Jazz By Sun Ra | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by Sun Ra and his Arkestra | ||||
Released | 1957 | |||
Recorded | July 12, 1956 | |||
Studio | Universal Recording Corp. (Chicago) | |||
Genre | Post-bop, big band | |||
Length | 40:14 | |||
Label | ||||
Producer | Tom Wilson | |||
Sun Ra and his Arkestra chronology | ||||
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reissue cover | ||||
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings | [2] |
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide | [3] |
Jazz By Sun Ra (later titled Sun Song) is the debut album by Sun Ra. [4] The record label for the first pressing says "07-12-56", presumably when it was recorded. [5] The LP originally appeared on Tom Wilson's short-lived Transition Records. In the mid-1960s it was purchased (along with much of the Transition catalog) by Delmark Records owner Bob Koester, finally being reissued in 1967.
When originally released, it came with an extensive booklet featuring words and photos of Sun Ra and his Arkestra. The LP featured original compositions by Sun Ra along with one by Arkestral bassist Richard Evans. Another composition by Arkestra member Julian Priester has been included in reissues from the session, and additional unreleased tracks (all Ra originals) are known to survive. The single non-Arkestral composition was Possession, by Harry Revel, which had been written for Les Baxter's album Perfume Set to Music; Possession was arranged for the Arkestra by the Texan pianist and composer Prince Shell.
Earlier home recordings by Ra, including one dating from 1948 or 1949, were released with tracks from 1973 on the album Deep Purple .
All tracks are written by Sun Ra except where noted
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Brainville" | 4:29 | |
2. | "Call For All Demons" | 4:30 | |
3. | "Transition" | 3:40 | |
4. | "Possession" | Harry Revel | 5:00 |
5. | "Street Named Hell" | 3:55 | |
Total length: | 21:34 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
6. | "Lullaby For Realville" | Richard Evans | 4:40 |
7. | "Future" | 3:15 | |
8. | "New Horizons" | 3:05 | |
9. | "Fall Off The Log" | 4:00 | |
10. | "Sun Song" | 3:40 | |
Total length: | 18:40 |
When reissued on Compact Disc in 1991, "Swing a Little Taste" was added. This was originally released on the Transition sampler Jazz in Transition alongside tracks by artists such as Cecil Taylor, Donald Byrd and John Coltrane.
Source: [6]
Recorded Universal Recording, Chicago, July 12, 1956
Year | Format | Region | Label | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
1957 | LP | US | Transition | Jazz By Sun Ra |
SE | Sonet | |||
1967 | US | Delmark | Sun Song | |
1968 | UK | |||
1971 | FR | Goody | ||
1972 | JP | Trio | Jazz By Sun Ra | |
1990 | CD | US | Delmark | Sun Song |
1993 | Cass | |||
2001 | LP | |||
2003 | CD | JP | P-Vine | |
2009 | LP | NL | 6 Spices, Music & Words | |
2012 | CD | JP | P-Vine | |
2014 | US | Delmark | ||
2015 | LP | UK | Poppydisc & Rev-Ola | Jazz By Sun Ra |
2016 | ||||
2019 | Not Now Music |
The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume One is a 1965 album by the jazz musician Sun Ra. The back cover describes it as an "album of compositions and arrangements by Sun Ra played by Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra".
Purple Night is a studio album by free jazz pioneer Sun Ra. It was released in 1990 on A&M Records.
Angels and Demons at Play is a jazz album by Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra.
Atlantis is an album by American jazz musician Sun Ra and his Astro-Infinity Arkestra, released in 1969 by El Saturn Records.
Lanquidity is a 1978 studio album by American jazz musician Sun Ra.
Sound of Joy is an album by Sun Ra and his Arkestra. It features the Arkestral lineup during the last few months of 1956, after trombonist Julian Priester left to join Lionel Hampton, Charles Davis became a regular member of the band, and Victor Sproles took over on bass. It was intended as the follow-up to Jazz By Sun Ra but Transition Records ceased to operate before it could be released.
Live at Montreux is an album by Sun Ra recorded in the summer of 1976 at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland under the billing Sun Ra and his Intergalactic Cosmo Arkestra. It was originally issued in 1977 on the Saturn label, with hand-drawn covers and reissued in 1978 on the Inner City label, with new artwork and song titles and musicians credited. It was first issued on CD by Universe Records in Italy, with poor sound quality and the track "On Sound Infinity Spheres" faded out early by about six minutes. The later Japanese P-Vine and US Inner City CDs both use earlier source tapes and are complete and unedited. A segment of the same Montreux concert appears on the 'Solo Piano & Montreux And Lugano' DVD on Transparency Records.
Jazz in Silhouette is the third studio album by the pianist and composer Sun Ra. It was recorded on March 6, 1959, and released in May of the same year. The album was recorded in Chicago during a session that also included the whole of the albums Sound Sun Pleasure!! and "Interstellar Low Ways" from the album of the same name.
Super-Sonic Jazz is the second studio album by Sun Ra, recorded in 1956 at RCA Studios, Chicago. Super-Sonic Jazz was the first album to be released on Saturn Records, the label run by Sun Ra and Alton Abraham, and was one of only three albums by Sun Ra to have been available in the 1950s.
Featuring Pharoah Sanders and Black Harold is a jazz album by Sun Ra, recorded live on December 31, 1964, but not released until 1976, on Ra and Alton Abraham's El Saturn label. An expanded version of the album was reissued in 2009 by ESP-Disk, and again in 2017 by Superior Viaduct. A complete version of Sun Ra's performances on December 30 and 31, 1964 were released in 2012 on the Pharoah Sanders album In The Beginning 1963-1964.
Blue Delight is a jazz album by free jazz pioneer Sun Ra.
Sound Sun Pleasure!! is an album by the American Jazz musician Sun Ra and his Astro Infinity Arkestra. Recorded March 6, 1959, it remained unreleased until 1970 when it was issued on the Saturn label. Recorded at the same time and with the same personnel as Jazz in Silhouette, the album is unusual amongst early Ra albums for predominantly featuring jazz standards.
Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra Visits Planet Earth is a jazz album by the American musician Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra. Recorded between late 1956 and 1958, the album was originally released on Ra's own Saturn label in 1966, and was reissued on CD by Evidence in 1992. In keeping with many Saturn releases, one side features cuts from the arkestra c.1958, whilst the other side comes from the 1956 sessions originally intended for Sound of Joy but still unreleased in 1966.
Interstellar Low Ways is an album recorded by the American jazz musician Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra, mostly recorded in Chicago, 1960, and released in 1967 on his own El Saturn label. Originally titled Rocket Number Nine, the album had acquired its present name, and the red-on-white sleeve by Claude Dangerfield, by 1969. The album is known particularly for the two songs featuring chants, "Interplanetary Music" and "Rocket Number Nine Take off for the Planet Venus". These would stay in the Arkestra's repertoire for many years.
Rocket Number Nine points toward the music that the Arkestra would be playing on the lower East Side of New York City. The tenor sax solo isn't the work of John Coltrane in 1962, but of John Gilmore in 1960. And not even Ornette Coleman's bassists were playing like Ronnie Boykins at this date.
Fate in a Pleasant Mood is an album by the American jazz musician Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra recorded in Chicago, mid 1960 and originally released on his own Saturn label in 1965. The album was reissued by Impulse! in 1974, and by Evidence in 1993. For the latter reissue, the record was included as the first half of a CD that also featured the whole of When Sun Comes Out, an album recorded by the Arkestra in New York, 1963.
Secrets of the Sun is an album by the American Jazz musician Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra. The album is considered one of the more accessible recordings from his 'Solar' period. Originally released on Ra's own Saturn label in 1965, the record was unavailable for many years before being reissued on compact disc by Atavistic in 2008.
'Marking a transition in its development between the advanced swing of the early Chicago-era recordings and the increased free-form experimentation of its New York tenure, this album also reveals the first recorded versions of two Ra standards, "Friendly Galaxy" and "Love in Outer Space." Accessible, yet segueing into vanguard territory, this album highlights a fertile period in the Arkestra's history. Looser and more aggressive than its Chicago recordings, these pieces find the Arkestra pushing at the limits of harmony and tonality.' Troy Collins
For the song by Harold Arden and Ted Koehler, see When the Sun Comes Out
When Angels Speak of Love is a music album by the American Jazz musician Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra. Originally released in 1966 on Sun Ra's own Saturn label, the record would have only been available by mail order or sold at Arkestra concerts, and is one of the rarest of all Saturn releases. The record was reissued on compact disc by Evidence in 2000.
Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy is an album by the American Jazz musician Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra recorded in 1963, but not released until 1967 on Sun Ra's own Saturn label. The record was reissued on compact disc by Evidence in 2000.
Holiday For Soul Dance is an album by the American jazz musician Sun Ra and his Intergalactic Arkestra recorded in Chicago, mid-1960 and originally released on his own Saturn label in 1970. The album was reissued by Evidence on Compact disc in 1992. Within Ra's catalogue, Holiday For Soul Dance is considered a bit of an oddity as it lacks any tracks written by Sun Ra, although a song written by Phil Cohran, the Arkestra's cornet player, is included. The record is one of a trio of albums recorded between 1959 and 1961, featuring jazz standards, that Ra released in the early 1970s. The others were Sound Sun Pleasure!! and Bad and Beautiful.