In A Mellow Tone
Wednesday May 22nd, 2024 with Heavy Ben
Sun Ra: the genesis of the Arkestra in 1950s Chicago
“What are you doing here?” Charles Mingus once asked Sun Ra in the Village, and he replied that he came downtown quite often. “No,” Mingus said. “I mean what are you doing on Earth?”
May 22 marks the alleged birth date, in 1914, of band leader Herman "Sunny" Blount. The origin story is either Saturn or Birmingham, Alabama. After serving jail time for refusing to fight for the US military in WWII, he moved to Chicago. In the early 50s, Blount abandoned his birth name, taking the name Le Sony'r Ra, shortened to Sun Ra (after Ra, the Egyptian god of the Sun). Claiming to be an alien on a mission to preach peace, he developed a mythical persona and an idiosyncratic credo that made him a pioneer of Afrofuturism.
Sun Ra was the future, the ancient past, and the embattled present, all in one. Years before the Birmingham bombings, the town nicknamed Magic City was so segregated that young Sonny Blount, an insatiable reader, was slipped books by a librarian out of the back door of a public library. He was 8 years old when the entrance to the tomb of King Tut was unveiled to the world in 1922, in drawn-out, spellbinding suspense. This event resonated for him ever after: At Berkeley, where he briefly taught, prominent on his syllabus was the Egyptian Book of the Dead. He christened a certain talented protégé Pharoah Sanders. Moon Stew was the name of the dish he cooked for friends and it was never the same recipe twice. He rarely drank, didn’t do drugs, popped nutritional supplements before most anyone in Alabama knew what a vitamin was. Even his alleged interplanetary travels were well ahead of the times—long before stories of UFO abductions proliferated in popular media.
The Ra catalogue is vast beyond belief. Let's start in the 1950s when the cosmic and sonic journey blasted off in Chicago, leading to the formation of the Arkestra. One of the members who joined Sun Ra in the 1950s is saxophonist Marshall Allen, who is the band leader of the Arkestra today. Allen turns 100 years old this week, on May 25.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Ra
https://pitchfork.com/features/from-the-pitchfork-review/9866-the-interstellar-style-of-sun-ra/
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/feb/02/a-man-cannot-learn-without-discipline-jazz-guru-marshall-allen-on-life-with-sun-ra-and-turning-100
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| Sun Ra's first album "Jazz By Sun Ra" was produced in 1956-57 by Tom Wilson for the legendary—and short-lived—Transition Records label. Wilson was fresh out of Harvard (he graduated cum laude in 1955) and launched the Cambridge-based label with audacious early recording dates by Donald Byrd, Cecil Taylor, Jay Migliori, Doug Watkins, Paul Chambers, Pepper Adams, Curtis Fuller, and Louis Smith. (Not all recordings were issued at the time.) How he hooked up with Ra—then based in Chicago and virtually unknown elsewhere—is a bit of a mystery.
The set was recorded in July 1956 and issued in 1957. Sun Ra had only recently formed and named the Arkestra, although he had been working with these players on and off for a number of years. The styles shift from hard bop to Third Stream, from Exotica to Ra's emerging concept of Space Jazz. Although the album received very little notice at the time of its original release, it served as a foundational statement for Sun Ra and hints at what was to come. Transition went out of business in 1958, the recorded masters were sold to various established labels, and Wilson went on to a legendary career as a producer at Savoy, United Artists, Columbia, and MGM-Verve. Along the way he produced the first two albums by both the Mothers of Invention and the Velvet Underground, as well as the debut of Simon and Garfunkel and four Bob Dylan albums. |
| Brainville Sun Ra - Jazz By Sun Ra Vol. 1 - Transition - 1957 |
| Sun Song Sun Ra - Jazz By Sun Ra Vol. 1 - Transition - 1957 |
| Call For All Demons Sun Ra - Jazz By Sun Ra Vol. 1 - Transition - 1957 |
| The Nu Sounds worked with Sun Ra for a few years in the early to mid 50s. Sun Ra was not credited as featured artist on any of these recordings. He composed, co-wrote, arranged, accompanied, produced, and/or coached the vocalists (especially in harmonies). To those who only know the Arkestra-era Sun Ra, his presence on these recordings would be imperceptible, and might even seem implausible. But this is where Sunny paid his dues, and where he initially left an impact on the Chicago regional music scene.
"Spaceship Lullaby" is prime vocal Ra space-bop. Densely packed with complex twists and turns, the song introduces vocal phrases that would re-appear in later space chants such as 'Interplanetary Music' and 'Rocket #9'. Backed by 'the space trio' of Ra (p), Pat Patrick (bs) and Robert Barry (d) - the foundation of the Arkestra. |
| Spaceship Lullaby The Nu Sounds With Sun Ra And Arkestra - (single) - Stop Smiling - 2005 (rec. mid 1950s) |
| Black Sky and Blue Moon The Nu Sounds With Sun Ra And Arkestra - The Second Stop Is Jupiter - Norton - 2009 (rec. 1958) |
| Africa (entended version) The Nu Sounds With Sun Ra And Arkestra - Interplanetary Melodies - El Saturn Records, Norton - 1958, 2009 |
| The cover of "Sound Of Joy" states this was recorded in November 1957. However, in the Sun Ra Omniverse book, Robert L. Campell wrote that this was recorded "toward the end of 1956." This material was originally recorded for the Transition label, but they folded before the album could be released. |
| El Is A Sound Of Joy Sun Ra And The Arkestra - Sound Of Joy - Delmark - 1968 (rec. 1956) |
| Paradise Sun Ra And The Arkestra - Sound Of Joy - Delmark - 1968 (rec. 1956) |
| El Viktor Sun Ra And The Arkestra - Sound Of Joy - Delmark - 1968 (rec. 1956) |
| The Cosmic Rays consisted of four members from the West Side of Chicago. Prior to the Arkestra, Sun Ra was developing his musical craft in Chicago. In the early and mid-1950s that meant collaborating with artists in the fields of doo-wop, rhythm & blues, late-period big band jazz, and urban soul. History reveals that before Sun Ra was an orchestra leader, he was a session leader. |
| Dreaming The Cosmic Rays With Sun Ra And Arkestra - 7" - El Saturn Records - 1955 |
| Daddy's Gonna Tell You No Lie The Cosmic Rays With Sun Ra And Arkestra - 7" - El Saturn Records - 1959 |
| Recorded in 1956, but released in 1957, "Supersonic Jazz" is arguably the first long-playing album by Sun Ra and His Arkestra on his Saturn label. However, it was not recorded as a debut. Rather, the album was assembled from tapes recorded during a number of sessions at two Chicago studios (RCA Victor and Balkan), and several tracks had been released as singles before their inclusion on this album.
Before these sessions, Sunny was still arranging for the Red Saunders Orchestra and singer Joe Williams, in addition to arranging for and coaching doo-wop ensembles. As Sunny's ambitions achieved liftoff, the Arkestra coalesced, began building a repertoire (mostly of the leader's originals), and made forays into studios. Deciding it was time for commercial releases, Sunny and business partner Alton Abraham launched Saturn (sometimes called El Saturn) as a record company in 1956. As a first offering, Supersonic Jazz is a pinnacle Sun Ra release. While reflecting many prevailing bebop, Latin, and R&B conventions of the mid-1950s, it's evident that Sun Ra's musical voice and vision were starting to propel him away from the jazz mainstream. Biographer John Szwed finds on these recordings "characteristics which seemed alien to swing, bebop, or the new, more soulful and hard-edged music which was coming to be called hard bop." "India," "Sunology," and "Portrait Of The Living Sky" delve into the mystic rhythms of an ancient Egyptian style. Jim Herndon and his tympani add a unique flair to the arrangements alongside other Arkestra members doubling on percussion. There are, in fact, a number of flavors on the album that seek an East-meets-West fusion, a virtual "Ancient Exotica." Some titles such as "Portrait of the Living Sky" and "Kingdom of Not" appear on Supersonic Jazz and nowhere else; they do not recur in the massive Ra discography of studio, club, and concert recordings. |
| India Le Sun Ra And His Arkestra - Super-Sonic Jazz - El Saturn Records - 1957 |
| Sunology Le Sun Ra And His Arkestra - Super-Sonic Jazz - El Saturn Records - 1957 |
| Advice to Medics Le Sun Ra And His Arkestra - Super-Sonic Jazz - El Saturn Records - 1957 |
| Kingdom of Not Le Sun Ra And His Arkestra - Super-Sonic Jazz - El Saturn Records - 1957 |
| Yochanan "A Space Age Vocalist" was a R&B and jazz singer from the Chicago club scene of the 1950s and early 1960s. He claimed to be born on the sun, and his outlandish stage garb and frenetic performing style were what one would expect from an extraterrestrial singer. |
| The Sun Man Speaks (Alternate Take) Yochanan "A Space Age Vocalist" with Sun Ra And The Arkestra - (single) - El Saturn Records - 1959 |
| Hot Skillet Momma Yochanan "A Space Age Vocalist" with Sun Ra And The Arkestra - 7" - El Saturn Records - 1957 |
| Message To Earthman (Alternate Take) Yochanan "A Space Age Vocalist" with Sun Ra And The Arkestra - (single) - El Saturn Records - 1959 |
| Originally titled The Lady With The Golden Stockings (released 1966), "The Nubians of Plutonia" (as it was retitled in the ca. 1967-69 reissue) was compiled from tracks recorded in Chicago in 1958 and 1959. Sunny was still in his Space Bop phase, although mystical overtones begin radiating through the jazz. The revised album title cleverly juxtaposes ancient Egypt with outer space—the primitive with the futuristic, characteristics reflected in the compositions and arrangements. The album is redolent with percussion, often played by Arkestra brass or reed players providing a simple, quasi-Latin or African rhythmic foundation behind solos. (Having everyone in the band play percussion remained a longstanding Arkestral tradition.)
Like dozens of Sun Ra tracks recorded in Chicago in the late 1950s, this material was released in the late 1960s (long after Sunny had left Chicago) on the Saturn label, and reflected musical styles Sunny had long since transcended (but never abandoned). These Saturn LPs were pressed in limited quantities and sold at Arkestra concerts, many of which presented new material radically at odds with the post-swing and hard bop contained on the vinyl. These LPs were also distributed by mail order and tucked in the bins of independent record stores who could get their hands on stock. Some tracks on Nubians echo the then-prevailing Exotica aesthetic of Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman and Les Baxter (the latter a personal favorite of Sunny). "The Golden Lady" (a.k.a. "The Lady with the Golden Stockings) features an exquisite alto solo by James Spaulding. "Watusa" (a.k.a. "Watusi") became a staple in the Arkestra repertoire. "Aiethopia" is a remake of "Ancient Aiethopia" (Ethiopia), which appeared on Jazz in Silhouette. |
| Plutonian Nights Sun Ra And His Myth-Science Arkestra - The Nubians Of Plutonia - El Saturn Records - 1969 (rec. 1958-59) |
| Spontaneous Simplicity Sun Ra And His Myth-Science Arkestra - The Nubians Of Plutonia - El Saturn Records - 1969 (rec. 1958-59) |
| The Lady With The Golden Stockings (The Golden Lady) Sun Ra And His Myth-Science Arkestra - The Nubians Of Plutonia - El Saturn Records - 1969 (rec. 1958-59) |
| "Tony's Wife" is home recording in Sonny's apartment in Chicago in 1949. Listen for the train in the background in the opening section.
"I Am Strange" is a personal, pre-Akestra recitation that anticipated Ra's "cosmo drama" sermons that became a staple of later performances. |
| Tony's Wife Sun Ra (orig. Xavier Cugat) - Interplanetary Melodies - Norton - 2009 (rec. 1949) |
| Supersonic Jazz Le Sun Ra And His Arkestra - 7" - El Saturn Records - 1956 |
| Great Balls Of Fire Le Sun Ra And His Arkestra - 7" - El Saturn Records - 1958 |
| Adventur In Space Sun Ra And His Astro Infinity Arkestra - 7" - El Saturn Records - 1956 |
| I Am Strange Sun Ra - (single) - Norton - 2009 (rec. early 1950s) |
| Soft Talk Sun Ra And His Arkestra - 7" - El Saturn Records - 1956 |
| "In tomorrow's world, men will not need artificial instruments such as jets and space ships. In the world of tomorrow, the new man will 'think' the place he wants to go, then his mind will take him there."
— Sun Ra, Jazz in Silhouette album notes (1959) "Jazz In Silhouette" is the quintessential record of Sun Ra's Chicago period during the late 1950s. Recorded in 1958 and issued in 1959, the album—Ra's third—offers a coda for the bandleader's bebop/hard-bop periods, as his interstellar traveler persona began to vividly evolve at the close of the decade. Sunny's compositions here reflect his talent for writing memorable works in the jazz idiom, even as arrangements like "Ancient Aiethopia" point to new directions in amalgamated primitive-futurism. After Ra moved to New York in 1961, he began to explore musical terrain away from jazz conventions. Yet Jazz In Silhouette is resplendent with adventure. Many of these early works, including "Images," "Enlightment," and "Saturn," would remain staples in Arkestra set lists for the rest of Sunny's life. These recordings showcase the brilliant tenor sax stylings of John Gilmore and introduce the iconic playing of Marshall Allen and Pat Patrick; all three would remain with Ra for decades (as would bassist Ronnie Boykins). On the extended “Blues At Midnight,” each horn soloist stretches out as in a live club performance. Here, Sun Ra and the band radiate the period's Chicago jazz sound, with lilting melodies, intertwining chords, and surprising dynamic shifts. |
| Horoscope Le Sun Ra And His Arkestra - Jazz In Silhouette - El Saturn Records - 1959 |
| Saturn Le Sun Ra And His Arkestra - Jazz In Silhouette - El Saturn Records - 1959 |
| Ancient Aiethopia (Ancient Ethiopia) Le Sun Ra And His Arkestra - Jazz In Silhouette - El Saturn Records - 1959 |
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9:10 PM, May 22nd, 2024