collect Duke’s records, and in fact, he turned me on to Carney’s baritone solos on “Lightning” and “Jazz Cocktail” back in Chicago. 

With this statement, Patrick shows his respect for the historical importance of Carney’s early influence, as the recordings cited above were recorded in 1932, when Patrick was only a few years old. Notable as well is the absence of any other contemporary baritone saxophonists. By the time Patrick was making his first Chicago recordings with Sun Ra, Gerry Mulligan had already asserted a considerable influence on the jazz community, establishing himself in the “cool jazz” school by contributing arrangements for the Claude Thornhill and Stan Kenton big bands, and participating in the famous Birth of the Cool sessions with Miles Davis in 1949-1950.   Also by this time, Serge Chaloff had emerged as a notable baritone player in the bebop idiom, with his inclusion in the famous Woody Herman “Four Brothers” saxophone section from 1947 to 1949 gaining him considerable prominence. Yet, it seems that the approach of these players and others had little influence on Patrick. Indeed, Mulligan’s “cool” approach would seem to run antithetical to the transformation that Patrick was making under Sun Ra, while the bebop sensibilities of Chaloff, Leo Parker, and Cecil Payne were also taking place when Sun Ra’s music was already taking a turn away from the conventional. Moreover, the deaths of Chaloff in 1957 and Parker in 1962 surely diminished any influence these players would have had on Patrick as contemporaries. 

Of course, Carney and Patrick’s careers share a similar quality in that both artists spent the majority of their time with one bandleader, Carney staying exclusively with Ellington from 1927 until the composer’s death in 1974, while Patrick was associated with Sun Ra for more than three decades, anchoring a consistent saxophone section along with Marshall Allen and John Gilmore. Due to his longevity, Carney is generally viewed as a figure who provided a stabilizing, consistent voice for Ellington throughout the decades, adhering to the style that he set forth on Ellington’s famous recordings from the 1930’s and 1940’s. Moreover, while Ellington’s output, generally regarded to be over two thousand compositions,  is certainly diverse in its compositional techniques, it consistently draws from the tonal, swing style for which it is known.  Certainly, Carney contributed to Ellington’s success by providing a flexible player who, at the same time, was dependable in drawing back to the classic Ellington sound that spawned the bandleader’s popularity. In his 1962 Downbeat conversation with Carney, interviewer Don DeMichael eloquently sums up the aesthetic of the later Ellington bands, stating that “in addition to carrying a large library filled with yesterday, the band carries a spirit and tradition that began the day before yesterday. Spirit and tradition are strong.”

It is my assertion that while Carney was a cornerstone of the Duke Ellington band due to his ability to convey the “spirit and tradition” of Ellington’s swing style, Patrick was an influential figure in Sun Ra’s ensemble owing to his ability to interpret numerous different styles while inciting further innovation through his forward looking solo improvisations. Concisely, while Carney’s legacy was established in the consistent reproduction of the Ellington swing ideal, Patrick’s importance comes from his striving for new techniques over Sun Ra’s evolving musical landscapes. Notably, it was in the early 1960’s that Sun Ra’s material began to peak out from its tonal blanket and “move farther [sic] away from any previous style of big band music.”  Straying away from standard blues and swing conventions to employ such techniques as free and collective improvisations, microtonalities, and unconventional electronic instruments, the tradition underlying Sun Ra’s career was that of evolution.

(remainder available in LP download)

Pat Patrick - Sound Advice

Saturn ESR 770 (777)
Recorded live c. 1976
All tunes by Pat Patrick, except as noted

Pat Patrick's Baritone Retinue:

Pat Patrick - baritone sax, arr., soloist
Charles Davis - bars, arr., soloist
Mario Rivera - bars
Kenny Rogers - bars
James "Jabbo" Ware - bars
Rene McLean - bars
George Barrow - bars
Reynold Scott - bars
Hilton Ruiz - piano
John Hart - bass
Steve Solder - drums
Babafemi Humphries - conga

Some of the baritone sax players double on flute and soprano sax.

Pat Patrick's Baritone Retinue

Sound Advice

1. Stablemates (1st Part)

2. Funny Time

3. Uptightedness

4. Eastern Vibrations

5. Sabia

6. East of Uz (Sun Ra)

7. The Waltz

8. Stablemates (2nd Part)

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RS
 

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RS

Many Thanks to Marc E for helping with research.

DJ Gmos - Sun Ra Mix - Amen Brother

DJ GMOS from Dublin put this mix together for Ra's birthday celebration back in May.  He also contributes at InfiniteStateMachine

Gmos - Sun Ra Mix by Amen Brother

1 Sun Ra - Sleeping Beauty
2 Sun Ra - Twin Stars Of Hence
3 Sun Ra - I'll Wait For You
4 Sun Ra - Where Pathways Meet
5 Sun Ra - On Jupiter
6 Sun Ra - Space Is The Place

Thanks to Ryan C for the reminder!