Jazz Articles about Sun Ra

About Sun Ra

Interview

Marco Pesatori, sotto le stelle del jazz

by Rosarita Crisafi
December 27, 2016

Marco Pesatori è un noto astrologo italiano e un intellettuale eclettico. Scrittore, laureato in Storia della critica d'arte con una tesi sul movimento Dada, è stato collaboratore di Gianni Sassi nella Cooperativa Intrapresa, un laboratorio che influenzò profondamente la cultura e l'industria discografica italiana ed europea a cavallo tra gli anni '70 e '80. Nel suo primo romanzo “Il Trigono del Sole" (Feltrinelli), Pesatori narra la Milano degli anni tra il 1973 e il 1977 con lo sguardo di un ...

Multiple Reviews

Calling Ra, Mr. Sun Ra your rocket ship is ready

by Mark Corroto
December 9, 2016

How prophetic is it that we now live in the second century of Sun Ra's earthly existence? Born (maybe) in Alabama 1914, Herman Poole Blount became the pianist, arranger, band leader, poet, and can we say prophet(?) we know as Sun Ra. He was both a man of his times and a messenger from the space. I say he was maybe born in 1914, because the person known as Sonny Blount claimed to have been abducted by space aliens in ...

Album Review

Sun Ra & His Astro-Ihnfinity Arkestra: The Intergalactic Thing

Read "The Intergalactic Thing" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
June 1, 2016

If you are a Sun Ra devotee, let's not use the terms “fanatic" or “zealot," you probably measure your collection in board feet instead of inches. Unlike many jazz legends of the 1950s, and 1960s, Herman Sonny Blount had the foresight to record his ensemble's rehearsals and concerts. He even established his own label El Saturn Records in 1957. Yes, nineteen-fifty-seven, when other jazz giants were bound to onerous contracts with major labels, Ra was producing what we now have ...

Album Review

Sun Ra Arkestra: Live in Ulm 1992

Read "Live in Ulm 1992" reviewed by AAJ Staff

by AAJ Staff
January 28, 2015

Questo concerto dell'Arkestra è stato registrato a Ulm nel 1992, durante l'ultima tournée della band con il suo leader, che -già malato-morirà poi nel maggio dell'anno successivo. Come ben sa chi abbia avuto il piacere di seguire l'orchestra anche dopo la scomparsa di Sun Ra, l'energia non viene comunque mai a mancare, come testimonia (con qualità sonora non eccelsa) questo doppio cd. Sugli scudi alcuni solisti, come i “dioscuri" della tromba, Michael Ray e Ahmed ...

Album Review

Sun Ra And His Arkestra: In The Orbit Of Ra

Read "In The Orbit Of Ra" reviewed by AAJ Staff

by AAJ Staff
September 29, 2014

Nell'anno del centenario della nascita di Sun Ra le iniziative sono state innumerevoli, ma mancava un vero e proprio “Greatest Hits," concetto che in sé sembra certamente piuttosto inadatto (e per certi versi anche antitetico) all'idea musicale dell'indimenticabile pianista e band leader di Saturno, Alabama, ma che risponde comunque a un'esigenza comprensibile. Il destino ha tra l'altro voluto che spesso, in passato, venissero indicati come “il meglio di" Sun Ra dischi che, per un motivo o un ...

Live Review

Celebrating Sun Ra at the Painted Bride Art Center

by Victor L. Schermer
April 28, 2014

The Warriors of the Wonderful Sound and the Sun Ra Centennial Arkestra The Painted Bride Art Center “Still the New Thing" Philadelphia, PA April 19, 2014 This concert concluded a tripartite series curated by saxophonist, band leader, and composer/arranger Bobby Zankel entitled “Still the New Thing" honoring three icons of avant- garde jazz: Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, and Sun Ra on the occasions of their birth dates and anniversaries of key events in their ...

Extended Analysis

Sun Ra: Jazz in Silhouette

by Robert Mitchell
September 30, 2013

"A Certain Beat A Sudden Chord These things charm the mind with veiled enchantment That lingers long after the song is done" As with many cult artists, the back catalogue of Sun Ra is long and varied with large, less than bitesize chunks available for consumption if you so desire. Many of Sun Ra's LPs have been re-issued on vinyl, and to anyone curious about Sun Ra (and let's face it--who isn't ...