#space jazz

[ourladyofomega]

Sun Ra; Space Is The Place.

[firagasoap]

PAON

Philosophie du Soi

[vinylspinning]

Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra: Visits Planet Earth (1966) [Recorded 1958/1956]

For everyday fans struggling to wrap their heads around the free jazz insanity of The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra's twin volumes in 1966, Visits Planet Earth must have felt like a welcome return to less extreme and challenging sound experiments.

Emphasis on "return," because although it was released in 1966, Visits Planet Earth collected recordings dating back to 1956 and '58, when jazz's ultimate space cadet and his Solar Arkestra were undergoing a radical musical mutation.

Indeed, these "Franken-Sessions" constructed a bridge between the ensemble's big-band bebop roots and the adventurous space jazz explorations undertaken by the "Golden Era" Arkestra, including John Gilmore on tenor sax and Marshall Allen on alto sax, among others.

To wit, while their music is bebop-adjacent, the titles and themes of tracks like "Planet Earth," "Reflections in Blue," and "Saturn" signaled some of the Arkestra's first steps into Afrofuturism, which established their mythology as extraterrestrial travelers.

The swaggering "Saturn," in particular, would become a staple of Sun Ra's live performances for decades to come, and while "Two Tones" is pretty much pure bop, "Eve" contains a "blocky," percussive Ra piano solo that some critics compared to Thelonious Monk.

Also according to critics ('cos what do I know?), one of my favorite numbers, "Overtones of China," was an early example of Ra's "exotica" influence, meshing bombastic percussion (see also "El Viktor") and eerie flute solos that hinted at otherworldly textures yet to come.

Most of my favorite Sun Ra material inhabits this sonic realm, and much of it came neatly juxtaposed with eye-catching, hand-drawn cover art and multi-colored label variations (red, blue, green, whatever color was available) pressed by Ra's independent Saturn Records.

My LP is obviously a reissue, but its cover, like many from this period, was crafted by Sun Ra himself and unspecified Arkestra members, armed with nothing but paper, markers, crayons, and paint, while they shared communal living spaces in New York and later Philadelphia.

Like many elements of Sun Ra's "outsider" career, which scraped by largely without the benefits of traditional music industry infrastructure (major labels, distributors, etc.), what started as a matter of economic necessity, wound up turning D.I.Y. designs into fine art.

But let's get back to the music, because maybe the final word on Visits Planet Earth is that its clear melodies, structured compositions, and defined rhythms provide a far more inviting entry point into the Sun Ra discography than his mind-warping free jazz works.

Give it a spin and I think you will agree ...

More Sun Ra: The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra, The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 1, The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 2, The Magic City, Angels and Demons at Play, Interstellar Low Ways, Atlantis, Space is the Place.

[biracy-draws]

Teensy bit behind but whatever it's for fun. Cosmic Seren for @catmask "brush week" challenge. Got the vibe this is supposed to be a furry design challenge but I can make literally anything abt Seren (she/her)

[titlecards]

Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise (1980), dir. Robert Mugge

[omegaremix]

[brainfeedarchiv]

Sun Ra in Coda jazz magazine (June/July 1975)

[burlveneer-music]

Marshall Allen - The Omniverse Oriki - Afro-Cuban space jazz from Allen's trio with the Ade Ilu Ensemble

Beautiful space, wild chaos, fire lotus– we now embark on the future-ever present, the conjuring of the past in non-linear chronospace, we present narratives in African/Afro-Cuban dreamtime! This is The Omniverse Oriki, legendary Sun Ra bandleader Marshall Allen Trio’s collaboration with the Ade Ilu Ensemble, an explosive macrocosmic reach into the residual ethers of the past to birth a new future, right here the now! Pulled together on Halloween night, 2023, Marshall Allen’s trio and Philly’s Ade Ilu Ensemble channelled and churned indelible musical spirits in extended “oriki”, Yoruba narratives set to explore omniversal wavelengths, to unmoor the patterns of universal control through Afro-Cuban-Futurist diagrams. Their first confluence was at Marshall’s monthly residency in Philadelphia, then captured here at Rittenhouse Soundworks Studios. The result is a righteous din, a mythological cacophony, a joyful noise. Swirling notes of Afro-cuban entrancing Lucumi, shocked and fragmented Afro rhythms, and vibrant flourishes of rhapsodic free jazz– we are here at the sonic temple! We are the beautiful space! -Alex Smith All music composed by Marshall Allen Published by Arkestral Music (BMI), traditional Lucumi cultural sources and co-created by the musicians listed above.  MARSHALL ALLEN TRIO: Marshall Allen - Leader, EWI, Casio keyboard, alto saxophone, vibrations DM Hotep - Guitar with effects & synths, live vocal effects Kash Killion - Cello with effects, sarangi, vocal ADE ILU ENSEMBLE: Kevin Diehl - Leader, Itotele bata, Lucumi chorus, producer Joseph Toledo - Lead Lucumi vocals Olufemi Mitchel - Lucumi chorus, achere Tongo Hernandez - Iya bata, Lucumi chorus John Wilkie - Okonkolo bata, Lucumi chorus