2nd Chance: Sun Ra - St. Louis Blues (Solo Piano vol. 2) (1978)

In 1977 Sun Ra recorded two LPs of solo piano for the enterprising Improvising Artists label.  Of the two, I prefer Solo Piano Volume 2, St Louis Blues IAI373858, reissued on CD.  It is a live recording - a videotape release of the performance has also been available from IAI.  There is real purpose to the music here, from 'Ohosnisixaeht' (the recording venue spelt backwards!), to the closing 'Thoughts On Thoth'.
from Chris Trent's 'Another Shade of Blue'

 On July 3, 1977, Sun Ra shared a bill with Paul Bley at Axis-In-Soho as part of the Newport in New York Festival, which was recorded by Bley’s Improvising Artists label. A portion of Sun Ra’s set was released on LP in 1978 as St. Louis Blues: Solo Piano, Volume 2 (IAI 37.38.58) and reissued on CD in 1993 (IAI 123858) (Campbell & Trent pp.236-237). If Solo Piano, Volume 1 was an introspective studio album, Sun Ra is in an expansive, playful mood in front of a live audience. As Szwed points out in his biography, “Bley was surprised to see that once he was alone on stage, ‘Sonny was a ham who liked to clown and surprise the audience’” (Szwed p.343) and there is a bit of that to be found here.

Ra’s passagework is startlingly virtuosic, displaying an astonishing independence of fingers and hands and extreme sensitivity of touch, although it sometimes comes across a bit empty and showy. “Ohosnisixaeht” is a rhapsodic blues with impressively fleet soloing, but the music wanders rather than gets anywhere. W.C. Handy’s “St. Louis Blues” is better, updated with a complex, polytonal arrangement. The simple “Three Little Words,” a 1930s showtune by Harry Ruby and Bert Kalmar is given an over-the-top reinterpretation that borders on corny, full of melodramatic glissandos and skittering block chords but always returning to that sweet, sweet swing. Side one closes with a short, romantic rendition of “Honeysuckle Rose” that alternates between rubato schmaltz and breezy ragtime.

B1  Sky and Sun

Side two is more interesting, containing three originals that show off Sun Ra’s compositional skills as well as his brilliant keyboard work. “Sky and Sun” is onomatopoeic: drifting chords represent the sky and twinkling figures in the uppermost register represent the sun. This track is really quite evocative and it sounds he could do this sort of stuff all day long. Ra summons up an entire Arkestra on “I Am We Are,” from rumbling bass notes, scraping “strange strings” and  exquisitely voiced harmonies to outrageous, free-jazz scree, with moments of two-fisted aggression a la Cecil Taylor—a tour de force and probably the best thing on the album. “Thoughts On Thoth” ends the album with a slow space groove, articulated with remarkably fluid right-hand flourishes. It’s a brilliant display, but feels a little perfunctory to me.  
Continue Reading at Sun Ra Sundays

Just as his reputation on he synthesizer was growing, Sun Ra began to play more piano again, and in a style that reached back further in jazz tradition than most would have suspected.  But those who had known him for years understood that his origins were in the blues, and assumed that side of his playing: "Sun Ra could play the blues for twenty four hours without repeating a phrase," they claimed.  Though many recognized him as capable of playing bombastically, and of using the piano for color, few thought of him as a major player.  But Paul Bley, one of the two or three leading pianists of free jazz, believed that Sonny was a great piano player, so great that he didn't need a band.  If anything, he felt, the band was a cover for his insecurity.  Early in 1977 Bley convinced Sonny to do a series of piano duo performances with him in New York and Europe and to record for Bley's new audio and video company, Improvising Artists.  In Europe Bley was surprised to see that once he was alone on stage, "Sonny was a ham who liked to clown and surprise the audience -- as at Lake Como, where he shocked them by playing a cake walk!"  On May 20 Sun Ra went into the studio to record Solo Piano, and played a mixture of his own compositions and some unusually conceived standards, such as a very freely played "Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child," or "Yesterdays" done in a brisk stride.  On July 3 he was recorded solo (St. Louis Blues) while playing at Axis-in-Soho as part of the Newport Jazz Festival, and again there were surprises: his "St. Louis Blues" aluded to Earl Hines's famous boogie-woogie version and a cheerful little love song like "Three Little Words" got turned into a melodrama.  But there were modest experiments in keyboard resources as well, such as "Sky and Sun," which stayed almost entirely within a small range at the top of the keyboard.

from Szwed - Space Is The Place p. 342-343

248. [204] Sun Ra

Sun Ra (p.).

The Axis-in-SoHo, NYC, July 3, 1977

Ohosinisixaeht (Ra)
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
(trad.)
St. Louis Blues (Handy)
Three Little Words (Kalmar-Ruby)
Honeysuckle Rose (Waller-Razaf)
Sky and Sun (Ra)
I Am We Are I (Ra)
Thoughts on Thoth (Ra)

First Released in 1978 on Improvising Artists Inc. 37.38.58, St. Louis Blues: Solo Piano. All tracks reissued in 1993 on Improvising Artists Inc. 123858 [CD].

IAI V003 is a 40-minute video issued by Improvising Artists, which differs from the LP/CD (replacing "Ohosnisixaeht" with "Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child") and has other minor editing differences from the LP and CD, but is basically a document of the same concert.  "Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child" is a different performance from the one that was made at the previous session.  IAI V003 was available in the late 1970s through early 1980s and was restored to circulation in the 1990s (thanks to Michael Denton for information about the two IAI videos).  The video has also been available from Mastersession (MSN 5017).

This concert was part of the Newport in New York Festival; according to Allan Chase, Sun Ra appeared on a bill with Paul Bley.  According to Fred Conrad, the concert ended with "When There Is No Sun," on which Ra was joined by June Tyson (voc) and John Gilmore (voc).  It is not known whether this piece was recorded.

from Campbell/Trent The Earthly Recordings 2nd ed.

Sun Ra
St. Louis Blues - Solo Piano (1978)
Improvising Artists Records
IAI 37.38.58 (1978)

1. A1 Ohosnisixaeht   6:06
2. A2 St. Louis Blues   5:17
3. A3 Three Little Words   5:49
4. A4 Honeysuckle Rose   3:30
5. B1 Sky and Sun   6:18
6. B2 I Am We Are I   6:25
7. B3 Thoughts on Thoth   6:41

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St. Louis Blues (Solo Piano vol. 2) CD
IAI 123858-2 (1993)

Ohosnisixaeht     6:09

St. Louis Blues     5:19

Three Little Words    5:56

Honeysuckle Rose    3:44

Sky And Sun    6:20

I Am We Are I    6:27
Thoughts On Thoth    6:41

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or

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HF