*** SUN RA Corner***

[jazzbo]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/sun-ra-documentary-stanley-nelson-1235082185/

[Chuck Nessa]

We will see.

[Rooster_Ties]

Sigh.

[kh1958]

https://insheepsclothinghifi.com/sun-ra-prophet/?fbclid=IwAR1Ak2PJO5aspUUX2Y6qhHLnxItagpgFMntMcvf2F0VBe2F3CatuXHGLu8M

Sun Ra improvising on a Prophet VS synthesizer in 1986? Pump it straight into our veins.

In the summer of that year while in Boston with his band, Sun Ra splashed down in a high-tech studio called Mission Control. Among the many synths and sound generators he approached was a newly released Prophet VS (“Vector Synthesizer”). The programmable digital keyboard, created by genius electronic synthesist Dave Smith, was remarkably sophisticated. Ra took to it and started playing. A recording of that session, called Prophet, will see release in December.

 

Released by Modern Harmonics, Prophet is a mesmerizing listen – or at least the 10-minute video that we’ve heard above is. It will be released on December 16 on vinyl (including a few different variants) and CD.

[JSngry]

Works for me.

[jazzbo]

https://sundazed.com/sun-ra-his-arkestra-space-is-the-place-original-motion-picture-soundtrack-3lp-boxset-with-bluray-and-dvd-on-colored-vinyl-2632.aspx

[dprfish]

Here's a very interesting read that I don't think has been posted before.

Quite a bit of info on both the Birmingham scene, and his role in it, that wasn't discussed in the Szwed biography.

https://burginmathews.com/tag/sun-ra/

 

 

[randyhersom]

Prophet is on Bandcamp, complete with a link to "Contact Sun Ra".  Anybody want to click it?

https://sunra-mh.bandcamp.com/album/prophet

 

Edited May 31, 2023 by randyhersom

[tkeith]

Just replaced our 25 year old DVD player with one that actually plays the videos.  For a test run, I put in Sun Ra Volume 6, Live in Oakland, CA, 1991.  Horrible sound/footage, but MAN is the band killin'!  Sadly, I can't ID everybody -- anybody shed some light here?

[romualdo]

3 hours ago, tkeith said:

Just replaced our 25 year old DVD player with one that actually plays the videos.  For a test run, I put in Sun Ra Volume 6, Live in Oakland, CA, 1991.  Horrible sound/footage, but MAN is the band killin'!  Sadly, I can't ID everybody -- anybody shed some light here?

according to Campbell/Trent "Earthly Recordings of Sun Ra, 2nd edn"  the Arkestra (minus Ra) played at Koncepts Cultural Gallery (Oakland) on Feb 1 & 2, 1991 then with Ra from Nov 1-3 (ie 5 different dates)

Is there a date mentioned on the DVD? if so I can give you more musician details

[tkeith]

11 hours ago, romualdo said:

according to Campbell/Trent "Earthly Recordings of Sun Ra, 2nd edn"  the Arkestra (minus Ra) played at Koncepts Cultural Gallery (Oakland) on Feb 1 & 2, 1991 then with Ra from Nov 1-3 (ie 5 different dates)

Is there a date mentioned on the DVD? if so I can give you more musician details

There is not, that I can find, but judging by the setlist, likely the 3rd.  Ra is definitely there (and definitely not well).

 

[romualdo]

On 6/5/2023 at 10:59 PM, tkeith said:

There is not, that I can find, but judging by the setlist, likely the 3rd.  Ra is definitely there (and definitely not well).

 

If it's Nov 3 then Pharoah Sanders & Julian Priester should be present - they were absent on Nov 1 & 2

Edited June 6, 2023 by romualdo

[tkeith]

Hmmm.  Okay, not Nov 3, then.  Can verify for sure Michael Ray, Ahmed Abdullah, James Jacson, Tyrone Hill, Buster Smith and - of course - Marshall and Gilmore.  Not sure of the bari player -- thinking Charles Davis (also plays tenor).  Might be Jothan Callins on electric bass, but I can't tell for sure.

This is the video:
LIVE IN OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – THE FIRST & SECOND CONCERTS – 1991
CONCERT – SUN RA VOLUME 6 – TRANSPARENCY DVD TR-0175

But the sleeve is missing, so I have no info.

I stand correct -- just found picture of bari/tenor, it's Ronald Wilson.

[romualdo]

9 hours ago, tkeith said:

Hmmm.  Okay, not Nov 3, then.  Can verify for sure Michael Ray, Ahmed Abdullah, James Jacson, Tyrone Hill, Buster Smith and - of course - Marshall and Gilmore.  Not sure of the bari player -- thinking Charles Davis (also plays tenor).  Might be Jothan Callins on electric bass, but I can't tell for sure.

This is the video:
LIVE IN OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – THE FIRST & SECOND CONCERTS – 1991
CONCERT – SUN RA VOLUME 6 – TRANSPARENCY DVD TR-0175

But the sleeve is missing, so I have no info.

I stand correct -- just found picture of bari/tenor, it's Ronald Wilson.

So, if it's Nov 1 or 2 then here's the musician listing from Campbell/Trent

Sun Ra p/synth, Michael Ray tp/vo, Eddie Gale tp, Chris Capers flh, Tyrone Hill tb/vo, Marshall Allen as/fl/perc, John Gilmore ts/cl/vo, Ronald Wilson ts/bs, James Jacson bsn/fl/cowbell/perc, Kash Killion clo, Bruce Edwards el g, Jothan Callins el b, Buster Smith dm, announc/T-shirt sales, Elson Nascimento surdo grande/chimes/perc, June Tyson vln/vo

India Cooke vln was only present on Nov 1

Bay area musicians (Cooke, Killion, Wilson & Gale) took part in the Oakland concerts

some multitasking here - see Buster Smith's duties

 

[tkeith]

On 6/6/2023 at 7:33 PM, romualdo said:

So, if it's Nov 1 or 2 then here's the musician listing from Campbell/Trent

Sun Ra p/synth, Michael Ray tp/vo, Eddie Gale tp, Chris Capers flh, Tyrone Hill tb/vo, Marshall Allen as/fl/perc, John Gilmore ts/cl/vo, Ronald Wilson ts/bs, James Jacson bsn/fl/cowbell/perc, Kash Killion clo, Bruce Edwards el g, Jothan Callins el b, Buster Smith dm, announc/T-shirt sales, Elson Nascimento surdo grande/chimes/perc, June Tyson vln/vo

India Cooke vln was only present on Nov 1

Bay area musicians (Cooke, Killion, Wilson & Gale) took part in the Oakland concerts

some multitasking here - see Buster Smith's duties

 

Well, I appreciate that a great deal.  I knew Eddie and didn't recognize him, so you've given me extra reason to watch again!  Nice!

[tkeith]

Found a version on Youtube (somehow more complete than mine, suggesting my copy is probably a boot, damnit) with the date.  It's 11/2.  Watching now, and sure enough, there's Mr. Gale. 

[tkeith]

Okay, worth a shot, since this is really what led me to try and figure this stuff out.  Most of my Ra is digital (meaning minimal information), and I'm trying to ID this song. 
 

 

 

[Kyo]

On 12/12/2021 at 5:31 AM, romualdo said:

highly recommended & worth getting but if you have the earlier single CD released in 2005 (Nothing Is ESP-Disk 4024) then don't ditch it as it contains material not in the double set ie the first 4:35 of "Outer Nothingness" is called "Interplanetary Chaos" on the newer version (double CD) but the remaining 11 minutes of "Outer Nothingness" are missing/omitted (see pp 188-189 of Sun Ra Omniverse (Geerken & Trent)

This is not true. The track "Outer Nothingness" is merely an edit of "Interplanetary Chaos" and the two following tracks from "College Tour Vol. I".

There is an edit at about 4:42 in "Outer Nothingness" and you can still hear the last bit of the vocals as it cuts to "Theme of the Stargazers" about 0:45 in. The next edit is at about 5:28, where the piece jumps to about 1:06 in "The Second Stop Is Jupiter". So they basically edited out the themes and kept the improv bits. You're not missing out on any music on "College Tour Vol. I".

[Kyo]

Just checked the thread and there hasn't really been that much discussion here of the explosion of legit Sun Ra reissues over the past few years. I've owned almost zero Sun Ra before (only the more recent ESP reissues and Space Is the Place), so it's really cool to dive into this discography with fresh reissues created from the best possible sources. Between Cosmic Myth directly and their licensees like Modern Harmonic, Strut, and previously Art Yard, they've really done a great job getting this music out there and I can't wait to get hold of all these CDs! 🥳

Edited October 24, 2023 by Kyo

[T.D.]

48 minutes ago, Kyo said:

Just checked the thread and there hasn't really been that much discussion here of the explosion of legit Sun Ra reissues over the past few years. I've owned almost zero Sun Ra before (only the more recent ESP reissues and Space Is the Place), so it's really cool to dive into this discography with fresh reissues created from the best possible sources. Between Cosmic Myth directly and their licensees like Modern Harmonic, Strut, and previously Art Yard, they've really done a great job getting this music out there and I can't wait to get hold of all these CDs! 🥳

Yeah, it's been a remarkable period for Ra reissues.  

Plus, I find that the reissues done "under license from Sun Ra LLC" [Edit: that's the Irwin Chusid entity mentioned below] have super sound quality, kind of the gold standard in that respect. I now buy only releases with that imprimatur.

Edited October 24, 2023 by T.D.

[Teasing the Korean]

36 minutes ago, Kyo said:

Just checked the thread and there hasn't really been that much discussion here of the explosion of legit Sun Ra reissues over the past few years. I've owned almost zero Sun Ra before (only the more recent ESP reissues and Space Is the Place), so it's really cool to dive into this discography with fresh reissues created from the best possible sources. Between Cosmic Myth directly and their licensees like Modern Harmonic, Strut, and previously Art Yard, they've really done a great job getting this music out there and I can't wait to get hold of all these CDs! 🥳

There was talk about this, though not all in this thread.  All Sun Ra releases that Irwin Chusid is involved in are worth getting.

[colinmce]

Speaking of all that, does anyone know is Chusid would have ownership of the Horo sessions? Those are at the top of my wishlist for reissue, I'd love to have the whole of them on a CD set.

[JSngry]

I think the original Horo guy still owns all of it himself? 

[colinmce]

1 minute ago, JSngry said:

I think the original Horo guy still owns all of it himself? 

Well, he died in 2013 but yeah it is my understanding that someone over there still owns the rights. I just wasn't sure what kind of licensing or buybacks/transfers might have gone down with the Ra music since Modern Harmonic and other ventures have released stuff previously done for other labels like Impulse! etc.

[JSngry]

The Horo catalogue seems to be stubbornly retained in totality. There were murmurs of new life a few years ago, but they didn't pan out.