Sun Ra - Live at the Hackney Empire (1994)

Live At The Hackney Empire may be the definitive latter-day Sun Ra recording for a couple of reasons. First, it's a full two-and-a-half hour concert on two CDs, so you get the actual flow Sun Ra programmed into his performance to showcase the different musical facets of the Arkestra -- swirling cosmic outbursts, swing-era big band, vocal chants rooted in Africa by way of Saturn. (Amazingly, there's hardly any duplication of material from the concert the night before with a dozen-odd French symphony musicians that Leo released as Pleiades).

Second is the presence of guest players (or Arkestra members for the tour) like Charles Davis, with his robust baritone sax, India Cooke's high-flying violin, and Talvin Singh's tablas in the percussion section. That means new voices who definitely make their presence felt, so bingo, it's already not just another Sun Ra release.

The space-age atonal outbursts are mostly front-loaded on the three long opening pieces. As Astro-Black fades in over drums, Davis and Cooke immediately take impressive solo spins, and the crowd roars at the end of 18 minutes that sure don't feel like it. "Other Voices" quickly ventures into abstract textural zones and it calls to mind how cinemagraphic, how full of soundtrack colors, Sun Ra's music can be. Davis' baritone slashes through and Michael Ray's trumpet flashes over the top, the Ra tosses some space-sonic keyboard discords and his peaceful piano transitions into "Planet Earth Day." Back at the movies again, the group is gathering momentum with thundering drums and big band stylings before Marshall Allen goes stratospheric and the lurching riff behemoth subsides behind Kash Killion's cello.

"Hocus Pocus" is in-the-pocket big band romping with strong John Gilmore solos on clarinet and tenor bracketing Tyrone Hill's brassy trombone outing. Gilmore shoulders much of the solo load on "Blue Lou," a big band at the speed-of-sound outing with hot jazz drumming, before Singh and Elson Nascimento hit the final tablas-congas breakdown. "Face The Music" swings out in wonderfully joyous fashion with massed vocals before Noel Scott's great alto solo, and Davis galvanizes again -- his baritone's brawny tone really cuts a visceral swath through the essentially light swing of Sun Ra's Arkestra.

The string trio with guest bassist John Ore soloing fades into more cinematic big band to start the second disc. Davis is solid and Cooke shines, but the real story is the rock-solid, swinging support from the drummers. Sun Ra's drummers rarely receive any mention (quick, can you name one?) but Earl "Buster" Smith and Clifford Barbaro really drive the Arkestra all through Live At The Hackney Empire. The mood-lightening "East Of Sun" is almost cartoon music (that's not a criticism) but the lively, vibrant "Sunset On The Nile" falls victim to the perils of set flow with overextended vocal exchanges.

That changes as soon as Ra's piano leads into the blues ("Skimming and Loping") and the Arkestra takes off on a swing thing for serious dancing, the drums rockin' away behind the solos (and salvaging some slack spots); just listen to the Ra's pure rock & roll left hand heading into the home stretch. The Noble Sissle-Fletcher Henderson chestnut "Yeah Man!" brings swing era exuberance to the fore -- let's hear it for the drummers again -- before "We Travel The Spaceways" and "They'll Come Again" trail off into vocal chants as Sun Ra space-sounds out. The musical momentum dissipates, but it was probably a natural winding down for audience and the Arkestra alike after two-and-a-half hours.

Fans of Sun Ra's more adventurous explorations may find fault with him backing away from them to move back to his big band roots, and the slight versions of "Prelude To A Kiss" and "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" may provide fuel for the traditionalist critics who have long decried the Arkestra as a shuck 'n' jive freak show spectacle. It has its weak moments, but there's almost certainly no more complete document of what Sun Ra and his Arkestra sounded like as its leader's life wound down than on Live At The Hackney Empire. The liner notes say a projected U.K. television documentary on Sun Ra based on the concert fell through -- let's hope it sees the light of day sometime soon because this would be a performance worth seeing as well as hearing. 

AMG Review by Don Snowden

693. [453] Sun Ra and the Year 2000 Myth Science Arkestra

Live at the Hackney Empire

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

Hackney Empire Theatre, London,
October 28, 1990

1st Set:
Astro Black (Ra) [JT voc]
Other Voices (Ra)
Planet Earth Day [Mythic 1] (Ra)
Prelude to a Kiss (Ellington)
Hocus Pocus (Hudson)
Love in Outer Space (Ra) [MR, JT voc]
Bue Lou (Sampson)
Face the Music (Ra) [ens voc]

2nd Set:
Strings Sings (Ra) /
Discipline 27-II (Ra) /
I'll Wait for You (Ra) [SR, JT, ens voc]
East of the Sun (Bowman) [JG voc]
Somewhere over the Rainbow (Arlen-Harburg)
Frisco Fog (Carr-Roberts)
Sunset on the Nile (Ra) [SR, JT, ens voc)
Skimming and Loping (Ra)
Yeah Man! (Sissle-Henderson)
We Travel the Spaceways (Ra) [ens voc]

encore:
They'll Come Back (Ra) [JT, SR, ens voc]

Leo LR214/215, Live at the Hackney Empire, was released on CD in December 1994.  On this release, LR 214 was mistakenly labeled "Disk 2" and LR 215 was labeled "Disk 1."  The entire concert was used on the CDs, except for a 2-minute segment plagued by technical recording faults.  All information from ct.  Personnel based on ct's observation with additional help from Dan Plonsey, the credits to Pleiades, and a reviewer in the Wire, who supplied Singh's full name.  ct points out that the first percussion break at the beginning of the first set is a short timbales solo by John Gilmore.

Titles on the CD were supplied by members of the Arkestra; in some cases, improvisations are attached to the preceding or following title, and both "We Travel the Spaceways" and "They'll Come Back" interweave other space chants and sermonizing by The Ra.  The concert was filmed by Chris Foster, and a video documentary based on this concert was planned at one time for British Channel 4, but it was later canceled.

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 Campbell / Trent - The Earthly Recordings 2nd ed.

Sun Ra and the Year 2000 Myth Science Arkestra
Live at the Hackney Empire
Leo Records CD LR214 / LR215 (1994)

Disc 1
1.  Astro Black   18:18
2.  Other Voices   14:13
3.  Planet Earth Day   11:57
4.  Prelude To A Kiss   4:51
5.  Hocus Pocus   3:38
6.  Love In Outer Space   6:44
7.  Blue Lou   5:01
8.  Face The Music   10:04

Disc 2
1.  String Singh / Discipline 27-II / I'll Wait For You   12:56
2.  East Of The Sun   3:37
3.  Somewhere Over The Rainbow   9:37
4.  Frisco Fog   3:14
5.  Sunset On The Nile   12:06
6.  Skimming And Loping   9:29
7.  Yeah Man!   3:15
8.  We Travel The Spaceways   12:30
9.  They'll Come Back   7:12

-FLAC-

 RS Disc 1
RS Disc 2

HF Disc 1
HF Disc 2

or

-320-

RS Disc 1
RS Disc 2

HF Disc 1
HF Disc 2