Sun Ra - Cosmo Omnibus Imagiable Illusion: Live at Pit-Inn (1988)

Bright sounding and energetic, Sun Ra & His Arkestra transcended the damaging effects of the 1980s on jazz by simply doing what they always did: making joyous, cosmos-sweeping music in the self-established tradition of a free big band. The recording captures the band sympathetically, managing to keep the chaos under control through a crisp and deep mix. Though featuring mainstay Arkestra vocalist June Tyson on a number of tracks (including the elegiac "I Wait for You"), the highlights here are the band's sweet takes on shorter charts, such as Ra's swinging "Can You Take It?," Duke Ellington's classic "Prelude to a Kiss," and Jerome Kern's tender "Why I Was Born." Also of note is a gently lurching take on "Astro Black," one of Ra's most enduring melodies. Containing manageable bits of many of the Arkestra's foci, this disc provides a good introduction to Sun Ra's work.

AMG Review by Jesse Jarnow


A classic Arkestra live set from the end of the 80s -- beautifully recorded, and put together with a lot more dynamic energy than some of the less professional Sun Ra live dates from the time! The set runs for nearly an hour in length, and tracks are long, but often quite focused -- served up with a good deal of soulfulness in both the rhythms and horn work, as well as some of that Ellington-inspired tightness that marked Ra's best later years. Players include Michael Ray, John Gilmore, Tyrone Hill, Marshall Allen, John Gilmore, and Ahmed Abdullah -- and titles include "Astro Black", "If You Came From Nowhere Here", "Can You Take It", "Angel Race/I Will Wait For You", "Cosmo Approach Prelude", and "Interstellar Lo-Ways".

Dusty Groove


****1/2
Sometimes I think I'm just sentimental about late period Ra; after all, it was how I was introduced to the music. But then I listen again to albums like this and I think that Michael Ray (or is it Ahmed Abdullah?) burns as brightly on trumpet as Gilmore did on sax once upon a time, that Gilmore himself (plus Marshall Allen and Danny Thompson) sounds as good as he ever did even if I'm more familiar with his bag of tricks, that Leroy Taylor's clarinets add as much new flavor to the ensemble as the trumpets, and that a new tune like "If You Came From Nowhere Here" is as good as the mellow stroll of "Interstellar Lo-Ways" or the freer exercise of "Astro-Black." Though to be honest, "If You Came..." is the first Ra song I ever heard, albeit under the name "Egyptian Fantasy," so maybe I'm being a tad sentimental. If one could ever call an Arkestra typical, this is not a typical one, with trumpets and bass clarinet and guitar all taking more prominent roles, and the clarion call of Ra's synthesizer coupled with his stately piano on two standards overseeing the proceedings. This is a fine one, and for me at least, ranks near the top of the many live recordings of this era.

RateYourMusic.com customer review by "nervenet"


The wild, wooly, wacky and wonderful Sun Ra; composer, keyboardist, philosopher, outer-space free-spirit; in a live concert form Tokyo, Japan, 1988. The band plays 6 of Ra's cosmic originals plus its own outrageous takes on Duke Ellington's Prelude To A Kiss and Jerome Kern's Why Was I Born, with a nutty vocal by Michael Ray. Other highlights: soloing of alto saxophonist Marshall Allen and tenor saxophonist John Gilmore.

from Downtown Music Gallery

583. [389] Sun Ra Arkestra

Sun Ra (p, syn, voc); Michael Ray (tp, voc); Ahmed Abdullah (tp); Tyrone Hill (tb); Marshall Allen (as, fl, perc); John Gilmore (ts, cl, timb, voc); Danny Ray Thompson (bars, perc); Leroy Taylor [Eloe Omoe] (as, bcl, cacl,  perc); June Tyson (vln, voc); Bruce Edwards (eg); Rollo Radford (eb); Samarai Celestial (d); Earl "Buster" Smith (d).

Pit-Inn, Shinjuku, Tokyo,
August 8, 1988

Introduction /
Cosmo Approach Prelude (Ra)
Angel Race /
I'll Wait for You (Ra) [SR, ens voc]
Can You Take It? (Henderson)
If you Came from Nowhere Here [Carefree] (Ra)
Astro Black (Ra) [JT, MR, ens voc; SR, ens voc]
Prelude to a Kiss (Ellington)
Why Was I Born? (Kern) [MR voc]
Interstellar Lo Ways [Low Ways] (Ra)
Queer Notions (Hawkins)
Prelude No. 7 (Chopin)
East of the Sun (Bowman) [JG voc]
Frisco Fog (Carr-Roberts)
Opus Springtime (Ra)
Cosmos Swing Blues (Ra)

Cosmo Omnibus Imagiable Illusion: Live at Pit-Inn was issued in 1988 on DIW 824 [CD] and DIW 8024 [LP].  There was also a special LP picture disc, in a limited edition of under 1000, DIWP 2.  Other material from this concert was included in three 7-inch 33-rpm extended-play singles, titled "Live at Pit Inn Tokyo 8-8-88 Volume One/Two/Three," DIW DEP 1-1, 1-2, and 1-3.  Date, location, and personnel from the CD leaflet.  The order in which the pieces were actually performed is not known.  Thanks to John Szwed for information about the picture disk and to Mark Webber for information about the three EPs. 

from Campbell / Trent  The Earthly Recordings 2nd ed.

Sun Ra Arkestra
Cosmo Omnibus Imagiable Illusion: Live at Pit-Inn

Shinjuku, Tokyo Japan 8-8-88
DIW Records  DIW-824 [CD] 1988

1. Introduction - Cosmo Approach Prelude   7:30
2. Angel Race - I Wait For You   7:19
3. Can You Take It?   3:14
4. If You Came From Nowhere Here   10:27
5. Astro Black   11:23
6. Prelude To A Kiss   5:12
7. Why Was I Born   5:57
8. Interstellar Lo-Ways   7:23

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RS

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RS

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