I was flipping through my text books for my middle school students and came across an article on a black musician known as Sun Ra.

It is said that he recorded over 125 albums and adopted an alter ego much like Bowie did with Ziggy Stardust. Born Herman Blount, he spoke of an intergalactic life and adopted the name Sun Ra back in the 1950's. By all accounts, he had some major influence on jazz music.

Does anyone have any idea of where to start with this guy's catalogue?

Although I am not a fan of jazz, I would like to listen to his music and dive into the man's psyche and see what made him tick.

Thanks

All I can say about his music is it is pretty "out there". I bought Sun Ra and His Solar Myth Arkestra 'The Solar Myth Approach' and it isn't bad. Perhaps someone else can shed more light.

Some interesting overviews (ones that don't start with, "Sun Ra was born on Saturn." ) ...
http://www.missioncreep.c...sunra.html
http://www.iaje.org/bio.asp?ArtistID=61
http://weeklywire.com/ww/...cords.html
http://www.musicstrands.c...istId/2394

Do a search on this site and you'll get all kinds of info:
http://www.allaboutjazz.c.../srbio.htm


In terms of books...



...Space is the Place by John F. Szwed


Regarding his recordings, it's important to start pre-galactic so that your students understand that this was a musician with firm roots in traditional music composition and not just some out-of-leftfield nut-job. He was very influenced by Duke Ellington and wrote many arrangements for Fletcher Henderson's band.

This is one is easy to acquire...



...Sound Sun Pleasure


It's great to hear that you're teaching your students about Sun Ra.
My best friend spent 2 years on the road with The Arkestra.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm
[Edited 8/3/05 14:34pm]

Thanks for the information.

I teach reading, but the book we are doing is called Eccentrics and the book had articles of social eccentrics over the years. It was the first I heard of him and seeing that music has had it's share of unique personalities (Prince, MJ, Bowie, and some others),I am surprised Sun Ra never gets mentioned in too many serious discussions of trend setters.

This might be blasphemous in some circles, but he seems like he provided the blue print for the whole Bowie/Ziggy/space thing to a small degree, although that distinction was credited to Vince Taylor(?) "The Euro Elvis".

COMPUTERBLUE1984 said:

This is because most folks never took him seriously.
Even those in the Jazz community who should have known better.

It could even be argued that he was the blueprint for someone like George Clinton and the visual component of his Parliament/Funkadelic excursions.

Can you see any physical similarities...



...from this pic of Sun Ra and The Arkestra?



tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

HUH!!!! A Sonny Blount thread? at the org?!

it's after the end of the world don't you know that yet?

Leave it to my man tA to school the knownots!

Forgive me Sin for ever doubting your commitment to the cosmos.




tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

theAudience said:

I learned about Sun Ra my freshman year of college in my jazz appreciation class and our professor talked about how he was far ahead of the concepts that would be popularized in the 1970's. That's why I laugh when people get into these debates about originality and who is borrowing ideas from other people. There truly is nothing genuinely new under the sun.

Sun Ra's song Nuclear war is by far the funniest song / story I've ever heard....Here's the review from allmusic.com.

Along with Lanquidity, Nuclear War is one of the rarest discs in Sun Ra's enormous catalog. Recorded in 1982, Nuclear War disappeared until 2001 when the Chicago-based Atavistic label made it part of their exceptional "Unheard Music Series." Originally Ra was so sure the funky dance track was a hit, he immediately took it to Columbia Records, where they immediately rejected it. Why he thought a song with the repeating chant "Nuclear War, they're talking about Nuclear War/It's a motherf***er, don't you know/if they push that button, your ass gotta go/and whatcha gonna do without your ass" would be a hit is another puzzle in the Sun Ra myth. Even with the danceability factor, without heavy censoring, the song would never be played on the radio. Severely depressed by the rejection, but still determined, Ra licensed the track to Y Records, a post-punk label out of Britain. Initially a vinyl 12" was released with "Sometimes I'm Happy" on the flip side. Two years later, Nuclear War was released as an album, but only in Italy. The remaining tracks include four originals and three standards, Ellington's "Drop Me Off in Harlem," "Sometimes I'm Happy," and "Smile." The latter two are highlights in their own right thanks to the gorgeous vocals of June Tyson.

DorothyParkerWasCool said:

I can see th P-Funk/CLinton vibe....A black musician able to weave Egyptology/Sci Fi does not come around very often, so I made a direct correlation to the whole Bowie/Ziggy concept only b/c Blount adopted an alter ego (sci-fi) and believed it all the way through. The costumes are a definite precursor to the whole Clinton/P-Funk thing.

You guys know your stuff. Thanks for the help

theAudience said:

You know what happens the next time you doubt my love for sonic stargazing, don't you?!?










and there won't be a damn thing i can do to help you.

After you're done digging some of the sounds tA mentioned, you should check out these flicks:

I've got the 'A Joyful Noise' DVD, and it's cool. I love how Sun Ra talks in riddles on it. He seemed to be a man highly conscious of his image - in that he could never publicly step away and be 'himself' (unless he really was from Saturn?!) No, actually, if you read between the metaphors, I think he's often talking about the race struggle and problems in America. Could his claim to be 'from Saturn' be a metaphor for being an alienated black in 20th century, often racist, white-dominated America? Just a thought ...

I like and recommend the 'Jazz in Siluette' album as a good intro to the Ra - fairly cosmic big band music from the '50s. I occasionally play 'The Solar Myth Approach' double album. This is where Sun Ra collides with Stockhausen and Varese imo. This was my first Sun Ra album . After hearing this, I really thought he was an 'out-of-leftfield nut-job', as tA put it so well! No-one should start with this album!

Interesting Sun Ra facts - John Coltrane studied briefly with Ra in the early '60s (I believe). Also, before 'Trane joined Miles' band, Miles originally wanted (and rehearsed with) Sun Ra's main tenor sax man John Gilmore, but Gilmore was very loyal to the Arkestra and turned him down. Imagine if history had been different! Coltrane admitted to respecting and being influenced by John Gilmore's innovative style.

sinisterpentatonic said:

I will be beefing up my Anti-Abduction Defense System.





tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm[/quote]

Miles said:

it's rare to come across someone with this knowledge.

and you know Sun Ra asked John to join his band and John turned him down, six months later coltrane was dead.

theAudience said:

These dudes might be able to hook you up.

theAudience said:

Ndeed tA! I've heard from many funkateers that Sun Ra was definitely a big influence on P-funk , the Spaceship in particular...



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