1978 Space Is The Place. The set consists of 3 C.D. Like Pathways, this program employed a greatly reduced Arkestra. Beyond even the wildest freeform excesses of John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy, Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy was psychedelic jazz music before the term had entered the media slipstream. He mixes in mythology, science fiction and strange vocals with avant garde jazz. Best Sun Ra albums? Armed with such exotic instruments as sky tone drums and astro space organ – together with a space echo treatment through which most of the music was channelled – Ra and his Arkestra explore the outer limits of cosmic improvisation and return with an album that (as its Freudian title suggests) invites the listener to discover their musical inner id. save. Regardless of its name, this long player contains some of Sun Ra's most complex but most accessible efforts. List RulesThis list includes studio albums only, so if you add an album make sure it's a proper studio release. Sun Ra was one of the most inventive and controversial musicians of the 20th century. (1978; Philly Jazz) Sun Ra’s music didn’t progress in a linear fashion. 29 comments. You can also listen to our Sun Ra – Cosmic Creations playlist on Apple Music: El Saturn LP (1959) Phoenix Jazz CDRecorded at El Saturn Studio, Chicago, this album is generally considered to be one of Sun Ra’s best works from his period there. Published December 1, 2000 – By Bill Shoemaker. Published December 1, 2000 – By Bill Shoemaker. Again, for a … Allen came on in 1958, a year after the Arkestra released its first album, Jazz by Sun Ra; the saxophonist and flautist Danny Ray Thompson has been with the band since ’67. St. Judes Church, 9:35; Sun Ra - Where Pathways Meet. El Saturn LP (1977) Atavistic CDApart from two extraordinary Ra abstractions, this set from 1977 is mostly made up of standards featuring the tenor playing of John Gilmore and Ra on piano. 94% Upvoted. Here are 10 key recordings plucked by Edwin Pouncey from Ra’s enormous discography that continues to yield up new discoveries and lost musical treasures to this day. Mixing electronic music with hard blown jazz eruptions from band members John Gilmore and Marshall Allen, the set hits new peaks of uninhibited creativity. ‘Unknown Kohoutek’ is the real brain burner of the set, however, with the Arkestra playing solemnly over their leader’s involved and complex flourishes of electronic organ tinkering and synthesizer slash. (A part of the Lanquidity (1978) Released on the short-lived Philly Jazz label, Lanquidity is as atmospheric … From Birmingham, Alabama to Saturn and beyond, help us identify the avant-jazz voyager’s must-hear works. report. Sun Ra – Lanquidity. Lanquidity. 29 comments. hide. The decidedly bluesy Cymbals was one of the best bets of the entire lot. Tracks featuring the smaller combo reveal an almost introspective Arkestra. Instead of the expected cacophony, however, a wonderful and totally unexpected new music was discovered. This essential title is also available under the moniker of Sun Song (1956). Herne Hill, Early works like 1959’s transitional Jazz In Silhouette, or 1965’s freed-up The Heliocentric Worlds Of Sun Ra? This list includes studio albums only, so if you add an album make sure it's a proper studio release. Featuring Ra playing a Hohner Clavinet (or Solar Sound Instrument as he called it) the mood here is thick with inventive twists and turns that are swept along by a tsunami of dislocated rhythm, textures and un-caged jazz motifs. or "What are the top Sun Ra albums?" (Following Ra's illness-forced retirement in 1992, the band remained active as The Sun Ra Arkestra, and, as of 2018, continues performing under the leadership of veteran Ra sideman Marshall Allen. Simply outrageous. ) 2021 level 1. Anyone interested in Sun Ra Should check out June/July 1975 issue of Coda magazine as there is a long article on Sun Ra followed by a separate long article on John Gilmore. From Birmingham, Alabama to Saturn and beyond, help us identify the avant-jazz voyager’s must-hear works. If you think the greatest Sun Ra album isn't high enough on the list, then be sure to vote for it so it receives the credit it deserves. El Saturn LP (1963) Evidence CDBy now Sun Ra’s music was entering realms of new discovery that few jazz aficionados could comfortably take on board. Since this was the first widely distributed platter that the … Find Sun Ra discography, albums and singles on AllMusic. Find Sun Ra discography, albums and singles on AllMusic. This thread is archived. Thank you for visiting Jazzwise.co.uk To get full, unrestricted access to all our news, features, artist profiles and much more besides simply click the button below and register for free to … All tunes seem to be originals and the general style seems to be chunky arrangements of what are often riff based tunes. Sun Ra - Lanquidity (1978) (Full Album) 43:29; Sun Ra- Lanquidity. 1979 New Steps. best. Elsewhere Gilmore and drummer Luqman Ali burn brightly on the more conventional ‘Third Planet’. Sun Ra isn’t actually named in John Berendt’s The City of Falling Angels as a suspect in the arson that burned down the opera house, but this CD is Exhibit A. The best album credited to Sun Ra taking into account any aliases or variations is Jazz In Silhouette by Sun Ra And His Arkestra which is ranked number 2,445 in the overall greatest album chart with a total rank score of 647. In the first of our Sun Ra features this week in celebration of the music and legacy of the great jazz pianist and universal mystic for what would have been his 100th birthday, The Vinyl Factory’s Chris May goes deep into Sun Ra’s extraordinary back catalogue of hand-painted and often privately pressed records to select 10 of the rarest around. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. Art Yard’s extended two-disc version of this classic is the one to hunt down if you feel tempted. Take a peek inside the latest issue of Songlines magazine. share. Since this was the first widely distributed platter that the … The rest of the group make contributions, but it is mostly Ra and Gilmore who are to the fore, especially on a masterful rendition of John Coltrane’s ‘My Favorite Things’ that closely mirrors the dynamic joy and energy of the original quartet’s recording. Recorded in Chicago in 1956, Super-Sonic Jazz is often regarded as the first Sun Ra album. To make it easy for you, we haven't included Sun Ra singles, EPs, or compilations, so everything you see here should only be studio albums. What Is Sun Ra's Best Album? This list contains albums like Jazz in Silhouette and Super-Sonic Jazz. ), the Egyptian groove moving through ‘Ancient Aiethiopa’ and a powerfully performed ‘Rocket Number Nine Take Off For Planet Venus’. Jazzwise Magazine, This article originally appeared in the Dec 2014 / Jan 2015 issue of Jazzwise. Dulwich Road, Alongside the epic title track – and the shorter sound poems ‘Abstract Eye’ and ‘Abstract ‘I”’ – the centrepiece here is ‘The Shadow World’, a frantic fusion of jazz and avant-garde classical music that still sounds totally unique. 's containing 4 records by Ra's band, 'Jazz By Sun Ra' from 1956, 'Supersonic Jazz' also from 1956, 'Jazz In Silhouette' from 1959, and 'The Futuristic Sounds Of Sun Ra' from 1961, together with a fourth C.D. The album was recorded in Chicago during a session that also included the whole of the albums Sound Sun Pleasure!! Ra had been an active performer since the late 1940s, recording with his various combos or "Arkestra(s)," as he dubbed them. If you want to know, "What is the Best Sun Ra album of all time?" Released in 1978 on Philly Jazz (catalog no. The 96-year-old saxophonist, who began playing with Sun Ra in the late '50s and continued to lead the Arkestra after its namesake's death, discusses the band's first album in more than 20 years. save. 1973 Astro Black. ESP-Disk LP (1973)Performed at New York City’s Town Hall on December 22nd 1973, this live recording for the passing by of the comet Kohoutek over Planet Earth is a wild and varied celebration that is often overlooked. Popular Sun Ra albums Sleeping Beauty. Also worthy of mention are the two takes of ‘I’ll Get By’ with Ra on piano, bass player Ronnie Boykins and Gilmore’s breathy tenor on one, while trumpet player Akh Tal Ebah appears on the second with Ra leading on electronic organ. His music is very swing influenced and upbeat, pianos, guitars, and a whole brigade of brass instruments are used. hide. | All rights reserved. Listen to the best of Blue note on Apple Music and Spotify, and scroll down for the ten Blue Note albums you need to hear. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. 1978 Disco 3000. A stand-out track from one of Sun Ra’s best and most epochal albums, 1959’s Jazz in Silhouette, the nine-minute opus opens up the … level 1. Sort by. Rated #4 in the best albums of 1978, and #471 of all-time album.. London, SE24 0PD. This thread is archived. The stark contrast between the clavinet — which Ra dubbed the "Solar Sound Instrument" — and the hand-held African congas on "Mu" and "Bimini" reveal polar opposite styles and emphasis. Sun Ra: 10 Essential Tracks This year marks the 100th anniversary of Sun Ra's birth, and his interstellar take on jazz and funk continues to live on and inspire to this day. Regardless of its name, this long player contains some of Sun Ra's most complex but most accessible efforts. share. Again, for a … What Is Sun Ra's Best Album? El Saturn LP (1966) Atavistic CDFurther experimentation in the studio produced this astonishing project. To find out more about subscribing to Jazzwise, visit: www.jazzwisemagazine.com/subscribeIan Brighton goes live, Listen to the Sun Ra – Cosmic Creations playlist on Apple Music. Few, however, could have foreseen the dramatic musical change that Ra had in mind when composing this music, a senses altering series of sonic experiments that took his music to another level of creativity. The Sun Ra discography is one of the largest discographies in music history. PJ666; Vinyl LP). It's a live recording of a Sun Ra Arkestra show where the set list was all songs from Disney movies. Make sure you don't just vote for critically acclaimed albums; if you have a favorite Sun Ra album, then vote it up, even if it's not necessarily the most popular. Recorded in 1965 at the birth of psychedelia, this album combines their cosmic jazz with tape loop experiments. The result is a strange Arkestrated R&B that sounds both ancient and futuristic. Saturn's contribution to jazz, the unpeggably eclectic bandleader advanced the genre into … Mark Allen Group El Saturn LP (1969) Evidence CDIn his liner notes to this record Sun Ra warns his listeners that: “The past is dead, and those who are following the past are doomed to die and be like the past.” Ra had no room for passengers as he set the controls for his latest space jazz adventure, and as the epic title track clearly demonstrates he also had no intention of altering his course. High points include the Moog infected ‘Astro Black’ (originally released on ABC/Impulse! They go over each album in depth. Strut/Art Yard CD/2-LP (2014)Presented by current Arkestra bandleader Marshall Allen, this chart-entering collection of prime Sun Ra compositions spans almost his entire career and acts as the ideal introduction to the man and his mystical musical universe. Lanquidity, an Album by Sun Ra. Like Pathways, this program employed a greatly reduced Arkestra. Taking off with a roaring version of ‘Astro Black’, the Arkestra slide into a lengthy work out on ‘Discipline 27: Part 1’, complete with a slithery Moog solo from Mister Ra. In the first of our Sun Ra features this week in celebration of the music and legacy of the great jazz pianist and universal mystic for what would have been his 100th birthday, The Vinyl Factory’s Chris May goes deep into Sun Ra’s extraordinary back catalogue of hand-painted and often privately pressed records to select 10 of the rarest around. Replete with its distinctive cover art, depicting semi-naked space sirens levitating over a lunar landscape, here was jazz that looked and sounded alien (yet somehow strangely familiar) to a late 1950s audience – but stranger sounds were yet to come. The sound quality is not the greatest, but it's the first Sun Ra record I heard, and it's very fun to hear and always makes me smile. Sun Ra: The Great Lost Sun Ra Albums: Cymbals and Crystal Spears. 0208 677 0012, © MA Music, Leisure & Travel Ltd The 26-minute long title track is a solid electronic space groove, littered with drum machine openings and shot through with masterful horn eruptions. It's a live recording of a Sun Ra Arkestra show where the set list was all songs from Disney movies. 'Silhouette' is generally considered to be the best of his earlier records but the other three sessions are of similar quality. “Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise” embodies Sun Ra’s art of self-transformation and of musical innovation, of spiritual aspiration and of separateness, of self-display and self-exile. The music swings, is deeply jazz based and has plenty of solo space for some very good soloists. 2, Tracks: Saturn Research, Twigs at Twilight, Constellation, Tracks: Kosmos in Blue, Solar Drums, Ankh, Tracks: Hour of Parting, Back in Your Own Backyard, 'Round Midnight, Tracks: Realm of Lightning, Spectrum, Adventures of Bugs Hunter, Tracks: Blue Differentials, Monorails and Satellites, The Alter Destiny, Tracks: Cluster of Galaxies, Solar Drums, Infinity of the Universe, Tracks: The Magic City, Abstract 'I', The Shadow World, Tracks: Say, Celestial Road, I'll Wait for You, Tracks: Sunset on the Night on the River Nile, Stardust From Tomorrow, Time After Time, Tracks: Hours After, Dance of the Extra Terrestrians, But Not for Me. Sun Ra Arkestra, the pioneering jazz collective founded by the late Sun Ra, have announced their first studio album in over 20 years — since 1999’s Song for the Sun.. This Sun Ra discography is ranked from best to worst, so the top Sun Ra albums can be found at the top of the list. Strange Strings is a renowned Ra classic that has since been extended by the release of the Roaratorio label’s Other Strange Worlds, an album made up of newly discovered recordings from the Strange Strings session. Some Blues But Not The Kind That’s Blue. I want to get some Sun Ra albums but don't have room for his massive discography, what are 3-7 of his best in your opinion? 8:23; Sun Ra - Twin Stars Of Thence. This Sun Ra discography is ranked from best to worst, so the top Sun Ra albums can be found at the top of the list. Featured peformers: Sun Ra (synthesizer, fender rhodes, organ, Hammond organ, Minimoog, piano, bells, composer, producer, arranger, vocals), Eddie Gale (trumpet), Michael … My Brother The Wind, Vol 2. Evidence (1996) CDAs well as recording and releasing albums, Ra’s El Saturn label also produced limited quantities of 7-inch singles in an attempt to break through into the mainstream. Such was the musical excellence of the Arkestra that they could naturally cross over into unknown musical territory. As well as playing their more trademark cosmic jazz the group also embark on a set of doo-wop ditties, adopting such names as The Cosmic Rays (with lead singer Calvin Barron) and The Nu Sounds. Sun Ra: 10 Essential Tracks This year marks the 100th anniversary of Sun Ra's birth, and his interstellar take on jazz and funk continues to live on and inspire to this day. Worth getting also for Ra’s cash-in Batman tribute ‘I’m Gonna Unmask The Batman’ and a shimmering version of Jerry Lee Lewis’ ‘Great Balls Of Fire’. List of the best Sun Ra albums, including pictures of the album covers when available. Best Sun Ra albums? Sun Ra was one of the most inventive and controversial musicians of the 20th century. Tracks: Twin Stars of Thence, That's How I Feel, There Are Other Worlds (They Have Not Told You of), Genres (Music): Jazz, Jazz fusion, Experimental music, Avant-garde jazz, Tracks: Where Is Tomorrow?, New Day, Looking Outward, Tracks: Fate in a Pleasant Mood, Kingdom of Thunder, Space Mates, Tracks: Demon's Lullaby, Urnack, Angels and Demons at Play, Tracks: Portrait of the Living Sky, Super Blonde, Soft Talk, Tracks: A Bird's Eye View of Man's World, Dance of the Living Image, Narrative, Tracks: The Ridiculous "I" and the Cosmos Me, Space Is the Place, Would I for All That Were, Tracks: Sound Spectra / Spec Sket, Other Planes of There, Spiral Galaxy, Tracks: Disco 3000, Dance of the Cosmo-Aliens, Friendly Galaxy, Tracks: We Travel the Spaceways, New Horizons, Space Loneliness, Tracks: Retrospect, Sometimes I'm Happy, Nameless One No. List of the best Sun Ra albums, including pictures of the album covers when available. After asking the Arkestra to lay down their horns, Ra then handed the players various stringed instruments, none of which they knew how to play. El Saturn LP (1978) Art Yard 2CD setRecorded live at the Teatro Ciak in Milan, Italy on 23 February 1978, this recording sees Sun Ra and his Arkestra at the height of their free flowing powers. A meditation on Sun Ra’s alleged birthplace - we say alleged, as he denied his whole life that he came from anywhere other than Saturn - ‘The Magic City’ can be seen as the Arkestra’s most sonically ambitious work. best. 5:34; Sun Ra ─ That's How I Feel (12' Rare Acetate) … The decidedly bluesy Cymbals was one of the best bets of the entire lot. Early works like 1959’s transitional Jazz In Silhouette, or 1965’s freed-up The Heliocentric Worlds Of Sun Ra? The Sun Ra discography is one of the largest discographies in music history. [1] [2] Jazz keyboardist, bandleader and composer Sun Ra recorded dozens of singles and over one hundred full-length albums, comprising well over 1000 songs, and making him one of the most prolific recording artists of the 20th century. Best of 1979 Jakes Monthly album obsessions Favourite Live Videos Black Artists Thread Long Shot's Top 60 Albums of 1963 ... Herman Blount is Sun Ra. There are other compilations out there (Evidence’s Sun Ra Came Down To Earth and Blast First’s excellent Out There A Minute for example) but here Ra’s music, poetry and philosophy sounds not so much remixed or re-mastered but reborn for a new generation to discover. Sun Ra: The Great Lost Sun Ra Albums: Cymbals and Crystal Spears. “An important album for me after Dingwalls and going into ‘That’s … of singles issued by Ra … Start your journey and discover the very best music from around the world. There’s an … Occasionally sounding like the soundtrack to some grindhouse sci-fi movie, this is Ra music at its most passionate and unpredictable. Ra had been an active performer since the late 1940s, recording with his various combos or "Arkestra(s)," as he dubbed them. then this list will answer your questions. The best new jazz albums: Editor's Choice, December 2020 Monday, November 23, 2020 The Editor's pick of the best new albums reviewed in the December 2020 issue of Jazzwise, featuring Keith Jarrett, Elina Duni & Rob Luft, Mary Halvorson, Rob Mazurek and Sun Ra … 94% Upvoted. 6:33; There Are Other Worlds. Sort by. Saturn's contribution to jazz, the unpeggably eclectic bandleader advanced the genre into … Jazz in Silhouette is a jazz album by pianist-composer Sun Ra and His Arkestra.It was recorded on March 6, 1959 and released in May of the same year. The album is centered by the side-long title track, a chanting excursion with an insistent funk groove with Danny Thompson playing the baritone riff that anchors you in a series of free blowing excursions from … The sound quality is not the greatest, but it's the first Sun Ra record I heard, and it's very fun to hear and always makes me smile. However, Ra enthusiasts should rarely be surprised at his experiments in divergence. and "Interstellar Low Ways" from the album of the same name [1] [2] Jazz keyboardist, bandleader and composer Sun Ra recorded dozens of singles and over one hundred full-length albums, comprising well over 1000 songs, and making him one of the most prolific recording artists of the 20th century. Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy / Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow. El Saturn LP (1965) Evidence CDMade up of four multi-dimensional sounding pieces of music, The Magic City is partly Sun Ra’s reflection on the city of Birmingham, Alabama where he was born and raised. Genres: Jazz Fusion. report. With originals now commanding premium prices, this 2CD set is a cheaper alternative that showcases an almost unknown side of Sun Ra and his Arkestra’s music. This essential title is also available under the moniker of Sun Song (1956). 1 Space Is The Place This is a middle period Sun Ra album from 1972 and it’s related to the film of the same name, but it’s not the soundtrack. I want to get some Sun Ra albums but don't have room for his massive discography, what are 3-7 of his best in your opinion? Since hailed as an overlooked masterpiece, Jazz In Silhouette perfectly encapsulates how the Arkestra would remain faithful to the jazz tradition of Duke Ellington and Fletcher Henderson, but also be looking toward the future of the music they had studied and mastered under Ra’s precise tutelage.