Alright you beautiful Jazz DUers - tell me about Sun Ra

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

I am only slightly introduced to him by my unbelievably wonderfull fiance (who is a Mingus fiend!)

Please inform me about the man, I know there's someone in this very musically learned rabble who can school me!

[pinto]

1. saw the show years ago, complete with "fire eaters", check out

Rocket #9. Fairly straight forward intro to their asymmetrical (if that's the word) constructions.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

3. Rocket #9 was on it's way to Venus, Venus - right?

That was his interpretaion of "Salt Peanuts" right?

I think that's what I got from it (I adore the song btw!!!)

[pinto]

22. yeah. Take off for the planet. For the planet. Venus. !n/t

[argyl]

26. "Rocket #9" NRBQ did a great cover of that around 1968.

Venus was where the rocket was headed for in their version.Believe it was on their first album,self titled "NRBQ" I think.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

28. I'm not an NRBQ fan -- it was good?

I don't mean to sound harsh but I'm skeptical. What album is it on, so I can make up my own mind?

Thanks, btw, :hi:

[argyl]

51. I liked it.The album was self titled NRBQ and would be hard to find.

I wouldn't try to locate it on my opinion. I'm not much into jazz;this song was way out there for a 60's rock band, but a real jazz buff could very well hate it.I had it on vinyl, it might have even been mono.Haven't heard it in years, lost the vinyl and don't even know if it's on cd.

[chaska]

50. Never could quite decide if it was just theater or...

there really was a reason to listen. To be fair I didn't really dig very deep.

2. Sun Ra rules-- don't get me started

He's right up there with Coltrane and Mingus.

I saw him and the Arkestra about 10 years ago.(edit, now that I think about it, it would have to have been 15 years ago) unbelievable greatness.
check this link and look at what's going on on May 25
http://www.visionfestival.org/main.asp

heheheheheh

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

4. 56 - I adore you!!!

Thank you so much
Right down not too far from my alma matter SVA!!!

:toast:

5. Hope you noticed Reggie Workman is playing also

on Saturday.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

13. I did ! But I realized I'm going on vacation to Key West 5/22 - 5/29!!!

We're going to miss it!!!!

:(

15. Ouch!

Well, just pretend you never heard about it, then. I guess.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

18. It's all I can do!

I'l have plenty of jazz music with me - plus my fiance who awakened me to the music. I'll be ahh-ite!!!

[tigereye]

44. oh Reggie Workman!

amazing, I saw him once! Amazing! Where is he playing?

[Whitacre D_WI]

6. Space Is the Place.

Start there.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

11. Got it - Love it!!!

The man knew what he wanted - PUNK ROCK!!!

[SheepyMcSheepster]

7. from what i have heard he ran a very tight ship as far as his band went.

he made his musicians live with him and would wake them up whenever he felt like it to rehearse. that is what i hear, could be wrong. the music is certainly awesome and all its own. i love originality.

9. He did and it still shows

I saw the Arkestra about two years ago.
A full decade after Sun Ra died and they still had the charts down to perfection.

[htuttle]

20. First time I heard them, I was sure it was just doodling around...

But then they all stopped at the same time, and I realized they were counting all that out.

So then I started listening more closely, and heard much more than doodling.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

21. Where'd you see them?

I'd love it!

25. At the Knitting Factory on Halloween

a couple of years ago.
They've been playing around NYC recently. They were at the Iridium a month ago. I missed that one.
I've also seen them in the back yard of a gallery (Steve Cannon's Gathering of the Tribes) on east 3rd street

Saw Sun Ra himself in Missouri back when I lived in Kansas 15 years ago.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

27. Knitting Factory? Have you happenedd to ever hear Grandfather Ridiculous?

Just wondering

Also East 3rd - where? Is there a club there (I'm an eastside kid!)

30. this is the place on East 3rd

not a club, an apartment and they have a backyard. Between B & C, down the street from the Nuyorican.
http://www.tribes.org/

Haven't heard Grandfather Ridiculous. Clue me in.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

33. I thought you meant the Knitting Factory down below Soho at...

74 Leonard Street

Grandfather Ridiculous is just one of the many many bands that play there. the reason I bring them up is cause their pianist went to highschool with my fiance and their vocalist is Bobby McFerrin's son. That's all.

:)

34. I did mean 74 Leonard

I've seen them twice in NYC
Once at Knitting Factory @ Leonard, once at Tribes on East 3rd.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

40. What did you think?

You like the boys?

41. too much music

we're getting confused.
I've never seen Grandfather Ridiculous, I meant I've seen the Arkestra twice in NYC.

By the way check out the poster I posted down below in my post about the MC5.:)

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

43. I apologize! I was confused - The MC5 poster is in my favorite poster art

book!

I am very familiar with it. Suffice to say - if you ever hear of Grandfather Ridicuulous - see them and we'll talk!

Thanks for that image!!!
:)

[bif]

8. He claimed he was from Saturn

I saw him perform many years ago. Great show. I'm not a huge fan of his spacier stuff, but he did several albums of standards that are great.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

14. Can you name some albums? I'm hungry for music - Chomp Chomp Chomp!!!

MMM mmm mmm

[bif]

19. check out this web site:

http://www.allmusic.com and do a search for him. They have an excellent discography with reviews. I don't actually own any Ra but my friend is a huge fan of his. I'll have to check with him and see what albums he reccommends. His early stuff is good.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

29. Thanks Bif - thats great!!!

:toast:

[bif]

35. Sorry I couldn't be more help

I'll ask my friend tonight and PM you tomorrow.

[dolo amber]

10. He's got a cool name

B-)

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

12. Come on Dolo - I know you've got more than that!!!

Give it to me!!!
Are you a fan?

[dolo amber]

17. I'm a fan in that

all I've heard I've liked, but I know nothing well enough to recommend. I'm a failure. :cry:


;)

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

23. You're moving towards my "passive-passive" thread - you'll be ok

I got your back!!!

[parasim]

16. Here's some good Sun Ra info

http://www.missioncreep.com/mw/sunra.html

My friend and I saw the Arkestra in Lansing, Michigan, I don't know, 14-15 years ago. The concert was great, although they had to wheel him onto the stage in a wheelchair, they played though a blistering 2 hour set which was sheer heaven. John Gilmore, Pat Patrick, they were all there. "Space is the Place" rocked.

After the show, my friend and I were wandering around the block of the venue in a daze talking about the show, and we witnessed a very sad scene. There behind the club, an older gentleman was helping Sun Ra into the back seat of a beat up, rusted out Oldsmobile. It was a pretty sad moment.

My favorite Sun Ra bit:

You can call me Mr. Ra, you can call me Mr. Ree, you can call me Mr. Mystery.

on edit: a recommendation... The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra is one of my all-time favorites.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

24. From what I've heard he really railed against white construct of music...

Do you feel (through your actual experience of being in his presence) that he was blazing new ground?

[parasim]

46. Oh yeah...

Absolutely. The friend that I saw him with, has been a Sun Ra fanatic since the late 70's, and he turned me on to him around 81, 82. So, I listened to a lot of Arkestra records, but it wasn't until I saw him live that I really felt the impact of his music.

We saw him In Chicago at the Jazz fest one year (mid 80's) and it was incredible. The Arkestra in the open-air settting of Grant Park was crazy. They played it seemed like forever, and at the end of their set, they were all going nuts, fire dancers all over the place, everybody blowing their lungs out, Ra walking around with this fantastic egyptian headdress that stands up like 2 feet above his head, for like a half hour. It was something to watch the unsuspecting passersby walking on the sidewalk behind them... everybody within ear-shot was affected whether they were watching the show or not... the tension in the air was wild...

Yeah, I definately felt he was blazing new ground. Then, he always was, he's considered by many to be pioneer in the use of electronic keyboards in music...

Another great record, if you can find it, is a piano solo date he did in Italy sometime around the mid 80's. His genius really was really evident in that recording. It was on Holo Records, probably out of print, but if you can find any solo piano Ra records, you should check them out.

Astro Black is another of my favorites, btw.

You do know he was from Saturn, don't you?

[PragMantisT]

31. Hey Chavez

Good biography of Sun Ra (Herman Blount) called "Space is the Place" by John SZWED. Published in 1997 by Pantheon. I read it, and it is very interesting.

Sun Ra started out in the fifties producing Doo-Wop bands. There are several on a 2 CD compilation called "The Singles." It's a good place to start and many of the recordings are hard to find since they were all made in small runs and sold only at shows with hand painted labels.

"Space is the Place" is also an album and a concert film of Sun Ra. It also comes as a soundtrack not the same as the album. The soundtrack offers some good tunes ('Outer Spaceways Incorporated', 'We Travel the Spaceways').

Sun Ra and his (myth science/intergalactic solar) Arkestra are immersed in a unique mythology unknown to most mortal men. But there are some outstanding musicians in the Arkestra, particularly Hobart Dotson on trumpet and John Gilmore on tenor sax.

Following the Doo-Wop era, much of the Sun Ra work could be considered Be-bop, then slowly evolved into the cabaret period that some listeners find inaccessible, but was a huge influence on Frank Zappa.

My personal favorite recording is "Jazz in Silhouette". "The Singles" is also very good with some Doo-Wop and such tunes as 'Medicine for a Nightmare', 'Message to Earthman', 'I am gonna Unmask the Batman', and 'Hot Skillet Mama' featuring sometime vocalist (and I use the term loosely) Yochanan.

I went through a stage of collecting Sun Ra recordings, but they are not for everyone. Some are very good, but some are questionable at best. But there will always be someone in a crowd of jazz fans who thinks Sun Ra has no equal in Jazz history.

Sorry to be so long winded, but I heard about Sun Ra before I heard any Sun Ra. I always thought it would be inaccessible from what one hears about it. But "Jazz in Silhouette" was the first Sun Ra I bought and it is one of my favorite CD's. It's in the car now.

Happy listening.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

36. Thank you SO MUCH PragMantisT!!!!

That's what I was hoping for!!!

[PragMantisT]

39. Glad to help.

I haven't heard any of the solo piano works, but I hear "Monorails and Sattelites" is very listenable.

Have fun in Key West.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

42. Thanks - from what I've heard it's almost impossible not to!

i will rock on no matter what!!!

[PragMantisT]

48. One more thing

Pretty good site:
http://www.dpo.uab.edu/~moudry/

[Quahog]

32. Sun Ra was SO PUNK!

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Saw him and the Omniverse Arkestra once. My brain nearly exploded, it was 2.5 hours of barely controlled mayhem. At one point he was playing "Over The Rainbow" on distorted electic piano, while his whole sax section was running around the audience, blowing extemporaneous hard bop lines as loudly as they could right into people's faces. People actually walked out of that show... but bear in mind that it was San Diego.

I remember Sun Ra addressing the audience that night only one time:

"Some call me Mister Ra. Some call me Mystery. You can call me Mister Mystery."

Yeah. From Saturn. Not sure any recordings could capture the experience, but he was a genius.

37. Well MC5

did do a song of his & they used to play double bills with him.
Doesn't get much more punk than that.

[GumboYaYa]

38. Sun Ra is as uniques as it gets.

He would create many of his own instruments to get just the right sound by modifying existing instruments or finding things that made the sound he wanted. He may be the most obsesssive/com[ulisive arranger in the history of jazz. Apparently, he will cut and recut a tune 100 different ways before he is satisfied with it. Regardless, the result is a music like no other. I listen to Sun Ra when I need an escape. His music is otherworldly as if he truly is from Saturn.

[tigereye]

45. an old friend introduced me to his music

(the same friend who told me about Lou Reed and John Cale and Joan Jett and Capt. Beefheart) Anyway. Once when I went to NYC in the 80s with this friend we saw Sun Ra and the Arkestra at either the Village Gate or the other big jazz club ( all I know is that it was in a basement and I believe it is no longer there. One of the classic old jazz spaces)

Anyway, he was wonderful and sweet and more accessible than I expected - older stuff - and wilder than I expected. It was great. And when they paraded around he sat in my freind Bill's lap. It was very cool. :)

[rog]

47. Look at all the available videos!

"I'm not a part of history--I'm more a part of mystery, which is my story" -- Sun Ra

http://www.dpo.uab.edu/~moudry/tape_f.htm

I've seen "Space Is The Place," shot in Oakland, 1972. It's GREAT, and available on Rhapsody.

"The Cry Of Jazz" looks really good, too.

Or how about this ... don't know where you can get it.

V71.12. Footage from Egypt
Gizeh, Egypt. 12/71. Color super-8 film without sound. 7 min. "Arkestra in front of Pharaonic temple and on the steps of the Great Pyramid of Gizeh, dancing and playing with the desert wind."

Wow.

ON EDIT: Saw him play about four or five times in the late 70's. I remember him doing KILLER versions of Fletcher Henderson charts with everyone playing from memory and messing with their parts, so it sounded improvised. "Do the thing ... do the thing ... do the Intergalactic Swing!"

.rog.

[Rabrrrrrr]

49. Nuclear War, yeah yeah

Talking about, nuclear war

love Sun Ra, though I've only heard about two albums worth and never saw him live. Wish I had, but I didn't hear about him til after he was dead.

A true musician. Up there with Coltrane and Harry Partch.