Sun Ra

Secrets of the Sun
Atavistic ALP 266 CD

Sun Ra

Live in Cleveland 1975

Golden Years of New Jazz GY 29

Sun Ra’s near-cultish status among some fans, means that, unlike the fanatical disciples such as Dean Benedetti, who preserved non-commercially released work of Charlie Parker and other major jazz figures, Ra material-hoarders number in the hundreds. Consequently previously unknown – or un-circulated – material turns up with increased regularity. Both of these sessions fit into that category.

While not indispensable, each exposes a different facet of the pianist/bandleader’s career. Live in Cleveland 1975 captures a 15-piece version of the Arkestra – heavy on the woodwinds and percussion and Ra’s electronic keyboards – running through new variations on a series of Ra classics – and some surprises. The punningly titled Secrets of the Sun on the other hand, recorded in 1962, showcases smaller Ra units, often involved with piecing together the first versions of soon-to-be notable tunes.

Many of the Arkestra soloists who defined the band’s music over the long-term are accounted for, including saxophonists Marshall Allen and John Gilmore (on both CDs) plus singer June Tyson (on Cleveland) and bassist Ronnie Boykins (on Secrets). Yet the most noteworthy sections of these discs showcase players with shorter Arkestra tenure, or are those tracks featuring usual instruments.

Without a listed traps drummer, for example, the majority of Cleveland’s selections depend for their rhythmic impetus on the electric bass ostinato of the little-known Dale Williams. It’s his relentless and powerful licks plus the clattering congas of Atakatune and Odun on “Enlightenment” and other tunes that pump a proper number of beats into the songs to allow solo freedom. “Enlightenment”, for instance, finds Ra shuddering out the theme on organ while Damon Choice provides ringing vibraphone counterpoint.

Meanwhile the “Friendly Galaxy 2 – I am the Brother of the Wind, I Pharaoh” medley is given an wholly individualistic reading, built on Williams’ pedal-point anchoring, sharp trumpet blasts and the gentle curved lines of five unison flutes. As the horns wrap rococo-like around his voice, Ra proclaims one of his futuristic pronouncements, the message of which is strengthened by tremolo polytones arising from braying brass and flute fripperies.

More predictably – for Ra and the Arkesatra at least – “Sophisticated Lady” is recast as a Swing freak-out, with chordal pumps from the entire band, hocketing plunger tones from the trumpets – going Cootie Williams or Rex Stewart one better – and a stand-out story-telling tenor saxophone solo from Gilmore. As for Ra, his piano playing jumps between high-frequency and triple timing – owing a lot more to Earl “Fatha” Hines than Duke Ellington.

Another scene-setting highpoint comes at the beginning of the program with an 11-minute version of “Astro Nation (of the United World in Outer Space)”. Replete with chants and vocalizing from Eddie Thomas, Tyson and Ra plus hand clapping and backing vocals from everyone, it pinpoints Ra’s rapprochement with the 1970s – mixed up with 1930s echoes. Need a comparison? Imagine if Motown’s Norman Whitfield had produced A Love Supreme if the band was Walter Page’s Blue Devils. Williams’ relentless ostinato is prominent here, but so are squawking split tones from Allen’s alto saxophone and Ra’s slithering Moog rushes and texture propelling. As the vocalization encompasses soulful R&B, pop-gospel and sanctified church call-and-response – with Ra as the preacher. At points the chants and shouts reference the Four Top’s Levi Stubbs in full cry, at others a Full Gospel choir.

Massed pop-gospel choirs, Whitfield-styled production and a Love Supreme were all in the future for Ra and company in 1962. But on evidence of the seven tracks on Secrets of the Sun the concepts which would take Arkestra aggregations from being jazz-dance bands to who-knows-whats was being worked out in a series of sound laboratory experiments at that time.

Like Williams 13 years later, Boykins’ connective pedal point is crucial to most of the performances, bonding a lot more than just the rhythm section. Aiding him are extended vamps from Gilmore and some hand drumming from Tommy Hunter. Art Jenkins’ “space voice” though, which emerged over the years in various forms in different Arkestra line-ups, is an acquired taste. On “Solar Differentials” for instance, he sounds as if he’s gargling and bubble-blowing rather than singing. His kazoo-like tones are only made palatable through Ra’s pseudo boogie-woogie key fanning and Boykins’ thumping beat.

C, Scoby Stroman, drummer on nearly all the tracks is another challenge. Never adverse to take a flashy and thickly pulsed solo that emphasized rolls, flams and chinging cymbal work, his style is an extension of Max Roach’s and Art Blakey’s. As exceptional as that percussion sound may have been for Hard Bop, Ra’s mystical originality and a mishmash of Space Age sensibility demand something far different.

Stroman – aided by Hunter’s percussion – does introduce irregularly pitched rolls and drags on “Reflects Motion” while Ra lays out some kinetic, Cecil Taylor-styled dynamics. But as the piece develops with Gilmore overblowing and sliding theme variations up to altissimo and down again, Ra is wise enough to limit his contributions to comping. Meanwhile the drags, rebounds and clattering cymbals from the percussion section suggest a Perez Prado-performed Beatnik movie soundtrack – all of which is more than a bit distracting, considering what the saxophonist is doing upfront.

One of the few guitarists to ever be featured with Ra, Calvin Newborn also exhibits a stance wedded to the American present not the cosmos. On “Friendly Galaxy”, for instance, his electrified licks and Allen’s or Pat Patrick’s Frank Wess-style fluting mated with Hunter’s tympanis merely creates a version of Exotica.

Furthermore, although memorable and lively, the over-17½ -minute “Flight to Mars” magnifies these undigested jazz-to-mysticism transitions even more. Ra-centric in that it mixes march tempo, rocket-launch intimations and chants, it’s more Bebop in Space than Arkestra by definition. Stroman’s cynosure rhythms have him laying into the traps, ranging over the kit in showy solos as if he is a mutation of Roach and Buddy Rich combined. Allen contributes double-tongued flute peeps, and during his andante arpeggios Ra evidently can’t decide whether to be Errol Garner or Hines. The situation gets more inchoate later on as the otherwise reliable Boykins suddenly begins channeling Slam Stewart. He saws his strings into col legno double-stopping ending in a contrapuntal face off with Gilmore’s sax runs. Meanwhile Newborn’s chromatic single-string licks begin working themselves backwards from Wes Montgomery emulations to Charlie Christian-like twangs. A summation series of octave jumps and runs from Ra – with Boykins seconding him – prevent the tune from dissolving into expected cliché of shout choruses and trading fours, but before Ra redefines the situation, apparently the tape ran out and the music unexpectedly ends..

Not the recommended starting point for those new to Ra, these CDs will still give pleasure to listeners who haven’t been exposed to many of Ra and the Arkestra's discs. The sessions will also probably be treasured and examined with Talmudic concentration by convinced Ra completists.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Secrets: 1. Friendly Galaxy 2. Solar Differentials 3. Space Aura 4. Love in Outer Space 5. Reflects Motion 6. Solar Symbols 7. Flight to Mars

Personnel: Secrets: (collective) Al Evans (flugelhorn); Eddie Gale (trumpet); Marshall Allen (alto saxophone, flute, morrow and percussion); John Gilmore (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, space bird sounds, space drums and vocal); Pat Patrick (baritone saxophone, flute, bongo and space drums); Sun Ra (piano and gong); Calvin Newborn (guitar); Ronnie Boykins (bass) Tommy Hunter (drums, percussion, space bird sounds and reverb); C. Scoby Stroman (drums); Jimmy Johnson (percussion) and Art Jenkins (space voice)

Track Listing: Cleveland: 1. Astro Nation (of the United World in Outer Space) 2. Enlightenment 3. Love in Outer Space 4. Theme of the Stargazers – the Satellites are Spinning 5. Friendly Galaxy 2 – I am the Brother of the Wind, I Pharaoh 6. Synthesizer Solo 7. Sophisticated Lady

Personnel: Cleveland: Akh Tal Ebah and Kwame Hadi (trumpets); Marshall Allen and Danny Davis (alto saxophone and flute); John Gilmore (tenor saxophone); Eloe Omoe (bass clarinet and flute); Danny Thompson (baritone saxophone and flute); James Jacson (bassoon, flute and infinity drum); Sun Ra (piano, organ and moog); Damon Choice (vibraphone); Dale Williams (electric bass); Atakatune and Odun (congas); June Tyson (vocal and dance) and Eddie Thomas (vocal and dance)

June 18, 2009

Sun Ra

Live in Cleveland 1975
Golden Years of New Jazz GY 29

Sun Ra

Secrets of the Sun

Atavistic ALP 266 CD

Sun Ra’s near-cultish status among some fans, means that, unlike the fanatical disciples such as Dean Benedetti, who preserved non-commercially released work of Charlie Parker and other major jazz figures, Ra material-hoarders number in the hundreds. Consequently previously unknown – or un-circulated – material turns up with increased regularity. Both of these sessions fit into that category.

While not indispensable, each exposes a different facet of the pianist/bandleader’s career. Live in Cleveland 1975 captures a 15-piece version of the Arkestra – heavy on the woodwinds and percussion and Ra’s electronic keyboards – running through new variations on a series of Ra classics – and some surprises. The punningly titled Secrets of the Sun on the other hand, recorded in 1962, showcases smaller Ra units, often involved with piecing together the first versions of soon-to-be notable tunes.

Many of the Arkestra soloists who defined the band’s music over the long-term are accounted for, including saxophonists Marshall Allen and John Gilmore (on both CDs) plus singer June Tyson (on Cleveland) and bassist Ronnie Boykins (on Secrets). Yet the most noteworthy sections of these discs showcase players with shorter Arkestra tenure, or are those tracks featuring usual instruments.

Without a listed traps drummer, for example, the majority of Cleveland’s selections depend for their rhythmic impetus on the electric bass ostinato of the little-known Dale Williams. It’s his relentless and powerful licks plus the clattering congas of Atakatune and Odun on “Enlightenment” and other tunes that pump a proper number of beats into the songs to allow solo freedom. “Enlightenment”, for instance, finds Ra shuddering out the theme on organ while Damon Choice provides ringing vibraphone counterpoint.

Meanwhile the “Friendly Galaxy 2 – I am the Brother of the Wind, I Pharaoh” medley is given an wholly individualistic reading, built on Williams’ pedal-point anchoring, sharp trumpet blasts and the gentle curved lines of five unison flutes. As the horns wrap rococo-like around his voice, Ra proclaims one of his futuristic pronouncements, the message of which is strengthened by tremolo polytones arising from braying brass and flute fripperies.

More predictably – for Ra and the Arkesatra at least – “Sophisticated Lady” is recast as a Swing freak-out, with chordal pumps from the entire band, hocketing plunger tones from the trumpets – going Cootie Williams or Rex Stewart one better – and a stand-out story-telling tenor saxophone solo from Gilmore. As for Ra, his piano playing jumps between high-frequency and triple timing – owing a lot more to Earl “Fatha” Hines than Duke Ellington.

Another scene-setting highpoint comes at the beginning of the program with an 11-minute version of “Astro Nation (of the United World in Outer Space)”. Replete with chants and vocalizing from Eddie Thomas, Tyson and Ra plus hand clapping and backing vocals from everyone, it pinpoints Ra’s rapprochement with the 1970s – mixed up with 1930s echoes. Need a comparison? Imagine if Motown’s Norman Whitfield had produced A Love Supreme if the band was Walter Page’s Blue Devils. Williams’ relentless ostinato is prominent here, but so are squawking split tones from Allen’s alto saxophone and Ra’s slithering Moog rushes and texture propelling. As the vocalization encompasses soulful R&B, pop-gospel and sanctified church call-and-response – with Ra as the preacher. At points the chants and shouts reference the Four Top’s Levi Stubbs in full cry, at others a Full Gospel choir.

Massed pop-gospel choirs, Whitfield-styled production and a Love Supreme were all in the future for Ra and company in 1962. But on evidence of the seven tracks on Secrets of the Sun the concepts which would take Arkestra aggregations from being jazz-dance bands to who-knows-whats was being worked out in a series of sound laboratory experiments at that time.

Like Williams 13 years later, Boykins’ connective pedal point is crucial to most of the performances, bonding a lot more than just the rhythm section. Aiding him are extended vamps from Gilmore and some hand drumming from Tommy Hunter. Art Jenkins’ “space voice” though, which emerged over the years in various forms in different Arkestra line-ups, is an acquired taste. On “Solar Differentials” for instance, he sounds as if he’s gargling and bubble-blowing rather than singing. His kazoo-like tones are only made palatable through Ra’s pseudo boogie-woogie key fanning and Boykins’ thumping beat.

C, Scoby Stroman, drummer on nearly all the tracks is another challenge. Never adverse to take a flashy and thickly pulsed solo that emphasized rolls, flams and chinging cymbal work, his style is an extension of Max Roach’s and Art Blakey’s. As exceptional as that percussion sound may have been for Hard Bop, Ra’s mystical originality and a mishmash of Space Age sensibility demand something far different.

Stroman – aided by Hunter’s percussion – does introduce irregularly pitched rolls and drags on “Reflects Motion” while Ra lays out some kinetic, Cecil Taylor-styled dynamics. But as the piece develops with Gilmore overblowing and sliding theme variations up to altissimo and down again, Ra is wise enough to limit his contributions to comping. Meanwhile the drags, rebounds and clattering cymbals from the percussion section suggest a Perez Prado-performed Beatnik movie soundtrack – all of which is more than a bit distracting, considering what the saxophonist is doing upfront.

One of the few guitarists to ever be featured with Ra, Calvin Newborn also exhibits a stance wedded to the American present not the cosmos. On “Friendly Galaxy”, for instance, his electrified licks and Allen’s or Pat Patrick’s Frank Wess-style fluting mated with Hunter’s tympanis merely creates a version of Exotica.

Furthermore, although memorable and lively, the over-17½ -minute “Flight to Mars” magnifies these undigested jazz-to-mysticism transitions even more. Ra-centric in that it mixes march tempo, rocket-launch intimations and chants, it’s more Bebop in Space than Arkestra by definition. Stroman’s cynosure rhythms have him laying into the traps, ranging over the kit in showy solos as if he is a mutation of Roach and Buddy Rich combined. Allen contributes double-tongued flute peeps, and during his andante arpeggios Ra evidently can’t decide whether to be Errol Garner or Hines. The situation gets more inchoate later on as the otherwise reliable Boykins suddenly begins channeling Slam Stewart. He saws his strings into col legno double-stopping ending in a contrapuntal face off with Gilmore’s sax runs. Meanwhile Newborn’s chromatic single-string licks begin working themselves backwards from Wes Montgomery emulations to Charlie Christian-like twangs. A summation series of octave jumps and runs from Ra – with Boykins seconding him – prevent the tune from dissolving into expected cliché of shout choruses and trading fours, but before Ra redefines the situation, apparently the tape ran out and the music unexpectedly ends..

Not the recommended starting point for those new to Ra, these CDs will still give pleasure to listeners who haven’t been exposed to many of Ra and the Arkestra's discs. The sessions will also probably be treasured and examined with Talmudic concentration by convinced Ra completists.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Secrets: 1. Friendly Galaxy 2. Solar Differentials 3. Space Aura 4. Love in Outer Space 5. Reflects Motion 6. Solar Symbols 7. Flight to Mars

Personnel: Secrets: (collective) Al Evans (flugelhorn); Eddie Gale (trumpet); Marshall Allen (alto saxophone, flute, morrow and percussion); John Gilmore (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, space bird sounds, space drums and vocal); Pat Patrick (baritone saxophone, flute, bongo and space drums); Sun Ra (piano and gong); Calvin Newborn (guitar); Ronnie Boykins (bass) Tommy Hunter (drums, percussion, space bird sounds and reverb); C. Scoby Stroman (drums); Jimmy Johnson (percussion) and Art Jenkins (space voice)

Track Listing: Cleveland: 1. Astro Nation (of the United World in Outer Space) 2. Enlightenment 3. Love in Outer Space 4. Theme of the Stargazers – the Satellites are Spinning 5. Friendly Galaxy 2 – I am the Brother of the Wind, I Pharaoh 6. Synthesizer Solo 7. Sophisticated Lady

Personnel: Cleveland: Akh Tal Ebah and Kwame Hadi (trumpets); Marshall Allen and Danny Davis (alto saxophone and flute); John Gilmore (tenor saxophone); Eloe Omoe (bass clarinet and flute); Danny Thompson (baritone saxophone and flute); James Jacson (bassoon, flute and infinity drum); Sun Ra (piano, organ and moog); Damon Choice (vibraphone); Dale Williams (electric bass); Atakatune and Odun (congas); June Tyson (vocal and dance) and Eddie Thomas (vocal and dance)

June 18, 2009

Sun Ra & His Outer Space Arkestra

Some Blues But Not The Kind Thats Blue
Atavistic UMS ALP 265 CD

Sun Ra

The Complete Disco 3000 Concert

Art Yard CD 001

Nearly 15 years after his death – oops, leave-taking for another planet – reissued, unknown and newly discovered sessions by keyboardist/composer/band leader Sun Ra (1914-1993) continue to appear. With the facilities of his own Saturn label plus whichever label(s) he was signed to at the time available to him, Ra evidently recorded just about every scrap of sound involving him and his band.

Furthermore, although Ra was first and foremost a large ensemble specialist – he directed the last constantly working big band – if the occasion demanded, he fronted small groups as well – as these fascinating documents attest. As tradition-oriented as he was futuristic, Ra’s set list was as colossal as it was unpredictable. Thus these discs recorded in 1973, 1977 and 1978, contain not only new material such as both CDs’ title tracks, but a mixture of Ra “hits” such as “We Travel the Spaceways” and “Sun of the Cosmos” and standards such as “My Favorite Thing” and “Nature Boy”.

Taking the discs separately, Disco 3000, a two-CD set from a 1978 Milan concert, showcases probably the smallest band with which Ra ever toured. Besides himself on piano, organ, moog synthesizer, rhythm machine and vocals plus a brief appearance by band singer June Tyson, there are only three other players – Michael Ray on trumpet and vocals, John Gilmore on tenor saxophone, drums and vocals and Luqman Ali on drums and vocals. The tracks from 1977 on Some Blues But Not The Kind Thats (sic) Blue features a tentet – Ra, Gilmore and Ali plus Akh Tal Ebah on trumpet and flugelhorn; Marshall Allen and Danny Davis on alto saxophones and flutes; James Jackson on flute and bassoon; Eloe Omoe on bass clarinet; Richard “Radu” Williams on bass and Atakatune on conga. The final two tracks are from 1973 with two versions of “I’ll Get By” arranged as a solo vehicle for either Ebah or Gilmore, backed by Ra’s pumping, decidedly pre-bop organ and Ronnie Boykins’ rhythmically solid bass line.

Especially because of the bassist, either version is moving in its simplicity, but both curiously exist outside of the-then contemporary time frame. On its own, Ra’s pumping and syncopation on organ resemble Fats Waller’s approach to the double keyboard more than anything played post-Jimmy Smith. Ebah’s lightly swinging chromatic reading of the tune wouldn’t have been out of place with Jimmy Lunceford’s or Fletcher Henderson’s band. Even Gilmore’s relaxed tonality and undulating exploration of the piece – which almost never strays from the melody – puts him in the Chu Berry-Herschel Evans early Swing mode. It contains none of the harmonic advances that Coleman Hawkins latterly brought to the horn in the 1940s and 1950s.

Gilmore takes on the spectre of John Coltrane however when, accompanied by the full band in1977, he performs “My Favorite Things”, one of Trane’s signature pieces for soprano saxophone. Although Coltrane was fragmenting the tune into nearly unrecognizable molecules by his death in 1967, Gilmore, playing tenor only is more restrained and respectful of the theme. At the same time, Gilmore who was touted by Trane as one of the building blocks in his – Coltrane’s – mature style, still flutter tongues and rolls out split tones. Gilmore’s also no cynosure. To attain its conclusive form, his elaboration of the theme depend on Ra’s tremolo, flowery and hand-over-hand accompaniment plus percussive boogie-woogie-like comping, as well as some clattering slaps from Ali.

Others tracks on the CD are more modern – especially the newly discovered “Untitled”, with its slurping bassoon and snorting bass clarinet involved in a staccato chase that ends up as discordant as Ra’s pianism is legato. Yet the overriding impression from the session is that of an older Ra coming to terms with his past. Surging on pop and bang friction from Akatune’s conga drumming, 1977’s “I’ll Get By” contrasts markedly with the 1973 versions. Although Gilmore is again channeling Chu Berry, Ali gives the impressions he’s manipulating a stripped down “cocktail drum” set and Ra’s metronomic runs and high-frequency cadences recalls Teddy Wilson Errol Garner and even George Shearing. With left-handed feints and dragging cross patterns, his solo suggests a time before the jet plane, let alone the rock ship was in common use.

Rocket ships and space travel are front-and-centre in 1978 for The Complete Disco 3000 Concert, especially when the stripped down Ra crew outputs a selection of Arkestra favorites. “We Travel the Spaceways” gets an energetic treatment, with Ra singing lead while thrusting out agitato and staccato piano clusters; Ray and Gilmore alternately squeaking in the stratosphere and unearthing subterranean growls as the band hand-claps and exits the stage.

“Dance of the Cosmo Aliens” is built on a constant drum beat and massive gong reverberations audible while Ra pulsates spliced and smashed nearly liquid coloration from his Moog, along with triggered drum machine clinks, bass drum backbeat and maracas-like friction. Before concluding with a gong resonation that would have impressed J. Arthur Rank, he snakes out a chord that is as slippery and slinky as if it was played on a Farfisa organ. “Spontaneous Simplicity” features a synthesizer tone midway between a vibraharp and a gamelan, as well as throbbing organ riffs, although most of the tune is a showcase for Ray’s twisted and bent vibrated grace notes. Even “Echoes of the World” is presented as a fantasia for Gilmore’s Tranesque – or is it actually Gilmoresque? – styling, all double-tongued and double-timed, as well as tinkling keyboard fills from Ra.

Then there’s the title tune, which fades in-and-out of aural focus as Tyson helps Ra interpolate “Space is the Place” into the theme, while Gilmore contributes double-tongued trills and Ray’s plunger work builds up to a blues tonality. Before Gilmore has finishes chewing through the tune with long-lined tone extensions and Ray aims for Cat Anderson-like stratospheric triplets, Ra elaborates separate melodies – neither particularly disco-like – from each hand. One thumps and crunches with incontinent rhythms from the Moog, while the other uses the organ’s fluttering watery grooves to make its point. Ali’s – and perhaps Gilmore’s – drumming helps to push the undulating overtones into place, but suppleness is missing with no double bass present.

Most notably, the Janus-like future-past dichotomy that was present on the earlier disc remains a sub-theme here. “When There is no Sun” includes atonal horn trills and smears, a poetic recitation by the band in toto, a brief recap of “Space is the Place”, Ra splashing and splaying polyphonic themes from both electronic keyboards, and wiggling and whooshing rocket-launching oscillations. But it ends with a Tatum-like solo piano run though of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”.

The vibes – to use a 1970s word – are even more retro on “Sky Blues”. A throwback to the sort of honky-tonk riffs Ra must have internalized growing up in Alabama – recall that Avery Parish, composer of “After Hours” was a friend – this could be Ra’s rent party homage. Is he channeling Ray Bryant or is it Jimmy Yancy or Little Brother Montgomery? With the piano outlook adding a constant walking bass line to the theme development and Ali whacking a thick shuffle beat, Ra’s key ruffling provides the appropriate backdrop to Ray’s vamps and riffs plus Gilmore’s tough tenor honking that could have migrated from a David “Fathead” Newman or Don Wilkerson session.

Ra’s phantasmagoric ability to simultaneously create in the past, present and future is showcased well on both of these discs. While nothing here approaches indispensable Ra, with a mind as fertile as Ra’s – and sidemen this committed – it’s always valuable to get a new glimpse into his compositional and performance strategy. Additionally, more easily available Ra is always welcome.

-- Ken Waxman

.

Track Listing: Blues: 1. Some Blues But Not The Kind Thats Blue* 2. I'll Get By 3. My Favorite Things 4. Untitled 5. Nature Boy 6. Tenderly 7. Black Magic; 8. I'll Get By+ 9. I'll Get By+

Personnel: Blues: Akh Tal Ebah (trumpet and flugelhorn); Marshall Allen and Danny Davis (alto saxophone and flute); James Jackson (flute and bassoon); Eloe Omoe (bass clarinet); John Gilmore (tenor saxophone); Sun Ra (piano or organ); Richard “Radu” Williams* or Ronnie Boykins+(bass); Luqman Ali (drums) and Atakatune (conga)

Track Listing: Disco: Disc 1: 1. Disco 3000 2. Sun of the Cosmos 3. Echos of The World 4. Geminiology 5. Sky Blues 6. Friendly Galaxy Disc 2: 1. Third Planet incl, Friendly Galaxy 2. Dance of the Cosmo Aliens 3. Spontaneous Simplicity 4. Images incl, Over The Rainbow 5. When There is no Sun 6. We Travel the Spaceways

Personnel: Disco: Michael Ray (trumpet and vocals); John Gilmore (tenor saxophone, drums and vocals); Sun Ra (piano, organ, moog synthesizer, rhythm machine and vocals); Luqman Ali (drums and vocals) and June Tyson (vocals)

May 3, 2008

Sun Ra

The Complete Disco 3000 Concert
Art Yard CD 001

Sun Ra & His Outer Space Arkestra

Some Blues But Not The Kind Thats Blue

Atavistic UMS ALP 265 CD

Nearly 15 years after his death – oops, leave-taking for another planet – reissued, unknown and newly discovered sessions by keyboardist/composer/band leader Sun Ra (1914-1993) continue to appear. With the facilities of his own Saturn label plus whichever label(s) he was signed to at the time available to him, Ra evidently recorded just about every scrap of sound involving him and his band.

Furthermore, although Ra was first and foremost a large ensemble specialist – he directed the last constantly working big band – if the occasion demanded, he fronted small groups as well – as these fascinating documents attest. As tradition-oriented as he was futuristic, Ra’s set list was as colossal as it was unpredictable. Thus these discs recorded in 1973, 1977 and 1978, contain not only new material such as both CDs’ title tracks, but a mixture of Ra “hits” such as “We Travel the Spaceways” and “Sun of the Cosmos” and standards such as “My Favorite Thing” and “Nature Boy”.

Taking the discs separately, Disco 3000, a two-CD set from a 1978 Milan concert, showcases probably the smallest band with which Ra ever toured. Besides himself on piano, organ, moog synthesizer, rhythm machine and vocals plus a brief appearance by band singer June Tyson, there are only three other players – Michael Ray on trumpet and vocals, John Gilmore on tenor saxophone, drums and vocals and Luqman Ali on drums and vocals. The tracks from 1977 on Some Blues But Not The Kind Thats (sic) Blue features a tentet – Ra, Gilmore and Ali plus Akh Tal Ebah on trumpet and flugelhorn; Marshall Allen and Danny Davis on alto saxophones and flutes; James Jackson on flute and bassoon; Eloe Omoe on bass clarinet; Richard “Radu” Williams on bass and Atakatune on conga. The final two tracks are from 1973 with two versions of “I’ll Get By” arranged as a solo vehicle for either Ebah or Gilmore, backed by Ra’s pumping, decidedly pre-bop organ and Ronnie Boykins’ rhythmically solid bass line.

Especially because of the bassist, either version is moving in its simplicity, but both curiously exist outside of the-then contemporary time frame. On its own, Ra’s pumping and syncopation on organ resemble Fats Waller’s approach to the double keyboard more than anything played post-Jimmy Smith. Ebah’s lightly swinging chromatic reading of the tune wouldn’t have been out of place with Jimmy Lunceford’s or Fletcher Henderson’s band. Even Gilmore’s relaxed tonality and undulating exploration of the piece – which almost never strays from the melody – puts him in the Chu Berry-Herschel Evans early Swing mode. It contains none of the harmonic advances that Coleman Hawkins latterly brought to the horn in the 1940s and 1950s.

Gilmore takes on the spectre of John Coltrane however when, accompanied by the full band in1977, he performs “My Favorite Things”, one of Trane’s signature pieces for soprano saxophone. Although Coltrane was fragmenting the tune into nearly unrecognizable molecules by his death in 1967, Gilmore, playing tenor only is more restrained and respectful of the theme. At the same time, Gilmore who was touted by Trane as one of the building blocks in his – Coltrane’s – mature style, still flutter tongues and rolls out split tones. Gilmore’s also no cynosure. To attain its conclusive form, his elaboration of the theme depend on Ra’s tremolo, flowery and hand-over-hand accompaniment plus percussive boogie-woogie-like comping, as well as some clattering slaps from Ali.

Others tracks on the CD are more modern – especially the newly discovered “Untitled”, with its slurping bassoon and snorting bass clarinet involved in a staccato chase that ends up as discordant as Ra’s pianism is legato. Yet the overriding impression from the session is that of an older Ra coming to terms with his past. Surging on pop and bang friction from Akatune’s conga drumming, 1977’s “I’ll Get By” contrasts markedly with the 1973 versions. Although Gilmore is again channeling Chu Berry, Ali gives the impressions he’s manipulating a stripped down “cocktail drum” set and Ra’s metronomic runs and high-frequency cadences recalls Teddy Wilson Errol Garner and even George Shearing. With left-handed feints and dragging cross patterns, his solo suggests a time before the jet plane, let alone the rock ship was in common use.

Rocket ships and space travel are front-and-centre in 1978 for The Complete Disco 3000 Concert, especially when the stripped down Ra crew outputs a selection of Arkestra favorites. “We Travel the Spaceways” gets an energetic treatment, with Ra singing lead while thrusting out agitato and staccato piano clusters; Ray and Gilmore alternately squeaking in the stratosphere and unearthing subterranean growls as the band hand-claps and exits the stage.

“Dance of the Cosmo Aliens” is built on a constant drum beat and massive gong reverberations audible while Ra pulsates spliced and smashed nearly liquid coloration from his Moog, along with triggered drum machine clinks, bass drum backbeat and maracas-like friction. Before concluding with a gong resonation that would have impressed J. Arthur Rank, he snakes out a chord that is as slippery and slinky as if it was played on a Farfisa organ. “Spontaneous Simplicity” features a synthesizer tone midway between a vibraharp and a gamelan, as well as throbbing organ riffs, although most of the tune is a showcase for Ray’s twisted and bent vibrated grace notes. Even “Echoes of the World” is presented as a fantasia for Gilmore’s Tranesque – or is it actually Gilmoresque? – styling, all double-tongued and double-timed, as well as tinkling keyboard fills from Ra.

Then there’s the title tune, which fades in-and-out of aural focus as Tyson helps Ra interpolate “Space is the Place” into the theme, while Gilmore contributes double-tongued trills and Ray’s plunger work builds up to a blues tonality. Before Gilmore has finishes chewing through the tune with long-lined tone extensions and Ray aims for Cat Anderson-like stratospheric triplets, Ra elaborates separate melodies – neither particularly disco-like – from each hand. One thumps and crunches with incontinent rhythms from the Moog, while the other uses the organ’s fluttering watery grooves to make its point. Ali’s – and perhaps Gilmore’s – drumming helps to push the undulating overtones into place, but suppleness is missing with no double bass present.

Most notably, the Janus-like future-past dichotomy that was present on the earlier disc remains a sub-theme here. “When There is no Sun” includes atonal horn trills and smears, a poetic recitation by the band in toto, a brief recap of “Space is the Place”, Ra splashing and splaying polyphonic themes from both electronic keyboards, and wiggling and whooshing rocket-launching oscillations. But it ends with a Tatum-like solo piano run though of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”.

The vibes – to use a 1970s word – are even more retro on “Sky Blues”. A throwback to the sort of honky-tonk riffs Ra must have internalized growing up in Alabama – recall that Avery Parish, composer of “After Hours” was a friend – this could be Ra’s rent party homage. Is he channeling Ray Bryant or is it Jimmy Yancy or Little Brother Montgomery? With the piano outlook adding a constant walking bass line to the theme development and Ali whacking a thick shuffle beat, Ra’s key ruffling provides the appropriate backdrop to Ray’s vamps and riffs plus Gilmore’s tough tenor honking that could have migrated from a David “Fathead” Newman or Don Wilkerson session.

Ra’s phantasmagoric ability to simultaneously create in the past, present and future is showcased well on both of these discs. While nothing here approaches indispensable Ra, with a mind as fertile as Ra’s – and sidemen this committed – it’s always valuable to get a new glimpse into his compositional and performance strategy. Additionally, more easily available Ra is always welcome.

-- Ken Waxman

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Track Listing: Blues: 1. Some Blues But Not The Kind Thats Blue* 2. I'll Get By 3. My Favorite Things 4. Untitled 5. Nature Boy 6. Tenderly 7. Black Magic; 8. I'll Get By+ 9. I'll Get By+

Personnel: Blues: Akh Tal Ebah (trumpet and flugelhorn); Marshall Allen and Danny Davis (alto saxophone and flute); James Jackson (flute and bassoon); Eloe Omoe (bass clarinet); John Gilmore (tenor saxophone); Sun Ra (piano or organ); Richard “Radu” Williams* or Ronnie Boykins+(bass); Luqman Ali (drums) and Atakatune (conga)

Track Listing: Disco: Disc 1: 1. Disco 3000 2. Sun of the Cosmos 3. Echos of The World 4. Geminiology 5. Sky Blues 6. Friendly Galaxy Disc 2: 1. Third Planet incl, Friendly Galaxy 2. Dance of the Cosmo Aliens 3. Spontaneous Simplicity 4. Images incl, Over The Rainbow 5. When There is no Sun 6. We Travel the Spaceways

Personnel: Disco: Michael Ray (trumpet and vocals); John Gilmore (tenor saxophone, drums and vocals); Sun Ra (piano, organ, moog synthesizer, rhythm machine and vocals); Luqman Ali (drums and vocals) and June Tyson (vocals)

May 3, 2008