Sun Ra - The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra Vol 1 (1965)

HELIOCENTRIC WORLDS VOL. 1 charts a period in the Sun Ra Arkestra's development (the mid-1960s) when Sun Ra was experimenting with orchestral improvisation, conducting sections of his ensemble both into and away from an expressionistic whole. Here Ra's music is completely stripped of its swing and bop roots, and even of the solid rhythmic principles that defined it in the early '60s. Working instead with atonality, silence, delicate ambient passages, and bold swaths of noise, Ra builds an increasingly abstract and wholly unprecedented sound here.

There are seven compositions on HELIOCENTRIC WORLDS VOL. 1, and each is characterized by Sun Ra's feel for contrasts. Low-end instruments (tympani, bass, baritone sax and other low-end horns, and bass marimba) bounce off high-end instruments (trumpets and saxophone) in a sometimes-delicate, sometimes-violent teeter-totter. Pieces like the "The Cosmos," though full of jittery, frantic passages, are restrained by a soft dynamic (a feeling heightened by the presence of electronic celeste--played by Ra)... the music on HELIOCENTRIC WORLDS is challenging, beautiful, and totally engaging.

from Oldiesdotcom

The album is a notable example of the radical break which Sun Ra's music of that time had made with "previous notions of melody or harmony". Although heavily percussive, the music also dispenses with a continuous beat; instead Ra's music is reconstructed around "interweaving compositional and improvisatory creative principles with programmatic affects". 

The album was originally released as The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, with a B/W sleeve designed by Ra himself. This was replaced with a new orange and red sleeve by Howard Bernstein & Baby Jerry - showing Sun Ra with the third eye - and the appendage Vol. 1 added when The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume Two was released in 1966.

Gene Tyranny describes the album in his review as "The astonishing sessions that went light years beyond "free jazz" improvisation to create a music of deeply felt explosive and gentle gesture made from sound itself without reference to previous notions of melody or harmony."

Marshall Allen described the recording of the album in John F Szwed's biography of Ra, Space Is The Place:

    "Sun Ra would go to the studio and he would play something, the bass would come in, and if he didn't like it he'd stop it; and he'd give the drummer a particular rhythm, tell the bass he wanted not a "boom boom boom," but something else, and then he'd begin to try out the horns, we're all standing there wondering what's next...

    "I just picked up the piccolo and worked with what was going on, what mood they set, or what feeling they had. A lot of things we'd be rehearsing and we did the wrong things and Sun Ra stopped the arrangement and changed it. Or he would change the person who was playing the particular solo, so that changes the arrangement. So the one that was soloing would get another part given to him personally. 'Cos he knew people. He could understand what you could do better so he would fit that with what he would tell you."

From Wikipedia

These seven sides became the first of what many free and avant-garde jazz enthusiasts had heard from Ra. At the heart of his post-bop performances is the flexibility of the support from the Arkestra, whose percussive talents were equal only to their unquestionable abilities on other respective instruments. The probing nature of longer selections such as "Outer Nothingness" and "The Cosmos" contrasts "Of Heavenly Things," providing Ra a chance to steer the combo's intrepid excursions from the all-too-rare perspective of a percussionist. His tympani leads motivate the cut, which is also highlighted by Ronnie Boykins (bass) and John Gilmore (tenor sax). All the more impressive is the consistent level of improvisational skills that each member brings to the ensemble. Jimmy Johnson's (drums) timekeeping ranges from appropriately propulsive and bombastic to a spurious foil for Ra's seemingly maniacal prodding. Indeed, this material solidifies the progression that the bandleader had made from his former tuneful, yet ever intricate big-band type of arrangements.

From the AMG Review by  Lindsay Planer

114. [101]  Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra

The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra Volume 1

Sun Ra (bass marimba -1, 2, 5; e-celeste -3, 4, 6; tymp -2); Chris Capers (tp -3, 4); Teddy Nance (tb -1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6); Bernard Pettaway (btb -1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6); Marshall Allen (picc -1, 3, 5; as -2, 3, 6; bells -1, 5; spiral cymbal -4); Danny Davis (fl -2, 3; as in ens -3, 4, 6); John Gilmore (ts -2, 3, 4, 6; tymp -1, 5); Pat Patrick (perc; bars -3); Robert Cummings (bcl -1, 2; wood blocks -5); Ronnie Boykins (b); Jimmy Johnson (d -1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; perc -2; tymp -4).

RLA Studio, NYC, April 20, 1965

Heliocentric (Ra) -1
Outer Nothingness (Ra) -2
Other Worlds (Ra) -3
The Cosmos (Ra) -4
Of Heavenly Things (Ra) -5
Nebulae (Ra) [p, e-celeste only]
Dancing in the Sun (Ra) -6

These tracks were first issued in 1965 on ESP-Disk' 1014, The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra volume 1, in mono and stereo editions.  The original cover was a black-and-white drawing by Sun Ra; most reissues have used a purple-and-yellow drawing of Sun Ra instead.  There was an 8-track tape issue by ESP in the 1970s (thanks to Henry Weld for this information).  Reissues: Fontana STL 5514 in the 1970s, Japanese Phonogram BT-5055, Japanese ESP SMF-7455, and Japanese ESP TKCZ-79107 [CD], Base ESPS-1014 [German CD, 1992].  Bootlegs: ESP Explosive 538.110 from France (c. 1970; different cover art from the ESP releases); Happy Bird B 90131, German bootleg issued in 1983 under the title Other Worlds; German Tobacco Road 111 and Magic Music 30011 [CD, 1990] under the title Cosmic Equation.  Thanks to Hartmut Geerken, Marco Melaragni, and Tom Lord, as well as Tilman Stahl's discography, for guidance through the thicket of secondary releases.

An allegedly 180-gram LP reissue of Heliocentric Worlds Vol. 1 appeared on an italian bootleg, Get Back GET 1004.

Jimmy Johnson's first name spelled "Jimhmi" on all releases.

A 4:39 excerpt of "Outer Nothingness" appeared on the CD accompanying Barry Kernfeld's book What to Listen for in Jazz (Yale University Press, 1995).  The CD number is Yale University Press DIDX 024157.

The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra Volume 1

(LP Rip)

1. A1 Heliocentric   4:21 

2. A2 Outer Nothingness   7:37
3. A3 Other Worlds   4:35

4. B1 The Cosmos   7:30
5. B2 Of Heavenly Things   5:46
6. B3 Nebulae   3:21
7. B4 Dancing in the Sun   1:59

-FLAC-

RS

MF

or

-320-

RS

MF

The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra Volume 1

(CD Rip)

1. Heliocentric   4:19
2. Outer Nothingness   7:40
3. Other Worlds   4:37
4. The Cosmos   7:32
5. Of Heavenly Things   5:46
6. Nebulae   3:21
7. Dancing In The Sun   1:56

-FLAC-

RS

HF

or

-320-

RS

MF

In 2010 ESP Disk' reissued all three Heliocentric Worlds volumes in a single 3-CD package.  The reissue includes several photos, critical writings, and the 1968 documentary "Spaceways."

Heliocentric Bonus Material

RS

HF1 + HF2
 

Heliocentric Worlds (Vol 2)

Many Thanks to I-) for scouring the web and sharing the following images!