10 SUN RA albums that one must have.

[Dmitry]

To the Sun Ra connoisseurs, can you provide your version of a list of ten representative albums spanning the versatile life of the man? Perhaps if we have enough responses, I'll tally them up, and we'll find a set of ten or twelve common denominators.

 

[kh1958]

1. Disco 3000

2. Lanquidity

3. Nothing Is

4. The Other Side of the Sun

5. Cosmos

6. Hiroshima

7. Sound of Joy

8. My Brother the Wind, volume 2

9. Mayan Temples

10. Strange Celestial Road

[Rooster_Ties]

Supersonic Jazz (1956), Sun Song (1957), and Sound Of Joy (1957)

New Steps (1978) and Other Voices, Other Blues (1978) — the two rare quartet dates with Michael Ray, and John Gilmore.

Lanquidity (1978), Strange Celestial Road (1979), On Jupiter (1979), and Sleeping Beauty (1979) — Ra grooves (kinda).

God Is More Than Love Can Ever Be (1979) — Ra’s only(?) piano-trio album.

Live at Pit-Inn, Tokyo, Japan (1988), Blue Delight (1988), Purple Night (1989), Somewhere Else (1988-89), Mayan Temples (1990) — late-period (and well recorded).

OK, I know that’s 15 — and, yeah, I left out a bunch of really important stuff…

But off the top of my head, those are the Ra dates I’ve returned to the most over the last almost 35 years (out of about 60+ Ra albums I’ve owned over the years).

[Stompin at the Savoy]

5 minutes ago, Rooster_Ties said:

Supersonic Jazz (1956), Sun Song (1957), and Sound Of Joy (1957)

New Steps (1978) and Other Voices, Other Blues (1978) — the two rare quartet dates with Michael Ray, and John Gilmore.

Lanquidity (1978), Strange Celestial Road (1979), On Jupiter (1979), and Sleeping Beauty (1979) — Ra grooves (kinda).

God Is More Than Love Can Ever Be (1979) — Ra’s only(?) piano-trio album.

Live at Pit-Inn, Tokyo, Japan (1988), Blue Delight (1988), Purple Night (1989), Somewhere Else (1988-89), Mayan Temples (1990) — late-period (and well recorded).

OK, I know that’s 15 — and, yeah, I left out a bunch of really important stuff…

But off the top of my head, those are the Ra dates I’ve returned to the most over the last almost 35 years (out of about 60+ Ra albums I’ve owned over the years).

To the late 50's albums I would add Jazz in Silhouette from '58

[T.D.]

Many good titles above, but the New York '60s haven't been that heavily represented. [I mentally group Ra's albums into "decade" bins, which is convenient and not wildly inaccurate.]

From that era I'd consider:

The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra

The Magic City

Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy / Art Forms of Directions Tomorrow.

[Added]

I really enjoy Sleeping Beauty ('70s), and A Fireside Chat with Lucifer ('80s) is badass.

Edited April 11, 2023 by T.D.

[clifford_thornton]

Sound of Joy (1956)

Angels & Demons at Play (1956/60)

The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra (1961)

Secrets of the Sun (1962)

Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy (1963)

The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra 1 & 2 (1965) 2 has grown on me over the years. 1 is heavy!

When Angels Speak of Love (1966)

Strange Strings (1966)

God Is More Than Love Can Ever Be (1979)

A Fireside Chat With Lucifer (1983)

Haven't dug those Horo quartets out in a while but they are good too.

Edited April 11, 2023 by clifford_thornton

[jlhoots]

Add The Nubians Of Plutonia to the list.

[BFrank]

Just saw them at Big Ears

[Gheorghe]

12 minutes ago, BFrank said:

Just saw them at Big Ears

This is the Marshall Allan band I also saw a few years ago. 
In the late 70´s I saw the Arkestra with Sun Ra in person. Then, Marshall Allan, John Gilmore and June Tyson were in the band. 

My favourite album from the good old Free Jazz days is "Nothing Is" which was my first Sun Ra album when I was a kid. I had purchased it together with Pharoah Sandes´"Live at the East". 
And "brandnew" albums during the years I saw Sun Ra live, were the "HORO" label albums: The above mentioned rare quartet album"New Steps" was one, and the whole Arkestra album  "Unity" was another. 

[BFrank]

22 minutes ago, Gheorghe said:

This is the Marshall Allan band I also saw a few years ago. 
In the late 70´s I saw the Arkestra with Sun Ra in person. Then, Marshall Allan, John Gilmore and June Tyson were in the band. 

My favourite album from the good old Free Jazz days is "Nothing Is" which was my first Sun Ra album when I was a kid. I had purchased it together with Pharoah Sandes´"Live at the East". 
And "brandnew" albums during the years I saw Sun Ra live, were the "HORO" label albums: The above mentioned rare quartet album"New Steps" was one, and the whole Arkestra album  "Unity" was another. 

I wish I'd seen them more when he was alive. Only once, in 89 at a mid-week NO JazzFest show in an elementary school playground. Miraculously, someone filmed it so I can remember it forever: https://youtu.be/9D2NDbTsVHQ

 

Edited April 11, 2023 by BFrank

[sidewinder]

I saw them first in Summer ‘89 too. According to the Szwed book, many in the band were incarcerated immediately prior to this gig so it was amazing that they managed to field a full band plus dancers (doubling percussion) on the stage. The show went on for over 4 hours too and Ra and Band gave it everything - incredible.

To the list I would add the ‘Singles’ double CD set on Evidence. That was a revelation for me when it came out.

Also ‘Nuclear War’ from the early 80s. That one caused a stir when it came out. Plus ‘Discipline 27-11’ from the 70s.

Edited April 11, 2023 by sidewinder

[Dub Modal]

11 hours ago, kh1958 said:

1. Disco 3000

2. Lanquidity

3. Nothing Is

4. The Other Side of the Sun

5. Cosmos

6. Hiroshima

7. Sound of Joy

8. My Brother the Wind, volume 2

9. Mayan Temples

10. Strange Celestial Road

Boom. Excellent list. Disco 3000 is the top one for me as well 👍

Not a bad album mentioned so far either 

Edited April 11, 2023 by Dub Modal

[Teasing the Korean]

I have more than 60 Sun Ra albums. Some great choices listed so far.  No one has mentioned these two, which are IMO important New York-era albums:

• Fate in a Pleasant Mood
• When Sun Comes Out

[kh1958]

I saw the band with Sun Ra, John Gilmore, June Tyson, etc., four times in total in 1987 and 1988 at the Caravan of Dreams in Fort Worth, and have seen the posthumous band twice (at the Knitting Factory and at Winter Jazzfest).

[colinmce]

Jazz In Silhouette (1959)
Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow (1961-62)
When Angels Speak of Love (1963)
Continuation (1963)
The Magic City (1966)
Atlantis (1967-69)
Night of The Purple Moon (1970)
Universe In Blue (1971-72)
Astro Black (1972)
Some Blues But Not The Kind That's Blue (1977)
Lanquidity (1978)

Ouch, tougher than I figured it would be, and couldn't go below 11. Would also shortlist Other Planes of There, Angels & Demons At Play, My Brother The Wind Volume II, Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy, The Nubians of Plutonia, Holidays For Soul Dance, Strange Strings, Bad And Beautiful, Discipline 27-II, Monorails & Satellites, It's After The End of the World, Other Voices Other Blues, Somewhere Over The Rainbow, Sleeping Beauty, God Is More Than Love Can Ever Be, A Fireside Chat With Lucifer, Omniverse, Oblique Parallax

[Gheorghe]

I doubt I have 10 records of any musician. Maybe more than 10 of Mingus, of Miles, but I don´t think of any other musician.

I might like Helocentric Worlds as I Iike "Nothing Is" which I had purchased in the early 70´s. And when I saw Sun Ra live for the first time, I think it was 1977/78, it was a mixture of Free what I was used to, and of some really old stuff like "King Porter Stomp". 

But one thing I must say: I didn´t or don´t have big ears for traditional jazz, but my buddy and me, when we heard the way the Sun Ra boys do it, we just flipped out. It was fantastic. So the next records was the then brandnew 2 HOROs "Unity" and "New Steps", and that´s all I have actually. I don´t say I shouldn´t have more, but I doubt that time would let me permit to listen regularly to each of it. 
Unity has all the old Fletcher Henderson stuff, the free and still swinging space music and the space chants of June Tyson. 
And New Steps has an incredible version of My Favourite Things (I think Gilmore was quite close to Trane). 

[mhatta]

Since the Arkestra is, after all, an excellent live band (as was Duke Ellington's orchestra), it seemed a good idea to list 10 live recordings. Some of them are quasi-bootlegs, but the sound quality is relatively good.

1. Music From Tomorrow's World (1960)
A good record from the Chicago era.

2. Nothing Is (1966)
Bordering on hard bop and free.

3. Black Myth / Out In Space (1970)
Sun Ra on MPS!

4. Intergalactic Research (1971)
Adventurous.

5. What Planet Is This? (1973)
Tremendous live performance from his best period.

6. Live in Paris at the "Gibus" (1973)
King Porter Stomp!

7. It Is Forbidden (1974)
Overwhelming.

8. Live at Montreux (1976)
Great as an introduction to the band.

9. Sunrise In Different Dimensions (1980)
Sun Ra as a pianist shines.

10. Love in Outer Space (1983)
A good sample of his later years.

 

Edited April 14, 2023 by mhatta

[John L]

On 4/11/2023 at 9:26 AM, Teasing the Korean said:

I have more than 60 Sun Ra albums. Some great choices listed so far.  No one has mentioned these two, which are IMO important New York-era albums:

• Fate in a Pleasant Mood
• When Sun Comes Out

Two of my favorites. 

[Teasing the Korean]

3 hours ago, John L said:

Two of my favorites. 

Yeah, the New York 1960s era is for me his most compelling.

[AllenLowe]

for me his best work are the solo piano albums; there are two or three that I own. I find his post-'60s orchestral work intriguing but ultimately aimless, with some notable exceptions. But the solo piano work shows how amazing his musical conception was, in small, focused snippets.

 

Edited April 14, 2023 by AllenLowe

[Gheorghe]

4 hours ago, AllenLowe said:

for me his best work are the solo piano albums; there are two or three that I own. I find his post-'60s orchestral work intriguing but ultimately aimless, with some notable exceptions. But the solo piano work shows how amazing his musical conception was, in small, focused snippets.

 

I don´t have solo piano albums but when I heard him with his Arkestra live , they started with Lady Bird, which Sun Ra played solo as an intro , very very fine piano, and than the band came in with Half Nelson, I think on the LP I bought the next day they also had Lady Bird/Half Nelson on it, since it was a then recent recording. 

[mhatta]

A lesser-known aspect of Sun Ra may have been that he was a full-bodied blues piano player.  Sounds very authentic.

 

 

[hopkins]

Among his later sessions, I enjoy "Blue Delight": https://archive.org/details/cd_blue-delight_sun-ra

Another, from 1982, is Ceslestial Love:

 https://sunramusic.bandcamp.com/album/celestial-love

Edit: Blue Delight was already mentioned, had missed that.

Edited April 17, 2023 by hopkins