Sun Ra - Super-Sonic Sounds (1974)

In 1972 Ed Michel, the producer of the recording Space Is the Place, offered Sun Ra and Alton Abraham a lucrative contract on behalf of ABC/Impulse to rerelease the bulk of the Saturn catalog and to go into the studio and make new records.  Thirty reissues were prepared for release, an introductory sampler called Welcome to Saturn, and four new albums were recorded, Astro Black (1972), Pathways to Unknown Worlds (1975), Crystal Spears, and Cymbals (both possibly 1972).  Over the next three years Impulse issued two of the new recordings, Astro Black (in quadraphonic sound) and Pathways to Unknown Worlds, and reissued Angels and Demons at Play, Super-Sonic Jazz (under the title Supersonic Sounds), Jazz in Silhouette, The Nubians of Plutonia, Fate in a Pleasant Mood, Bad and Beautiful, The Magic City, and Atlantis, all with new art work and press announcements.

But then ABC abruptly canceled the project, cutting out the records already issued and leaving the rest of the reissues and Crystal Spears and Cymbals unreleased.  With the records cut out and dumped into sale bins of record stores Sun Ra received no more  payment for sales:

I finally consented to make some for them and what did they do?  They cut the ends off so I don't get any royalties.  Impulse was going to spend almost a million dollars in publicity.  They were going to put out fourteen LPs at one time.  Something happened where they didn't keep their contract.

Nonetheless, Impulse was the one major label with a commitment to the new jazz, having recorded John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, and most of the major figures, so their embrace of Sun Ra saw to it that his records reached a much greater audience and gave him new press attention and reviews.Szwed - Space Is The Place - The Lives and Times of Sun Ra (1997) pp 333-334

Sun Ra had only been heading his Arkestra for a couple of years when they recorded the 12 songs featured on this 1956 session. But while the arrangements, ensemble work, and solos are not as ambitious, expansive, or free-wheeling as they became on later outings, the groundwork was laid on such cuts as "India," "Sunology," and one of the first versions of "Blues at Midnight." Ra's band already had the essential swinging quality and first-class soloists, and he had gradually challenged them with compositions that did not rely on conventional hard bop riffs, chord changes, and structure but demanded a personalized approach and understanding of sound and rhythm far beyond standard thinking. You can hear in Ra's solos and those of John Gilmore, Pat Patrick, Charles Davis, and others an emerging freedom and looseness which would explode in the future.
AMG Review by Ron Wynn

31. [18]  Le Sun-Ra and his Arkistra

Sun RA (p.); Art Hoyle (tp); Julian Priester (tb); John Gilmore (ts); Laurdine "Pat" Patrick (bars); Wilburn Green (eb); Robert Barry (d).

 RCA Studios, Chicago,
around February 1956

Super Blonde (Ra)
Soft Talk (Priester)

Both of these tracks appeared in 1957 on the first Saturn LP, Super-Sonic Jazz.  The serial number of this LP was originally H7OP0216 (thanks to Alden Kimbrough for this information; the matrix numbers were H7OP0216 and H7OP0217).  The serial number was subsequently changed to SR-LP 0216; in 1967, the LP was given the catalog number 204.  All tracks from this LP were reissued in 1974 on Impulse AS-9271, under the title Super Sonic Sounds.  "Super Blonde" was retitled "Super Bronze" on the Impulse release only.  All tracks reissued on Evidence 22015 [CD] in 1992 under the original title.

It seems likely now that everything on 29, 30, 31, and 32 was recorded at one session.  Unfortunately, only "Urnack" and "Medicine for a Nightmare" carry their original RCA-derived matrix numbers.  Julian Priester copyrighted "Soft Talk" and "Urnack" in late 1955.  Sun Ra (still using the name Herman Blount as well as Le Sony'r Ra) began copyrighting his compositions in earnest with "Satana and Saturn" on February 1, 1956.  "Satana" was never recorded; "Saturn Interlude" and "Saturn: Chorus" are the piece that is familiar to us.  On February 6, 1956, Sunny copyrighted "Super-Blonde" and "A Call for All Demons."  "Snomed Yballul (English pronunciation: Demon's Lullaby)" didn't get copyrighted till April 24, but sounds as though it came from this session.  Sunny also copyrighted "East of Uz" on February 1, and "Velvet" and "Beta-Beta" on February 6.
"Velvet" was subsequently recorded by the Arkestra; the other two were not, so far as we know, though "East of Uz" got its belated premiere on record in 1976, when Pat Patrick's Baritone Retinue included it in Patrick's only Saturn LP under his own name.

32. [20]  Sun Ra Arkestra

Super-Sonic Jazz /
The Singles

Sun Ra (Wurlitzer ep, p); Art Hoyle (tp); Julian Priester (tb); John Gilmore (ts); Laurdine "Pat" Patrick (bars); Wilburn Green (eb); Robert Barry (d); Jim Herndon (tymp, timb).

RCA Studios, Chicago,
around February 1956

Medicine for a Nightmare (Ra) [2nd version]
Medicine for a Nightmare (Ra) [alt.]

The previously unreleased alternate was discovered in 1993 during research on the Saturn singles; it was issued for the first time in September 1996, on the Saturn singles collection from Evidence (The Singles, Evidence 22164 [2 CDs]).  On the alternate take, Ra plays piano throughout.  Herndon was usually credited on Saturn jackets with playing "timbali"; according to Allan Chase, these were timbales tuned lower than usual.

These two performances of "Medicine" could have come from the next sessions in April or May, but they sound similar to the other February material.  Copyright dates provide no clues because Sunny did not register "Medicine for a Nightmare."

33. [19]  Sun Ra Arkestra

Super-Sonic Jazz

Sun Ra (p, Wurlitzer ep); James Scales (as); Wilburn Green (eb); John Gilmore (space bells, perc).

RCA Studios, Chicago, April-May 1956

Springtime in Chicago (Ra)

"Chicago in Springtime (Springtime in Chicago)" was copyrighted on May 21, 1956.  The later copyright date and the presence of James Scales (who was not in the "8 Rays of Jazz" earlier in the year) suggest a different recording date.

37. [23]  Le Sun Ra and his Arkestra

Super-Sonic Jazz

Sun Ra (p, Wurlitzer ep, space gong); Art Hoyle (tp, perc); Pat Patrick (as, perc); John Gilmore (ts, perc); Charles Davis (bars, perc); Victor Sproles (b); William Cochran (d); Jim Herndon (tymp, perc).

RCA Studios, Chicago,
around October 1956

India (Ra)
Sunology (Ra)
Advice to Medics (Ra) [ep only]
Sunology part II (Ra)
Kingdom of Not (Ra)
Portrait of the Living Sky (Ra) [no horns]
Blues at Midnight (Ra) [tp, ts, p, b, d only]
El Is a Sound of Joy (Ra)

H7OP)216, Super-Sonic Jazz, was the first album to be issued by Saturn (1957).  Its original matrix numbers, according to Alden Kimbrough and Peter Roberts, were H7OP0216 and H7OP0217; these indicate that the album was pressed by RCA Victor, and the H prefix stands for a 1957 pressing.  Alton Abraham says that this and other early Saturn albums were initially issued with blank covers (some may have been hand-decorated).  The first Saturn cover was made for this album; according to Abraham, it was silk-screened without printing.  Kimbrough, however, owns a copy with artwork by the same artist who did the original covers for Rocket Number Nine and Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy [Claude Dangerfield].

Subsequent issues of the album carried the serial number SR-LP 0216.  There are two later covers.  The first is pink-purple (or pale yellow) Bauhaus style with keyboard.  The second and more common is a blue or green view of the Void with solar symbols (this last was in circulation by the early '60s -- Kimbrough owns two copies with this cover and yellow labels -- and remained the cover of choice thereafter).  In 1967, this LP was gin the catalog number 204.  Around 1970, the album was reissued on Thoth Intergalactic, still with the catalog number 204 (Stephen Ramirez).

All tracks from the Saturn album were reissued in 1974 on Impulse AS-9271, under the title Super Sonic Sounds.  All tracks were reissued on Evidence 22015 [CD] in 1992 under the original title.  "Kingdom of Not" as also included in a 1997 Evidence-derived Sun Ra sampler on Japanese Paddle Wheel Records, KICJ 315.

Location from the Saturn liner notes.  Personnel based on Saturn credits.  The dates for these sessions can be pretty closely bracketed because Patrick is playing alto sax, Sproles is on bass, and no trombonist is present.  Julian Priester (who did not play with Sproles) departed from the Arkestra in September 1956.  Art Hoyle, in turn, left in December 1956 or soon thereafter to join Lionel Hampton's band (the latest date he has given is March 1957).  Moreover, several of the Ra tunes (everything but the keyboard improvisations and "Blues at Midnight") from this session were copyrighted on December 7.  The original title of "Kingdom of Not" was "Big Charles," and "El is a Sound of Joy" was originally called "El (House of Joy)."

The version of "El Is a Sound of Joy" from this session sounds embryonic compared to the more polished one found on Sound of Joy, which suggests that this session took place earlier.
from Campbell / Trent  The Earthly Recordings, 2nd ed.

Le Sun-Ra and his Arkestra
Super-Sonic Sounds
Impulse AS-9271 (1974)

1.  India   4:48
2.  Sunology   5:39
3.  Advice to Medics   2:02
4.  Super Bronze   2:33
5.  Soft Talk   2:42
6.  Sunology, Part II   7:03
7.  Kingdom of Not   5:25
8.  Portrait of the Living Sky   1:50
9.  Blues at Midnight   6:30
10. El is a Sound of Joy   3:55
11. Springtime in Chicago   3:51
12. Medicine for a Nightmare   2:26

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You can find the Evidence CD reissue of Super-Sonic Jazz HERE.