By his mid-teens he was performing semi-professionally as a solo pianist, as well as working with a number of jazz and R&B groups. A skilled pianist as a child, Sonny (as he was then nicknamed) was composing and sight reading music by the age of 11 or 12. There are several books about Sun Ra, but John Szwed’s Space Is The Place: The Lives And Times Of Sun Ra is an indispensable depiction of an extraordinary life.
Sun Ra’s spaceship, returning to Earth after years away exploring the outer reaches, is “powered by music”, as one would rightly expect. The scene in which an out of work, white male NASA employee tries to impress Sun Ra with his knowledge of space in the hope of gaining employment, and fails dismally, is one of many highlights this low-budget, high concept classic. Watching John Coney’s 1974 Afrofuturist science-fiction film Space Is The Place is also highly recommended. From Sun Ra sitting outside the White House saying “They can’t have a White House without a Black House”, to James Jacson’s description of how they made the Lightning Wood Infinity Drum (from a lightning felled tree opposite the Sun Ra house in Philadelphia), this is a brilliant portrait of the band as it was then and an invaluably succinct look at his philosophy and the motivations of some of the many wonderful musicians who worked with him.Īnyone who has seen the Arkestra play during recent years, should keep a look out for a very young Knoel Scott in the scene of the band playing wildly on the rooftop near the beginning of the film. TQ’s own John Doran said to me once: “I didn't listen to Sun Ra for years because someone played me Media Dreams and it put me off for decades.” That such a situation, as anyone who has experienced it and then later had a chance to recant will agree, might remain a permanent barrier to enjoying Sun Ra’s music is a potential tragedy that is best avoided with some helpful pointers.įor those wanting to jump straight in, Robert Mugge’s wonderful 1980 documentary, A Joyful Noise can be found on YouTube. When I interviewed Thurston Moore and John Sinclair about Sun Ra in 2014 for this site, Moore described opening up a new Sun Ra record and the fact of not knowing whether it would be a “fully wonderful, amazing ensemble recording” or something like sounded like Sun Ra doing the vacuuming, as one of the ‘joys’ of collecting his music.įor the uninitiated however, starting in a place that might discourage further investigation is a highly likely possibility.
0 kommentar(er)
