2nd Chance: Sun Ra - Strange Strings (1967)

  
Recorded NYC 1966-1967 

Strange Strings is one of the most obscure and downright weird recordings in all of Sun Ra’s immense (and weird) discography. By 1966, Ra had acquired a selection of odd stringed instruments – ukuleles, kotos, zithers, etc. – to be played exclusively here by members of the Arkestra. That the musicians did not how to play them was the whole point, it was, according to Ra, “a study in ignorance.” Structurally, the music builds on the kind of conducted-improvisation found on The Magic City (1965) (Evidence CD), but the unfamiliar instruments create a truly otherworldly din. Homemade metallic instruments clatter and thrum while strings are plucked, bowed, struck and scraped; sometimes drums and tympani pound ominously. Thick reverb saturates or, at other times, dries up the acoustic, creating shifting and distorted sonic perspectives. Sounding more like Iannis Xenakis than Fletcher Henderson, this stuff is definitely not for the faint of heart! The bonus track, “Door Squeak” features Sun Ra on, yes, a loudly squeaking door (which actually sounds very much like the MiniMoog, which he would take up years later) while more strange strings chatter in the background. Detailed liner notes by Hal Rammel and super deluxe packaging make this CD a must have for the connoisseur of Sun Ra’s furthest interplanetary journeys.

from NuVoid's Sun Ra Sunday blog

Door Squeak

Strange Strings is a somewhat legendary album from the mid-'60s. "Worlds Approaching" is a great tune, anchored by a bass ostinato and timpani and featuring several fantastic solos, including Marshall Allen on oboe, Robert Cummings on bass clarinet, John Gilmore on tenor, and Sun Ra on electric piano. Off and on throughout the tune, Bugs Hunter applies near-lethal doses of reverb, giving the piece a very odd but interesting sound. "Strange Strings" is one of those songs that is likely to inspire some sort of "you call that music?" comment from your grandmother, or even from open-minded friends. It sounds like they raided the local pawnshop for anything with strings on it, then passed them out to the bandmembers. It's difficult to tell if some of these instruments have been prepared in some way, or if they're simply being played by untutored hands. There are also lots of drums and some viola playing from Ronnie Boykins that is also treated heavily with reverb. Despite the cacophony, there is a definite ebb and flow to the piece and what seem like different movements or themes. Whatever you think of the music contained, there's no denying that it produced some of the most remarkable sounds of the mid-'60s. If you don't like "out," stay clear of this one. [Atavistic reissued the album in 2009.]

AMG Review by Sean Westergaard

Click to enlarge

123. [109] Sun Ra and his Astro-Infinity Arkestra

Sun Ra (Wurlitzer ep, perc); Ali Hassan (tb); Marshall Allen (as, ob); Danny Davis (as, fl); John Gilmore (ts); Pat Patrick (bars, fl); Robert Cummings (bcl); Ronnie Boykins (b); Clifford Jarvis (d, tymp); James Jacson (log drum, perc).

Rehearsal, New York City, around 1966

Worlds Approaching (Ra)

Poor recording quality indicates a different session from the rest of the Strange Strings album.  This session could have been made a year or two earlier than the rest of the album.

Worlds Approaching

124. [110] Marshall Allen (strings); Danny Davis (strings); John Gilmore (strings); Pat Patrick (strings); Robert Cummings (strings); Ali Hassan (strings); Carl Nimrod (strings, perc); Ronnie Boykins (b, vla, dutar); Sun Ra (lightning drum, tymp); James Jacson (log drums); Clifford Jarvis (tymp, perc); Art Jenkins [Thlan Aldridge] (strings, space voice).

Rehearsal, New York City, late 1966

Strange Strings (Ra)
Strange Strings (Ra) (cont.)

Thoth Intergalactic KH-5472, Strange Strings, was issued in 1967 (it is described by Tam Fiori in the January 1968 issue of Jazz and Pop).  It also circulated under the catalog number 502.  "Strange Strings" begins as the second track on Side A ("featuring vocal by Arthur Jenkins"), and the continuation ("featuring lightning drum") fills all of Side B.  Some previous discographies give 1964 as the recording date, but John Gilmore places it after Nothing Is.

What were the strings?  Gilmore described his as "a little Japanese instrument"; in a Melody Maker article, Fiofori refers to "Chinese lutes, moon-guitars, mandolin, bass, koto."  In 1966 photos of a rehearsal in the Sun Studios (by Val Wilmer, in Omniverse Sun Ra), Boykins is shown playing a dutar, a bowed lute used in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan (thanks to Ralph Pleshar for background on the dutar), as well as a more Oriental instrument.  Hartmut Geerken points out that none of the strings were actually electric, though they were closely miked and in some cases subjected to reverb (Carl Nimrod was incorrectly credited with "electric strings").  Geerken identifies one of Ra's "sun harps" as a Ukrainian bandura (it is shown on the cover of Holiday for Soul Dance); it is possible that one of the other Arkestra members played the bandura on this date.

On the jacket Jenkins is billed as "Thlan Aldridge," but according to articles in Jazz Wereld, August and October 1968, he and Aldridge are one and the same.  Indeed, the Carnegie Hall program for April 12-13, 1968, lists "Art Jenkins (= Thlan Aldridge)."

from The Earthly Recordings 2nd ed

 Sun Ra and his Astro-Infinity Arkestra

Strange Strings

1.  Worlds Approaching   10:17

2.  Strange Strings   12:48

3.  Strange Strange   20:24

4.  Door Squeak   10:29

-FLAC-
RS
HF

or

-320-
RS
HF


Strange Strings (180g LP Reissue)

1. Worlds Approaching   10:10
2. Strings Strange   12:27

3. Strange Strange   19:58

-FLAC-
RS
HF

or

-320-
RS
HF

2nd Chance: Continuation

Originally released in 1970, Continuation contains a handful of experimental small group tracks recorded at the Sun Studio in 1968 along with two tracks with the full Arkestra recorded live at The East in Brooklyn, New York in 1969.

Side A begins with “Biosphere Blues,” a typically spaced-out blues, taken at a relaxed, almost somnambulant tempo. Interestingly, John Gilmore is probably playing drums on this home recording. After Ra’s piano introduction, Wayne Harris takes a nice solo on trumpet, his tone is warm and mellow, his note choices exquisite. Next up, Ali Hassan takes a single tasteful chorus on trombone. Then, Pat Patrick jumps in with an incongruously aggressive solo on baritone saxophone before giving way to Ra’s jaunty piano. A swelling space chord ends the piece with an odd dissonance. “Intergalaxtic Research” sounds as every bit as alien and forbidding as its title. Robert Barry plays the booming “lightning drum” with James Jacson on log drum and other unidentified percussionists who construct throbbing, asymmetrical cross-rhythms while Art Jenkins does his bit on space voice. Ra twiddles with his space organ and clavinet like a mad scientist, emitting random blasts of noisy timbres, dense, lurching chords, or rapidly spinning constellations of notes. This is a wonderfully strange piece.

The presence of Tommy Hunter and his echo-echo-echo machine on “Earth Primitive Earth” and “New Planet” makes me think these tracks were recorded prior to 1968. In fact, the overall ambience (and massively increased hiss) sounds like some of the Choreographer’s Workshop recordings (but this might just be wishful thinking). Both pieces pit Ra’s echoing piano against a skittering flute choir. On “Earth Primitive Earth,” Hunter plays some kind of metal scraper quite near the microphone, making for an unsettling, spooky atmosphere. “New Planet” takes the echo thing to a whole other level and Robert Cummings turns in another spectacular solo on bass clarinet (I am really starting to appreciate what a great player Cummings is on that most difficult and unwieldy instrument). Incidentally, both of these tracks appeared on the 1989 compilation CD, Out There a Minute (Blast First), although “Earth Primitive Earth” was slightly edited and re-titled “Cosmo Enticement” and “New Planet” was re-titled “Song of Tree and Forest,” presumably at the request of Sun Ra himself.

Side B contains the nearly continuous nineteen-minute live concert segment from 1969, and it’s a corker. “Continuation To” opens with the Arkestra already in full flight over sultry African percussion but Ra soon takes over with a roiling piano solo, full of booming left hand chords and scampering right hand clusters. After bringing things back down a bit, Akh Tal Ebah extemporizes on trumpet while Ra hints at ballad forms and hand percussion gurgles nervously in the background. Suddenly Ra produces a bouncy, repetitive figure and bass and drums join in for some good, old fashioned swinging. Ebah, a newcomer to the band since Sun Ra’s relocation to Philadelphia in the fall of 1968, manages to hold his own amidst the shifting musical landscapes and things really start to heat up when the Arkestra enters with big angular space chords, full of wiry clarinets and blatting trombones. But just as Boykins begins to solo, the track cuts off. “Jupiter Festival” picks up with the end of Boykins’s bass solo and he quickly moves to the fast walking to introduce “Second Stop is Jupiter.” Ra joins in and the Arkestra chants, climaxing with “all out for Jupiter!” A massive space chord erupts which melts into manic group improvisation. Gilmore emerges from the din with a lengthy, super-intense tenor saxophone solo, full of “sheets-of-sound” flurries of notes, heroically over-blown honks and squeals, and impossible multi-register leaps. Sun Ra prods things along with more furious piano, conducting brief entrances and exits of musicians while Gilmore continues to wail. The music finally simmers down a bit with the various horns exhaustedly sighing and moaning but with Boykins agitatedly scraping away with the bow. At one point, there is a tense, held note before the return of the busy piano figures after which screaming clarinets provide contrast against some sweetly melodious alto sax and rippling brass, with Jarvis propulsively pounding away in free rhythm. This deliciously complex texture continues on for some minutes before abruptly cutting off. Argh!

Nevertheless, Continuation is another fascinating album from a fertile, if spottily documented, period in Ra’s career and well worth hearing.

Review from NuVoid, home of Sun Ra Sundays.

Biosphere Blues

149. [132]  Sun Ra and his Astro-Infinity Arkestra

Continuation

Sun Ra (p.); Wayne Harris (tp); Ali Hassan [Al Wardlow] (tb); Pat Patrick (bars); Ronnie Boykins (b); poss. John Gilmore (d).

Sun Studio, NYC, 1968

Biosphere Blues (Ra)

The collective personnel on the Saturn jacket gives Wayne Harris and Akh Tal Ebah as the trumpet players and Ali Hassan as the trombonist (Danny Thompson is not sure who the trumpet player on this track was).  Harris and Hassan were there during the late New York period; Ebah was not.  No bass  player is credited on Saturn, but it sounds like Boykins.


150. [133]  Sun Ra (space org [Gibson Kalamazoo org]; galactone space instrument [Hohner Clavinet]; prob. Robert Barry (lightning drum); James Jacson (log drum, perc); unidentified (perc); Art Jenkins (space voice, perc).

Sun Studio, NYC, 1968

Intergalaxtic Research (Ra)

Personnel from the Saturn jacket, except Art Jenkins, whose presence was pointed out by Jacson.


151. [134]  Sun Ra (p innards, sun harp, gong -1; p -2); Marshall Allen (picc -1; Jupiterian fl -2); Danny Davis (strings -1; fl -2); Robert Cummings (bcl -2); prob. John Gilmore (bells -1); poss. Tommy Hunter (scraper, perc -1; reverb).

Sun Studio, NYC, around 1968

Earth Primitive Earth (Ra) -1
New Planet (Ra) -2

Both tracks also released in 1989 on British LP and CD Blast First BFFP 42, Out There a Minute, and on Restless 71427 [CD] and Torso 33132 [LP].  On these releases, the titles were changed from "Earth Primitive Earth" to "Cosmo Enticement" (this was also edited and is shorter on the Blast First releases than on Saturn) and from "New Planet" to "Song of Tree and Forest" (slightly edited on Blast First).

"Cosmo Enticement" also appeared under that title on David Toop's "ambient" compilation Ocean of Sound, a two-CD set released by Virgin in 1995.  Other tracks on this anthology include an excerpt from Peter Brötzmann's "Machine Gun," along with pieces by Brian Eno, David Toop with John Zorn, Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, Velvet Underground, My Bloody Valentine, Erik Satie, and others (Peter Gianakopoulos).

Hunter is not credited on the Saturn jacket but his trademark reverb indicates that he was at least engineering the session.  Continuation is normally dated 1968-1969, but on stylistic grounds an earlier date is possible for these tracks.

Jupiter Festival

152. [135]  Sun Ra (p.); Akh Tal Ebah [Doug E. Williams] (tp, mell); poss. Charles Stephens (tb); Marshall Allen (as); Danny Davis (as, acl); John Gilmore (ts, cl); Danny Ray Thompson (as, libf); Pat Patrick (bars, cl); Ronnie Boykins (b); poss. Clifford Jarvis (d); Carl Nimrod [Carl S. Malone] (space drum); James Jacson (log drum); unidentified (perc).

The East, Brooklyn, NY, 1969

Continuation To (Ra)
Jupiter Festival (Ra)

Saturn ESR 520, Continuation, was issued in 1970.  Matrix numbers: ESR37363NP (Side A) and ESR29691 (Side B).  Both tracks were recorded at the same live concert.

The collective personnel from the original Saturn jacket was used as a guide.  Robert Barry is credited with drums, but the drummer sounds more like Clifford Jarvis.  No clarinets are credited; it is possible that Robert Cummings was present on clarinet as well.  Akh Tal Ebah is credited with playing trumpet, and his mellophone can be  heard in the ensembles.  If Ebah (who joined after the move to Philadelphia) is on trumpet, then the trombonist cannot be Ali Hassan as stated on the jacket.  Bass player is also uncredited but sounds like Boykins.  According to Danny Ray Thompson, the Neptunian libflecto was a modified bassoon constructed by Marshall Allen.  It came in two models, one with a saxophone mouthpiece, the other with a French horn mouthpiece.  Thompson has a recollection ("not 100 percent") of performing this piece at The East. 
From Campbell / Trent The Earthly Recordings 2nd ed.

Please enjoy another Saturn rarity LP rip complements of our friend, Paul W.

Continuation (1970)

Side A:
Biosphere Blues   5:07
Intergaxtic Research   8:14
Earth Primitive Earth   3:15
New Planet   3:09
Side B:
Continuation To   8:42
Jupiter Festival   11:08

-FLAC-

RS
MF

or

-320-
RS
MF

 

Sun Ra - Strange Strings (1967)

  
Recorded NYC 1966-1967 

Strange Strings is one of the most obscure and downright weird recordings in all of Sun Ra’s immense (and weird) discography. By 1966, Ra had acquired a selection of odd stringed instruments – ukuleles, kotos, zithers, etc. – to be played exclusively here by members of the Arkestra. That the musicians did not how to play them was the whole point, it was, according to Ra, “a study in ignorance.” Structurally, the music builds on the kind of conducted-improvisation found on The Magic City (1965) (Evidence CD), but the unfamiliar instruments create a truly otherworldly din. Homemade metallic instruments clatter and thrum while strings are plucked, bowed, struck and scraped; sometimes drums and tympani pound ominously. Thick reverb saturates or, at other times, dries up the acoustic, creating shifting and distorted sonic perspectives. Sounding more like Iannis Xenakis than Fletcher Henderson, this stuff is definitely not for the faint of heart! The bonus track, “Door Squeak” features Sun Ra on, yes, a loudly squeaking door (which actually sounds very much like the MiniMoog, which he would take up years later) while more strange strings chatter in the background. Detailed liner notes by Hal Rammel and super deluxe packaging make this CD a must have for the connoisseur of Sun Ra’s furthest interplanetary journeys.

from NuVoid's Sun Ra Sunday blog

Strange Strings is a somewhat legendary album from the mid-'60s. "Worlds Approaching" is a great tune, anchored by a bass ostinato and timpani and featuring several fantastic solos, including Marshall Allen on oboe, Robert Cummings on bass clarinet, John Gilmore on tenor, and Sun Ra on electric piano. Off and on throughout the tune, Bugs Hunter applies near-lethal doses of reverb, giving the piece a very odd but interesting sound. "Strange Strings" is one of those songs that is likely to inspire some sort of "you call that music?" comment from your grandmother, or even from open-minded friends. It sounds like they raided the local pawnshop for anything with strings on it, then passed them out to the bandmembers. It's difficult to tell if some of these instruments have been prepared in some way, or if they're simply being played by untutored hands. There are also lots of drums and some viola playing from Ronnie Boykins that is also treated heavily with reverb. Despite the cacophony, there is a definite ebb and flow to the piece and what seem like different movements or themes. Whatever you think of the music contained, there's no denying that it produced some of the most remarkable sounds of the mid-'60s. If you don't like "out," stay clear of this one. [Atavistic reissued the album in 2009.]

AMG Review by Sean Westergaard

Click to enlarge

123. [109] Sun Ra and his Astro-Infinity Arkestra

Sun Ra (Wurlitzer ep, perc); Ali Hassan (tb); Marshall Allen (as, ob); Danny Davis (as, fl); John Gilmore (ts); Pat Patrick (bars, fl); Robert Cummings (bcl); Ronnie Boykins (b); Clifford Jarvis (d, tymp); James Jacson (log drum, perc).

Rehearsal, New York City, around 1966

Worlds Approaching (Ra)

Poor recording quality indicates a different session from the rest of the Strange Strings album.  This session could have been made a year or two earlier than the rest of the album.

124. [110] Marshall Allen (strings); Danny Davis (strings); John Gilmore (strings); Pat Patrick (strings); Robert Cummings (strings); Ali Hassan (strings); Carl Nimrod (strings, perc); Ronnie Boykins (b, vla, dutar); Sun Ra (lightning drum, tymp); James Jacson (log drums); Clifford Jarvis (tymp, perc); Art Jenkins [Thlan Aldridge] (strings, space voice).

Rehearsal, New York City, late 1966

Strange Strings (Ra)
Strange Strings (Ra) (cont.)

Thoth Intergalactic KH-5472, Strange Strings, was issued in 1967 (it is described by Tam Fiori in the January 1968 issue of Jazz and Pop).  It also circulated under the catalog number 502.  "Strange Strings" begins as the second track on Side A ("featuring vocal by Arthur Jenkins"), and the continuation ("featuring lightning drum") fills all of Side B.  Some previous discographies give 1964 as the recording date, but John Gilmore places it after Nothing Is.

What were the strings?  Gilmore described his as "a little Japanese instrument"; in a Melody Maker article, Fiofori refers to "Chinese lutes, moon-guitars, mandolin, bass, koto."  In 1966 photos of a rehearsal in the Sun Studios (by Val Wilmer, in Omniverse Sun Ra), Boykins is shown playing a dutar, a bowed lute used in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan (thanks to Ralph Pleshar for background on the dutar), as well as a more Oriental instrument.  Hartmut Geerken points out that none of the strings were actually electric, though they were closely miked and in some cases subjected to reverb (Carl Nimrod was incorrectly credited with "electric strings").  Geerken identifies one of Ra's "sun harps" as a Ukrainian bandura (it is shown on the cover of Holiday for Soul Dance); it is possible that one of the other Arkestra members played the bandura on this date.

On the jacket Jenkins is billed as "Thlan Aldridge," but according to articles in Jazz Wereld, August and October 1968, he and Aldridge are one and the same.  Indeed, the Carnegie Hall program for April 12-13, 1968, lists "Art Jenkins (= Thlan Aldridge)."

from The Earthly Recordings 2nd ed

 Sun Ra and his Astro-Infinity Arkestra

Strange Strings

1.  Worlds Approaching   10:17

2.  Strange Strings   12:48

3.  Strange Strange   20:24

4.  Door Squeak   10:29

FLAC

or

320

Visit this 2nd Chance post for new links.