Auld Lang Syne: Sun Ra in Detroit (1981/82)

Thanks to Peter O. for sending along this little treat. Its Sun Ra &  His Cosmo-JetSet Arkestra in Detroit on New Year's eve, 1981 into '82. Enjoy...

Movie of the Week: Sun Ra - A Joyful Noise (1980)

Sun Ra: A Space Odyssey available next week

Fantastic Voyage Music and writer Kris Needs have teamed up once again to put together an ambitious, career spanning collection for the one & only Sun Ra. The three disc set begins with Ra's earliest recordings from the 1940's as a sideman, and traces his career right up to the end - from swing to the solar system!

A Space Odyssey: From Birmingham To The Big Apple – The Quest Begins will be available on CD and MP3 from next Monday. It can be ordered directly from the label here, or from Amazon here.

“Compiler Kris Needs has done a wonderful and rather important job, not so much in offering a good sample of classic period Sun Ra, but in repositioning his roots.” - WIRE

You may remember that we ran a great Top 10 80's Memories of New York City by Kris Needs about a year and half ago.

The word eclectic gets thrown around quite a bit. If there's one artist who truly deserves to be called eclectic, its Sun Ra. Here's one of my favorite related tracks which is included on disc one: The doowop "Dreaming" by The Cosmic Rays with Sun Ra and Arkestra:

Click here to reveal the track listing.

Movie of the Week: The Cry of Jazz with Sun Ra (1959)

Filmed in Chicago & finished in 1959, The Cry of Jazz is filmmaker, composer and arranger Edward O. Bland's polemical essay on the politics of music and race - a forecast of what he called "the death of jazz." A landmark moment in black film, foreseeing the civil unrest of subsequent decades, it also features the only known footage of visionary pianist Sun Ra from his beloved Chicago period. Featured are ample images of tenor saxophonist John Gilmore and the rest of Ra's Arkestra in Windy City nightclubs, all shot in glorious black & white. Rarely seen in cinemas, this is the first commercial release of The Cry of Jazz.

Buy the film on DVD here.



Hat tip to Dangerous Minds

Sun Ra business cards & ticket

These incredible images come courtesy of A Sound Awareness

Movie of the Week - Sun Ra, Brother From Another Planet

Hat tip to WFMU.

Beat Jazz Movie of the Week - Sun Ra

Before and After: Rocket No.9 Taking Off For Planet Venus

Before - Sun Ra & His Arkestra:


During - NRBQ:


After - Nectarine No.9: