Sun Ra is undoubtedly a motherfucking genius. An introvert, and eccentric, and Picassian in the fecundity of his art. The more I learn about him, the more I dig him.
I didn’t immediately put theses discs on, upon their arrival today. As much as I really wanted to. Why? Because we had guests. And Sun Ra might well be an acquired taste.
But on finally getting to bed, after watching Basil Rathbone as Shylock Heims, in The Lady In Green, I started to peruse the packaging and booklet.
Ra’s poetico-philosophical musings are of a piece with the music. Dazzling, wide-ranging, and just plain wonderful…
Got two new spreads started today. All deriving from a single work by Picasso.
Femmes et enfants au bord de la mer (Le Sauvetage/The Rescue), 1932.
I intend to take parts of the Picasso painting and extrapolate something for myself from it all.
Early days…
Something else I want to do soon, is to start working up some of this recent spate of creativity into ‘finished’ artworks.
WIP.
Of the two most developed or worked up so far, I prefer the bold simplicity of the left hand piece. The right hand one has promise, but is a bit too busy and confused.
I had some pals who got this, back when it came out, way back in 1987. I’m thinking of Rowan and James. Steeped as they were in the lore of axe-heroes, such as Van Halen, Gary Moore, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai, and… the latter’s guitar teacher, Joe Satriani.
One of the things I personally like about this album is that it’s all instrumental. And another is that it’s more musically broad-ranging in mood and tone than some more metal-centric ‘axe-hero’ type albums of that style/era.
Ironically, as I type that, we transition from the mellow 6/4 ‘Always With Me, Always With You’, to the hyper-rockin’ ‘Satch Boogie’!
So ‘80s!*
Instrumental guitar lead rock, it’s basically a solo recording, with a bit of help on the drums/percussion/rhythm programming front. Satriani plays all guitars, bass and synths, etc. He also did some of the rhythm programming, and all the production.
Three others musos are credited, in mostly drum/percussion related roles: Bongo Bob Smith (drum programming, percussion), Jeff Campitelli (drums/percussion), and John Cuniberti (percussion/engineering).
For sheer skill, this is five star fare. From a musical enjoyment perspective? There are a few standout tracks – for me the very best are ‘Always With Me, Always With You’, and ‘Echo’, effectively the album’s two ballads – and then a larger amount that’s very well done, but rather dated.
Fun to revisit, and pretty good, overall. But neither a classic nor a favourite.
*Could’ve been played by a young Daniel Day Lewis!
‘The distinctive sleeve was designed by Sun Ra, and uses the same design on both sides, leaving no room for sleeve notes.’ Acc to wiki entry on Angels & Demons at Play.
It really reminds me of an Arshile Gorky book cover I own, pictured above. Had Sun Ra seen this? The resemblance/similarities is/are uncanny!
Well, I’m so taken with Gilles Peterson’s superb Sun Ra mixes, on To Those of Earth… & Other Worlds, that I’ve ordered some more Sun Ra.
Simply superb!
I’m after a fair number of his recordings, to be honest. But I can’t afford some of the extravagant prices being asked. I already have Heliocentric Worlds Vol 1 & 2, and Nothing Is.
Looks terrific.
I’ve just ordered Space Is The Place (1973), and a 3-CD collection of his prolific singles output (see above pic), plus a 5-disc set calling itself Timeless Classic Albums – Sun Ra.
And here’s a wee gallery of the stuff I already have:
And, being the impulsive fool I am, and digging Sun Ra as I do, I’ve also just ordered this:
Four of Ra’s earliest releases.
There’s a bit of overlap: the album Jazz In Silhouette is on both ‘classic album’ multi-CD sets, and both collections also include a bunch of Ra’s doo-wop singles, which I’ll be getting on The Definitive 45s Collection.
But all told, these two multi-disc sets will add the following seven albums to my growing Sun Ra library (plus a bunch of his earlier singles, some gathered under the title Medicine For A Nightmare!):
Jazz by Sun Ra, 1957 Super-Sonic Jazz, 1957 Jazz In Silhouette, 1959 The Futuristic Sounds Of…, 1962 Angels & Demons At Play, 1960 The Nubians of Plutonia, 1966 Batman & Robin(!?), 1966
That still leaves a whole bunch more Ra albums I’m keen to acquire, such as these:
There’s lots of interesting stuff about this maverick jazz iconoclast out there, amongst which is this interesting cache of goodies, curated by Chicago university.
I plucked this slim paperback off our art shelves recently. I think we got it from Gwen? I’ve brought it to the pub, for perusal at our now quite regular Friday brunch.
I’m not religious. But I do like the artistic heritage and traditions of our collective past. And as a massive Picasso fan, I’m quite fond of his homages to this genre.
Anyway, I didn’t know, till I started studying this book, that Cimabue’s Crucifixion had itself undergone death and resurrection. How very apt!
The river Arno burst its banks in 1966, flooding Florence. The Museo dell’ Opera of Santa Croce was submerged in eleven feet of flood water!
As both musician and artist, it’s nice to combine the two things. I recently did a couple of Herbie Mann inspired things. Now I’m having a look at Max Roach…
