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The Sun Ra Arkestra's Maestro Hits One Hundred

152 points| tintinnabula | 1 year ago |newyorker.com

38 comments

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[+] buildsjets|1 year ago|reply
It's excellent to see this on HN. Sun Ra and the Arkestra's genres transcend space and time, and their discography is massive, so it can be hard to tell people where to start listening, but "Jazz in Silhouette" (1959) is fine introduction to their more traditional style that won't startle you if you don't listen to much free jazz. In fact I just threw it on the ol turntable. If that tickles you, try "Space is the Place" (1973) on for something more experimental. In between, you cannot go wrong with the "Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra" albums (1965)
[+] zonotope|1 year ago|reply
Interstellar Low Ways is one of my favorite Jazz albums of all time. Scratch that. It's one of my favorite _albums_ of all time. It's another one that won't scare you away if you're not used to listening to free jazz, and it's just epic from start to finish.
[+] fortyfivan|1 year ago|reply
Wild to think that Jazz in Silhouette was 1959, but to your point about transcending space and time...

My favorites are a bit later – Lanquidity (1978) and Sleeping Beauty (1979).

A good start might be the lone release on Savoy, The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra (1962) – China Gates is such a hypnotic jam.

[+] dmix|1 year ago|reply
I want some Sun Ra records but they are usually pretty rare and expensive last time I checked
[+] eludwig|1 year ago|reply
I saw Sun Ra back once back in the mid-70s in NYC. Easily the most memorable jazz concert I've ever seen. My recollection is not 100%, but what I do remember is the Arkestra lined up in a row of chairs facing the audience. There were 2 dancers female dressed in filmy clothes that were essentially circling the players and dancing around the stage. Sun Ra was basically directing the entire performance. I don't believe he was playing anything? (I could be mistaken there though. it was a long time ago) Maybe he played keys at one point?

The most amazing part were the solos. Sun Ra would point to each player in turn and each would stand and deliver the most blistering solo for about 5 minutes each, barely taking a breath. Then Sun Ra would motion to the next and this would continue until everyone had a turn.

The music was incredibly spacey and so good. "Space is the place"!

[+] jjulius|1 year ago|reply
Not to get off on a tangent, but this reminds me of my middle school jazz band. There'd definitely be structured rehearsals, but the days that our director threw that all out the window and emphasized improvisation were the best.

We'd get to class, he'd tell us what song to pull out, and he'd just start us off like normal. Plod along, get to the usual solo section and the person slated to perform the solo does their own thing, but the director doesn't allow us out of those looped bars. Nope, without telling us, he points to the next person and has them solo. Then the next. Then the next.

Suddenly, we've reached the end of class and he finally lets us move on and finish the song after tons of people got a chance to work on their improv.

Yeah, we were in middle school and weren't top notch musicians or anything, but those still remain some of my favorite musical experiences.

[+] gongdzhauh|1 year ago|reply
I just got to see Sun Ra a couple weeks ago in Central Park. They still put on a good show with a lot of the details you are describing.

For anyone interested in something similar, check out Shibusashirazu Orchestra from Japan. Very similar performance of a conductor, lots of solos, dancers, etc.

[+] consumer451|1 year ago|reply
A friend once saw Run Ra in a small venue, sometime in the late 1980s. After the show, my friend saw that the man himself was arguing with the owner about getting paid.

My friend credits that as being the last straw for him pursuing his own professional music career. "If Sun Ra still has to argue about getting paid, at his level of fame, then this business ain't it."

[+] dmix|1 year ago|reply
Madlib called Sun Ra and Arkestra is one of his biggest inspiration artistically and he seems to bring him up every chance he gets in interviews. Which makes sense as he too is all about being music history/future obsessed multi instrumentalist with a tangent for the weird.

Sun Ra still lives on through music just like Prince and other strange experimentalists of that mark.

[+] PhunkyPhil|1 year ago|reply
He put me on to Sun Ra and Azymuth, it's high praise coming from Madlib. Other highly individual/stylized artists also share the love for Ra; Earl sweatshirt and members of sLums New York group.
[+] oggy|1 year ago|reply
A funny anecdote from a concert a few years ago: Allen was playing a solo, holding a note and blowing as hard as he could on his little soprano sax. Next thing you his teeth fly out, and there's a general commotion on as the rest of the band goes searching for the denture on the stage.

Amazing to be alive at that age, to be touring and rocking it, that's another level.

[+] sonofhans|1 year ago|reply
The Arkestra is still touring, and if you can catch them you should. Without question the best live act I’ve ever seen.
[+] mtalantikite|1 year ago|reply
One of my favorite shows was them doing a live score to "Space is the Place" during a Winter Jazz Fest. It was a lot of fun, looks like someone took some video of the beginning of it [1]. They used to play somewhat regularly in summers at a dive bar/venue near me in Brooklyn, which always felt ridiculous that such an important group was playing where countless crappy bands also played, but was sort of perfect.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=rl40d9Bz2Ps

[+] DaoVeles|1 year ago|reply
They don't merely tour, they fly a space ship to spread their vibe!
[+] TexanFeller|1 year ago|reply
I don't know what this is doing on HN, but Sun Ra makes great music.
[+] yellowapple|1 year ago|reply
The sort of intellectual curiosity and enrichment the Arkestra and Sun Ra's compositions foster and inspire is, I would argue, exactly the sort of thing that belongs on HN in droves.
[+] ggm|1 year ago|reply
Sun Ra was an early adopter of synthesisers, electronic instruments amongst other innovations.
[+] gopher_space|1 year ago|reply
Anything that appeared in an issue of Mondo 2000 would be grandfathered in.
[+] vr46|1 year ago|reply
For all the words portraying Sun Ra’s visionary attitude, that might be something others have projected onto him, for his real views and self-importance were the opposite of some of the suggestions written here.

For example, he objected to the late, great, Carla Bley, being in the Guild because she was a woman!

“In one meeting, Sun Ra said aloud to all the members of the group that I would sink the ship because that’s what women do. I was furious. I got up and said, ‘You son of a…’ I really yelled at him.”