Sun Ra - What Planet Is This? (rec. 1973, rel. 2006)

What Planet Is This? is, for any Sun Ra fan, a most welcome release indeed as the sound quality is (for the most part) first-rate and the maximum-strength Arkestra was well-rehearsed and in top form for this prestigious concert.

Opening with the usual processional/improvisation, the first thing you notice is a full contingent of low brass, including two trombones and tuba (likely played by Charles Stevens, Dick Griffin and Hakim Jami, respectively). Sonny often had to make do without the rich, warm sonorities of the trombone in his working ensembles, but he would usually recruit players for high-profile gigs such as this, re-tooling the arrangements to accommodate an expanded sonic palette. The second thing you notice is the presence of Ronnie Boykins, who brings his sure-footed authority on the double-bass, anchoring the proceedings in his own inimitable fashion. Curiously, Clifford Jarvis is absent, replaced by Lex Humphries on trap drums. While Humphries’s laconic style may lack the fiery, propulsive drive of Jarvis, we are also spared the interminable drum solos that would have inevitably resulted—and that is a good thing, as far as I’m concerned.

Once the twenty-five member Arkestra has assembled on stage (including an array of percussionists and The Space Ethnic Voices), June Tyson solemnly intones “Astro Black,” accompanied by delicate bass thrumming but ending with an explosive, full-band space chord and free-form freak-out. Whew! Then, just as suddenly, the chaos melts into the big-band swing of “Discipline 27,” led by Pat Patrick’s baritone sax riffing. The Arkestra sounds great, with the trombones and tuba prominently featured amidst the reeds and trumpets. But Ra is playing a different kind of organ than usual (or perhaps he’s just poorly miked)—it sounds oddly muffled and distant here. Fortunately, he was provided a decent grand piano and, in the long improvisation which follows, he makes excellent use of it, throwing off astonishingly dexterous runs and thick, dissonant harmonies a la Cecil Taylor. Then he moves to the MiniMoog synthesizer to create pulsating walls of industrial noise against which the horns spatter notes like graffiti. And again, the organ sound is…strange, kind of like “The Mighty Wurlitzer” at a baseball park. Is there a theatre organ at Carnegie Hall? Is that what he’s playing? Who knows! This remarkably compelling improvisation goes on for almost thirty minutes, dominated by the shifting hues of Ra’s keyboards and held together by Boykins’s macroscopic sense of structure and groove (not to mention the thrilling crescendos of tympani). Various solos and ensembles are queued by Ra, giving shape to an improvised construction of remarkable cohesiveness and expressive beauty. Despite the seemingly excessive length, it’s actually over before you know it and the band launches smoothly into “Space Is The Place.” Wow! One of the Space Ethnic Voices (who?) does some of her insane, post-Ono vocal acrobatics before the band eases into lush and dreamy versions of “Enlightenment” and “Love In Outer Space.” These arguably over-played numbers could sometimes sound glib and tossed-off in performance, but here they sound poised and purposeful, aided, in part, by the relaxed drumming of Humphries and the rock-solid bass of Boykins.

But Humphries shows he’s no slouch on “The Shadow World,” kicking up furious polyrhythms in tandem with Aye Aton [Robert Underwood] and a host of burbling congas. Starting from a dead stop, the Arkestra executes the dauntingly difficult composition with startling precision, the hi-fi recording allowing us to hear deep into the densely orchestrated ensemble. The improvisation that follows is another perfect example of Ra’s disciplined freedom at its most cogent—even Gilmore’s unaccompanied solo (often a show-stopping tour de force) is ultimately curtailed and subsumed within the evolving group dynamic, just a part of the intricately woven musical fabric. After about fifteen minutes, the band settles into a quiet, Afro-Asian feel, with Alzo Wright’s cello providing some “Strange Strings”-style bowings and Marshall Allen wailing away on a plangent oboe—both of which elicit surprisingly respectful applause from the audience, given how weird and otherworldly the sounds. It is a magical moment. By this point, the audience has been transported, if not into outer space, then into Sun Ra’s alternative reality, where such sounds are as natural and nutritive as the air we breathe. This is truly an exemplary rendition of “The Shadow World” and needs to be heard to be believed. “Watusa” and “Discipline 27-II” conclude the set in the usual fashion, with a percussion/dance workout and a seventeen-minute sermon of cosmic declamations. Yet the ultra-spacious sound quality and the richly textured Arkestra’s near-definitive performances make them worth listening to—even if, like me, you think you’ve heard these routines too many times already.

(Read the entire review at NuVoid's Sun Ra Sundays)

208. [182b]  Sun Ra and his Space Arkestra

Sun Ra (mini-Moog sin, space org, p, declamation); Akh Tal Ebah [Doug Williams] (tp, flg, voc); Lamont McClamb [Kwami Hadi] (tp, perc); prob. Charles Stephens (tb); prob. Dick Griffin (tb); prob. Hakim Jami (tuba); Marshall Allen (as, fl, ob, perc); Danny Davis (as, fl, perc); Larry Northington (as, cga, perc); John Gilmore (ts, perc); Leroy Taylor [Eloe Omoe] (bcl, perc); Danny Ray Thompson (bars, fl, libf, perc); Pat Patrick (bars, eb); James Jacson (bsn, fl, Inf-d); Alzo Wright (clo, perc); Ronnie Boykins (b); Lex Humphries (d); Robert Underwood [Aye Aton] (d, perc); Harry Richards (perc); Stanley Morgan [Atakatune] (cga); Russell Branch [Odun] (cga); Space Ethnic Voices: June Tyson (voc, dance); Judith Holton (dance, voc); Cheryl Banks (dance, voc); Ruth Wright (dance, voc).

Carnegie Hall, NYC, July 6, 1973, 6pm

untitled improvisation [perc]
Astro Black (Ra) [JT voc]
Discipline 27 (Ra)
untitled improvisation [Boykins, b; Mini-Moog, org; Gilmore, ts; Patrick, bars; Omoe, bcl; Thompson, libf; Allen, as]
Space Is the Place (Ra) [JT, ATE, SEV voc; inc]
Enlightenment (Dotson-Ra) [ens voc]
Love in Outer Space (Ra)
The Shadow World (Ra)
Watusi (Pitts-Sherrill)
Discipline 27-II (Ra) /
What Planet Is This? (Ra) /
I Roam the Cosmos (Ra) /
The Universe Sent Me (Ra) /
My Brother the Sun (Ra) [SR declamation, JT, SEV voc]

A 120-minute mono tape of this concert was made by the Voice of America and never broadcast.  A copy was located at the Library of Congress by Larry Appelbaum.  the performance was part of the Newport in New York Festival; the Arkestra followed Cab Calloway on the bill.  Personnel from the VOA log (also listed on the concert program -- thanks to Allen Welsh for that information).  Some tunes were identified by Pat Padua; more recently, a careful study of the tapes was done by James Wolf.  Wolf says the second untitled improvisation runs 30 minutes and that the solos are linked by an "upward glissando motif" played by the two trombones.  "The Shadow World" runs 20 minutes.

According to James Wolf, the VOA log fails to mention James Jacson, whose bassoon is audible on "The Shadow World," two trombonists (one doubling on bass trombone), a tuba player, and Ronnie Boykins.  Wolf believes that two trap drummers were present.
from Campbell / Trent  The Earthly Recordings 2nd ed.

What Planet is This? (1973)
Sun Ra and his Space Arkestra
Vinyl Lovers (180 gram LP) 900632

1. A1  What Planet is This? Opening Improvisation   5:29
2. A2 Enlightenment   2:23
3. A3 The Shadow World   21.57

4. B1 Astro Black   3:04
5. B2 Discipline 27   25:06
6. C1 Space is the Place   10:23

7. C2 Love in Outer Space   10:27
8. C3 Watusa, Egyptian March   8:58

9. D1 What Planet is This? Ending Improvisation   28:16

-FLAC-

RS

LP 1

LP 2

HF

LP 1

LP 2

or

-320-

RS

HF

What Planet is This? (1973)
Sun Ra and his Space Arkestra
Golden Years of Jazz, 2006, GY 24/25
Leo Records [CD]

1.  Untitled Improvisation   5:31
2.  Astro Black   3:04
3.  Discipline 27   7:30
4.  Untitled Improvisation   28:19
5.  Space Is the Place   10:28
6.  Enlightenment   3:39
7.  Love In Outer Space   10:30
8.  The Shadow World   20:44
9.  Watusa , Egyptian March   8:55
10. Discipline 27-II   17:39

-FLAC-

RS

CD 1

CD 2

HF

CD 1

CD 2

or

-320-

RS

HF