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346

Album Review

Sun Ra: We Travel the Spaceways/Bad and Beautiful

Read "We Travel the Spaceways/Bad and Beautiful" reviewed by Matthew Wuethrich

by Matthew Wuethrich
January 19, 2003

This Evidence re-issue package, like a large portion of the others, captures different aspects of the late '50s/early '60s Arkestra in transition. The first seven tracks comprise We Travel the Spaceways, recorded in Chicago between 1956 and 1960 at a variety of sessions. The second group of seven tunes were originally released as Bad and Beautiful, and is believed to have been recorded in New York sometime in 1961. Both albums sound relatively tame compared to the Arkestra’s later explorations, ...

482

Album Review

Sun Ra: Holiday for Soul Dance

Read "Holiday for Soul Dance" reviewed by Matthew Wuethrich

by Matthew Wuethrich
January 19, 2003

Holiday for Soul Dance testifies to not only Sun Ra’s originality, but also his courage when making stylistic decisions. This album, believed to be recorded sometime around 1958, casts Ra in the role of the traditionalist as the Arkestra interpret a batch of time-honored (and time-worn) standards. Surprisingly, this role fits better than one might expect. Ra always felt more affinity with Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington than he did with the bop and free jazz advocates. Perhaps even more ...

431

Album Review

Sun Ra: Angels and Demons at Play/The Nubians of Plutonia

Read "Angels and Demons at Play/The Nubians of Plutonia" reviewed by Matthew Wuethrich

by Matthew Wuethrich
January 19, 2003

If you try to track the development of Sun Ra's music on record, you will inevitably run up against numerous difficulties. Both chronologically and stylistically, his oeuvre contains anachronisms, false trails, mistakes and just plain weirdness. Evidence's re-issue package of the two Saturn albums, Angels and Demons at Play/The Nubians of Plutonia represents exactly these problems. Luckily, the detailed liner notes shed light on the confusing chronology while simultaneously informing listeners that what we are hearing is a band in ...

298

Album Review

Sun Ra: The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra

Read "The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra" reviewed by Matthew Wuethrich

by Matthew Wuethrich
January 19, 2003

Sun Ra stated that he wanted to create otherworldly emotions on this album. These emotions are “disguised as jazz,” to quote one of Ra’s poems. The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra, recorded in 1961, consists of a range of simmering, swinging, riffing tunes full of deft counterpoint. On the surface, these tunes show a rather restrained side of Ra and his Arkestra, yet below that surface lurk some unsettling emotions. Some might mistake those unsettling feelings for detachment, or worse, ...

373

Album Review

Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Jazz in Silhouette

Read "Jazz in Silhouette" reviewed by Matthew Wuethrich

by Matthew Wuethrich
January 13, 2003

In the jazz universe, Sun Ra typically travels in an unknown, distant galaxy of his own. He is on the map, but understood and given his proper significance by only a loyal few. Most know his esoteric philosophising, lavish stage shows, and outward-bound music, but those features only scratch the surface of Ra’s music. Recorded in 1958, Jazz in Silhouette stands as an overlooked masterpiece, a work that shows Ra not as a mere curiosity or backwater galaxy, but as ...

309

Album Review

Sun Ra: The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. I

Read "The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. I" reviewed by Matthew Wuethrich

by Matthew Wuethrich
January 13, 2003

A misconception: Sun Ra played free jazz. Critics and listeners usually lump Ra’s dissonant recordings into the free jazz category for one of two reasons. They either take his aggressive, wild sound textures to be essentially the same as that of other members of the '60s avant-garde; or there is just no good category for Ra. “Free jazz,” thus, becomes the best available label. The latter reason is justifiable, while the former reason is not. Listen closely to The Heliocentric ...

496

Album Review

Sun Ra: Lanquidity

Read "Lanquidity" reviewed by Matthew Wuethrich

by Matthew Wuethrich
January 12, 2003

1978’s Lanquidity (now re-issued by Evidence) features a silver and purple cover image of Ra that begs the question: Has Sun Ra made a fusion album? This thought at first seems merely ridiculous, then after further consideration becomes a bit surreal, and then upon hearing becomes downright disturbing. As with any Ra project, a simple description such as “Ra does fusion” serves no justice in truly describing the actual music. Ra was a master at twisting known musical idioms into ...