Le Sony'r Ra, better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific output, and theatrical performances.

One of Sun Ra's more experimental sets (and that's saying something), 1970's The Solar Myth Approach, Vol. 1 is an eclectic set of tapes from sessions that date back to 1967 and include some of Sun Ra's earliest experiments with Moog synthesizers (the clatteringly primitive solo "Scene III, Took 4" sounds like it could have come from the very first time he experimented with the machine) and evidence of his increasing interest in dissonance and repetition. For example, the opening "Spectrum" sets various horn and reed players against each other in such a fashion that they sound woozily out of tune, even though they're playing in the same key; like most of the rest of the album, this piece is built on the most minimal compositional skeleton, with little in the way of melodic development or counterpoint. The pieces are also recorded with typically eccentric instrument groupings; most of the ten-minute "Legend" is an extended duet for trombones, and only the rollicking "They'll Come Back" has a typical small-combo lineup. Those who are into Sun Ra's most non-traditional musical ideas should look no further. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide

Recorded between 1970-1971, The Solar Myth Approach, Vol. 2 is comprised of solo keyboard explorations by Sun Ra, couched in between two free-form workouts by his whole Arkestra. Kicking off the set is the first band workout "The Utter Nots," which, amidst a relentless Afro-percussion backdrop, features a loose mix of fiery and mild statements by most of Ra's main soloists (alto saxophonist Marshall Allan, oboe player James Jackson, tenor saxophonist John Gilmore, et al.). The more frenetic of the two Arkestra features, "Strange Worlds," alternates between full band outbursts and cryptic keyboard and vocal interludes. The highpoints of the album, though, are Ra's wonderfully strange excursions at the keys. Evoking a child's outer-space play land, Ra produces a dizzying whirl of celestial noises on the Moog synthesizer for "Scene 1, Take 1" while switching the keyboard to harpsichord mode for a hauntingly beautiful meditation of baroque proportions on "Pyramids." The final solo finds Ra running amok over both the piano keyboard and the strings inside, producing a ghostly haze of sound. Balancing out the momentous proceedings are two brief and whimsical numbers, "Ancient Ethiopia" and "Outer Spaceways, Inc.," the last of which includes a pleasant vocal request to join Sun Ra and the Arkestra on a journey to world beyond, an invitation implied throughout the disc. ~ Stephen Cook, All Music Guide

Le Sony'r Ra, better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific output, and theatrical performances.

Alto Saxophone – Marshall Allen Art Direction – Rothacker Advertising & Design Artwork [Cover Art] – William White Bass – Ronnie Boykins Engineer [Premastering] – Roger Seibel Liner Notes – John F. Szwed Percussion – James Jacson Photography By [Sun Ra Photo] – Raymond Ross Piano, Arranged By, Composed By – Sun Ra Producer – Alton Abraham, Ihnfinity Inc. Reissue Producer – Jerry Gordon Research [Discographical Information] – Prof. Robert Campbell All selections were originally issued on the LP The Magic City (El Saturn 403). [Track] 1 was recorded in rehearsal in New York City around September 24th, 1965. [Tracks] 2-4 were recorded at Olatunji's Loft, New York in the spring of 1965. Audio Restoration: SAE Digital Mastering Back of booklet and disc photo: The Archives Collection, Birmingham Public Library, Birmingham, Alabama. This CD is made available through the kind cooperation of Saturn Research, P.O. Box 7124, Chicago, IL. 60680. Total playing time: 45:24 ℗ & © 1993 Evidence Music Inc. Made in the U.S.A.

UK compilation combines two of the free jazz innovator's 1970 albums together on 2CDS, The Solar Myth Approach,Vol. 1 & The Solar Myth Approach, Vol. 2. The complete recordings in their entirety together for the first time. 2001 release.

Le Sony'r Ra, better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific output, and theatrical performances.

Le Sony'r Ra, better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific output, and theatrical performances.

Le Sony'r Ra, better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific output, and theatrical performances.

John Cage: excerpts from Empty Words (part IV) (1974-75), read as interludes Sun Ra improvising on the Yamaha DX7 synthesizer. Empty Words IV performed by John Cage, voice. Recorded live in concert: June 8, 1986 at Coney Island, N.Y. LP released in 1987 The New Albion Discography has some more background information on this recording These are unedited segments of the historic concert that was part of the "Sideshows by the Seashore" held on June 8, 1986 in Coney Island, NY. Improvisations and songs by Sun Ra and Cage's indeterminate performance vocals based on strict composition methods are contrasted and find a common meeting ground as, toward the end of the session, they play together. Fascinating and in genuine communal spirit.

Le Sony'r Ra, better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific output, and theatrical performances.

Angels and Demons at Play is a jazz album by the American musician Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra. Side one was recorded in 1960, including two tracks taken from the mammoth session either at Hall Recording Company or at the RCA Studios (both in Chicago), around 17 June 1960,[1] whilst the tracks on side two were recorded at the RCA studios, Chicago, around February 1956. Saturn Records had issued at least three of the songs ("Medicine for a Nightmare" b/w "Urnack", and "A Call For All Demons", the B-side of an early version of the song "Saturn") as 7" singles.[1] According to the musicologist Robert L. Campbell, the latter single was probably the very first Saturn release.[1] It was a relatively common theme of Saturn releases to feature different sessions, from different eras with different personnel, on different sides of a record. Other examples include The Invisible Shield (1962/1970) and Deep Purple (1948-57/1973). The distinctive sleeve was designed by Sun Ra, and uses the same design on both sides, leaving no room for sleeve notes. The 1993 compact disc release appends the album The Nubians of Plutonia in its entirety.

Le Sony'r Ra, better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific output, and theatrical performances.

Sun Ra, as well as anyone, proved that an artist could change with the times without being a dedicated follower of fashion. In fact, Ra and his music never stopped evolving. A series of albums recorded from 1978 to 1980—Lanquidity, On Jupiter, Sleeping Beauty, and Strange Celestial Road—demonstrate the influence on Ra of musical and production trends of the mid- and late-1970s, especially heavy, studio-enhanced dance floor grooves (traceable from soul and funk to disco), and atmospheric New Age "dream" pieces. But Ra never fully surrendered to these trends; it's arguable that he even embraced them. He adapted techniques, but what he created amounted more to reinventions than "File Under" genre works. Rodger Coleman, writing in 2008 at his Sun Ra Sundays blog about the albums On Jupiter and Sleeping Beauty, said: "These two 1979 Saturn sessions present Sun Ra at his most accessible — groovy, dreamy, spacey, and suitably cosmic while reigning in the full-blown freakouts that can make Sun Ra’s music difficult for some .... That is not to say that these are lesser albums. Quite the contrary! This is simply beautiful music! Essential!" They are also, quite often, very danceable, and not without "full-blown freakouts," as evidenced on "I'll Wait for You" from Strange Celestial Road (which originated at the Sleeping Beauty sessions). ON JUPITER, issued on Sun Ra's Saturn label (cat #101679), was comprised of three tracks from two sessions at NYC's Variety Recording Studio, one in mid- to late-May 1979, the other on October 16, 1979. Typical of Ra during the '70s and '80s, he didn't waste time dallying between recording and commercial release. Ra was incapable of artistically selling out, but that didn't prevent him from redefining the phrase "making a quick buck." During this period, LPs were pressed based on immediate economic need—and often timed to coincide with tours which required an immediate cash infusion. These albums would be pressed in limited quantities without printed covers, with minimal or no information on the labels, absent personnel credits, and often without track and album titles. Sometimes covers were hand-designed by the band (this digital release's "cover" was one such artifact, sans typography). Many of these small press runs—which were estimated to number from 100 to 300—were sold for cash to Rounder Distribution, with copies set aside for the band to sell at concerts and club gigs. Glenn Jones, who coordinated Ra's distribution deal with Rounder, would solicit from Ra—and, if the artist wasn't available, occasionally have to speculate about—album and track titles. This info would be Xeroxed on rectangular sheets of colored paper and taped to the back of the outer cardboard sleeve. Copies which did not circulate through Rounder might not have these sheets; consequently, Saturn albums from this period were often known by two (or even three) different titles, depending on what was scribbled on the label of a particular customer's copy. The album On Jupiter has occasionally been called Seductive Fantasy. Both titles appear on the album, the former as track 1 on side A, and the latter as the entirety of side B. As chronicled in The Earthly Recordings of Sun Ra (2nd ed., 2000), by Robert L. Campbell and Christopher Trent: "[Drummer] Samarai Celestial pointed out that 'UFO' was recorded before he joined the band in July 1979, whereas [tracks 1 and 3] came from a later session. Personnel from [Hartmut] Geerken’s discography with corrections by Samarai and [Campbell]." A bonus track is included on this digital edition: an early, wordless live rendition of "UFO" performed and recorded on Halloween, 1978, at Grendel's Lair, a Philadelphia club that occasionally hosted Ra and his entourage. The work was found on a tape by Michael D. Anderson of the Sun Ra Music Archive. By the time the title was recorded at Variety during the On Jupiter session, lyrics existed and had already been modified. According to Earthly Recordings, the work was performed on May 5, 1979, at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and "the vocal on that version was somewhat different from the vocal on [the] studio recording and subsequent concert performances." According to the book, Ra "told a member of the audience that he had 'prepared a practice piece' for the [concert]. The only previously unperformed piece [heard on an existing tape of the concert] was 'UFO'." However, based on the Grendel's Lair tape (which was unknown at the time Earthly Recordings was published), we now know that "UFO" had, in fact, been previously performed, albeit sans lyrics. — I.C. Note: On Jupiter has long been available from Art Yard, whose license terminated at the end of 2020. Our 2021 edition is a new remastering from alternate sources. The bonus track and the above annotation are new to this reissue. credits released January 1, 2021 2021, Enterplanetary Koncepts All tracks produced by Sun Ra Tracks 1–3 recorded at Variety Studios, NYC, May 1979 (UFO) and October 16, 1979 (On Jupiter and Seductive Fantasy) Track 4 recorded live at Grendel's Lair, Philadelphia, Oct. 31, 1978 PERSONNEL (tracks 1–3) Sun Ra: piano, organ Eddie Gale: trumpet Michael Ray: trumpet Marshall Allen: alto sax, flute, oboe, percussion John Gilmore: tenor sax, percussion poss. Julian Pressley: baritone sax Danny Ray Thompson: baritone sax, flute Julian Pressley (poss.): baritone sax James Jacson: bassoon, flute, Infinity-drum Skeeter McFarland: electric guitar Taylor Richardson: electric guitar Steve Clarke: electric bass (2) Richard Williams: bass (1, 3) Reg McDonald: drums (2) Samarai Celestial [Eric Walker]: drums (1, 3) Atakatune: conga, percussion June Tyson: vocals (1, 2) Ensemble: vocals (1, 2) PERSONNEL (track 4) Sun Ra: organ Michael Ray: trumpet Walter Miller: trumpet Eddie Gale: trumpet Marshall Allen: alto sax Danny Davis: alto sax John Gilmore: tenor sax Danny Ray Thompson: baritone sax James Jacson: bassoon, Infinity-drum Eloe Omoe: alto sax, contra-alto sax, clarinet Vincent Chancey: French horn Craig Harris: trombone Tony Bethel: trombone Dale Williams: electric guitar Steve Clarke: electric guitar Oscar Brown III: bass Luqman Ali: drums Atakatune: conga Michael D. Anderson: percussion Eddie Thomas: percussion Digital restoration by Irwin Chusid Tracks sourced from vinyl and tape Disc transfer by Timothy Stollenwerk, Saturn LP courtesy Craig Koon Tape transfers by Michael D. Anderson, Sun Ra Music Archive Cover design by IC adapted from an original hand-designed Saturn sleeve from the collection of Chris Reisman Thanks to Peter Dennett/Art Yard and Peter Beckmann Thanks for Christopher Trent for identifying personnel on track 4 "On Jupiter" and "Seductive Fantasy" composed by Sun Ra "UFO" composed by Sun Ra, Steve Clarke, and Taylor Richardson All titles © Enterplanetary Koncepts (BMI) Issued under license from Sun Ra LLC license