2nd Chance: Sun Ra w/Symphony Orchestra - Pleiades (1993)

In October 1990, Sun Ra and the Arkestra traveled to France to perform a concert with an orchestral accompaniment.

 The October trip was a short one -- just the Orléans and London concerts.  According to Ahmed Abdullah and Jothan Callins, the Arkestra completed no fewer than seven trips to Europe in 1990 (March, April, May, June, July, August, and October).

From The Earthly Recordings of Sun Ra 2nd ed.

In John Szwed's Sun Ra biography, "Space Is The Place," he describes the events leading up to the Orléans concert:

The Théâtre-Carré Saint-Vincent event in Orléans, France, was billed as a "Jazz Symphonique" concert, and Sun Ra had nineteen classical musicians made available to him to add to the sixteen musicians he was bringing, which already included two violins and a cello.  He threw himself into the project and brought a computer to help him produce the instruments' parts.  But once they reached Paris, Sun Ra confided to Jothan Callins that he didn't have the arrangements ready for the larger ensemble.  And though he didn't ask for help, he seemed distraught, his hands shaking.  So for the next fifty hours Callins worked with Sun Ra on the parts, transcribing and Xeroxing day and night, even adding his own composition, "Alabama," to the list, and then when the night of the performance came, Callins conducted the Arkestra for Sonny.  "When I finished he thanked me for it.  It was the first time I'd ever heard him thank anyone for anything."

Planet Earth Day

About two years before, Sun Ra had bought June Tyson a violin, and she had been teaching herself to play and slowly working herself into performances.  But when she seated herself in the violin section for a rehearsal in Paris, it was obvious to the classical players that she was not a trained musician.  When she began to read another violinist's music, he pulled the music stand away from her, saying it was "his music."  After another violinist did the same thing, she went out and bought a huge pile of music -- standards, transcriptions of Thelonious Monk tunes, some Miles Davis -- and when she returned at the next rehearsal she piled all of it in front of her on a music stand and announced to the string players that this was "her music."

For this performance and the upcoming Hackney Empire engagement in London Sun Ra also added Talvin Singh on tablas.  When Singh went to meet Sun Ra where he was staying (at a private residence outside Paris) to discuss his part, the house was filled with burning frankincense and myrrh.  Asked about rehearsing with the group, Sun Ra told him there was no need for it, just sit close to him and watch.  "He never told me what to play; just actions, hand signals, orchestrating the whole vibe with his aura.  The energy was amazing.  I knew exactly what to play:  I couldn't jam all over the music, and I had thought it was going to be like that."

Szwed, Space Is The Place, pp. 371-372

Leo LR-210/211, Pleiades, was released in 1993 on CD.  The poster for this "Jazz Symphonique" concert is reproduced on the tray copy for this CD, but the liners incorrectly give Paris as the location.  Other information from the liner notes.  According to John Szwed, Jothan Callins conducted the chamber orchestra and wrote the arrangements for seven of the pieces (not "Blue Lou" or "Prelude N. 7").  "Planet Earth Day" was used by Sun Ra as another title for "Mythic 1."  Leo mislabeled the track, which was usually titled "Carefree" or "Egyptian Fantasy."  According to Urs Berger, the unissued track can be heard on a cassette tape of this concert circulated by Danny Ray Thompson.  

From The Earthly Recordings of Sun Ra 2nd ed.

(Does anyone have a copy of the above mentioned Danny Ray Thompson cassette to share?!!)

692. [452] Sun Ra and his Arkestra with Symphony Orchestra

Pleiades

Le Sony'r Ra [Sun Ra] (p, syn, voc); Michael Ray (tp, voc); Jothan Callins (tp, cond. arr); Tyrone Hill (tb); Marshall Allen (as, fl, ob, picc); John Gilmore (ts, cl, timb, voc); Noël Scottt (as, cacl); Charles Davis (bars); James Jacson (ob, bsn, Inf-d); India Cooke (vln); Stephen "Kash" Killion (clo); John Ore (b); Clifford Barbaro (d); Eric C. "Buster" Smith (d); Elson Dos Santos Nascimento (surdo grande, perc); Talvin Singh (tabla, voc); June Tyson (voc, vln).  The Symphony Orchestra (players  unidentified); 3 vln; 1 b; 3 fl; 2 as; 1 ts; 1 Eng hn; 1 bsn; 3 tp; 1 tb; 1 Fr hn; 1 tymp; 1 perc.

Théâtre-Carré Saint-Vincent, Orléans, France, October 27, 1990

Pleiades disc 1

1. Pleiades    15:47 

2. Mythic 1    16:35 

3. Friendly Galaxy    17:44 

Pleiades disc 2

1. Sun Procession    13:03 

2. Lights on a Satellite    6:27 

3. Love in Outer Space    6:55 

4. Planet Earth Day    10:00 

5. Mythic 2    7:55 

6. Blue Lou    5:30 

7. Prelude in A Major Op. 28, N. 7    7:50

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