1 Early Life

Very little is known about his early life; much of it was obscured by Sun Ra himself. He even went so far as to deny his name had ever been "Herman Blount."

He demonstrated an early talent for piano, studying both performance and arrangements in his youth. Blount played professionally as early as 1932, touring throughout the southern and midwestern United States with various blues, jazz and R&B performers. Blount joined a musicians' union in 1934, and relocated to Chicago at about that time. He was intermittetly leading his own groups by the early 1940s.

(One observation of Sun Ra's piano technique notes that "His piano style ranged across a variety of influences, including blues, Count Basie's bounce, Thelonious Monk's dissonance and a degree of European impressionism." [1])

Blount was drafted during World War 2 (October, 1942). He filed as a conscientious objector, noting his religious objections to war, and a chronic hernia, and spent five weeks in jail before being transferred to a Civilian Public Service Camp in Pennsylvania. There, in March, 1943 he was decared physically unable to serve due to his hernia. [2] Though he never divulged details, Blount reported he had been treated poorly when in jail.

His early musical career included stints as an arranger and performer with Wynonie Harris and Fletcher Henderson, both about 1946. Sun Ra's arrangements for Henderson initially showed a degree of bebop influence, but the band members resisited the new music, despite Henderson's encouragement.

In 1948, Sun Ra performed briefly in a trio with Coleman Hawkins and Stuff Smith, both preeminent swing-era musicians.

Sun Ra's speech and mannerisms were seen by some as effeminate, and there was specualtion that he was homosexual. Others, however, discounted such ideas, noting that Sun Ra seemed to have no interest in any sort of romantic or sexual relationships. When asked directly why he had never married, Sun Ra paraphrased the Gospel of St. Matthew, stating, "They neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like angels that shine forth like the sun."

Sun Ra's musical development can be loosely categorized into three periods: The 1950s, the 1960s, and the 1970s and later.

2 1950s

Sun Ra's recording career as a bandleader began in Chicago, in the early 1950s.

The first period of the 1950s was when his music evolved from big-band Swing into the outer space-themed "cosmic jazz" for which he was best known. Music critics and jazz historians say some of his best work was recorded during this period. Sun Ra's music in this era was often tightly arranged, and sometimes reminiscent of Duke Ellington's ensembles. There were, however, hints of the experimentalism that would dominate his later music.

Even from his earliest recordings, Sun Ra's band was centered around three talented saxophonists: Marshall Allen, John Gilmore and Pat Patrick. Each would devote over forty years to Sun Ra's bands.

By 1952, his "cosmic philosophy" was developed, and Blount had legally changed his name to "Le Sony'r Ra." Some have argued this is similar to " Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali ... drop(ing) their slave names in the process of attaining a new self-awareness and self-esteem(.)" [3]

It was during the late 1950s that Sun Ra and his band began wearing the outlandish, Egyptian-styled and/or science fiction-themed costumes and headdresses they would be known for.

Notable Sun Ra albums from the 1950s include Sun Ra Visits Planet Earth, Interstellar Low Ways, Angels And Demons At Play, We Travel The Spaceways, and Jazz In Silhouette (among many others).

3 1960s

The Arkestra moved to New York City from Chicago in 1961. They initially had trouble finding performance venues, and began living communally due to New York's higher cost of living.

This move also found the Arkestra's sound change signifigantly: Sun Ra's music underwent a chaotic, free jazz-influenced experimental period. Recordings and live performances often featured extended free improvisation passages. Seeking to broaden his compositional possibilities, Sun Ra insisted all band members double on various percussion instruments--predating world music by drawing on various ethnic musics--and most saxophonists began performing on another instrument or two, such as flute, oboe or clarinets.

In this era, Ra was among the first of any musicians to make extensive use of synthesizers and other various electronic instruments.

It was during this period that his popularity reached its peak, as the " beat generation" and the early psychedelic era embraced him.

Newcomers to Ra's music may have difficulty with his albums of this era;these recordings may seem noisy or chaotic. Notable titles from this period include The Magic City, When Sun Comes Out, The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume One and Other Planes Of There.

In the late 1960s, Sun Ra and the Arkestra relocated to Philadelphia, which remained their base of operations until Sun Ra's death.

4 1970s and later

During their third period, beginning in the 1970s and onward, Sun Ra and the Arkestra settled down into a relatively conventional sound, often incorporating swing standards, though their records and concerts were still highly eclectic and energetic.

In 1971, Sun Ra was artist-in-residence at UC Berkeley, in Berkeley, California. He taught a course called "The Black Man In The Cosmos." Rather few students enrolled, but the classes were often full of curious persons from the surrounding community. One half-hour of each class was devoted to a lecture, the other half-hour to an Arkestra performance or Sun Ra keyboard solo. Reading lists included the works of Madame Blavatsky and Henry Dumas , the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Alexander Hislip 's Two Babylons, The Book of Oahspe and assorted volumes concerning Egyptian hieroglyphs, African American folklore and other topics.

In 1972, Sun Ra fulfilled a long-standing desire by performing with the Arkestra at ancient Egyptian pyramids. [4]

Ra took a liking to the films of Walt Disney. He incorporated smatterings of Disney's musical numbers into many of his performances from then on. In the late 1980s the Arkestra even performed a concert at Walt Disney World. The Arkestra's version of "Pink Elephants on Parade" is available on Stay Awake, a compilation of Disney tunes by many artists.

A number of Sun Ra's 1970s concerts are available on CD, but none have received a wide release in comparison to his earlier music. The album Atlantis can be considered the landmark that led into his 1970s era.

On May 20, 1978, Sun Ra and the Arksestra appeared on Saturday Night Live.

Even after a stroke in the late 1980s, Sun Ra kept composing, performing and leading the Arkestra. Sonic Youth opened a few concerts for Sun Ra shortly before his death on May 30, 1992.

5 The Arkestra Continues

The Arkestra continues to tour and perform as of May 2004. First directed by John Gilmore, then after his death, by alto saxophone player Marshall Allen who celebrated his 80th birthday on stage during an Arkestra performance at the Vision Festival in New York City.

6 Legacy and Influence

While some of Sun Ra's experiments may be seen as noble failures, many other innovations remain important: "Ra was one of the first jazz leaders to use two basses, to employ the electric bass, to play electronic keyboards, to use extensive percussion and polyrhythms, to explore modal music and to pioneer solo and group freeform improvisations. In addition, he made his mark in the wider cultural context: he proclaimed the African origins of jazz, reaffirmed pride in black history and reasserted the spiritual and mystical dimensions of music (all important factors in the black cultural/political renaissance of the 60s)." [5]

Other Influence:

• George Clinton of P-funk fame based many of his early ideas ("Cosmic Slop") on Sun Ra.

• Ken Vandermark leads a trio called Spaceways Inc. --titled after a Sun Ra song--which regualarly performs Sun Ra compositions.

• Trey Anastasio of Phish organised a recording session called Surrender to the Air. While not an overt Sun Ra tribute, it does feature several Arkestra members performing a suite very similar to much of Ra's music.

• In 2002, Yo La Tengo released a single consisting of four versions of Sun Ra's song "Nuclear War."

7 Discography

Sun Ra's discography is vast and sometimes confusing.

During his career Sun Ra recorded over one hundred albums; many of them were printed on microlabels. His own "Saturn Records" were usually printed in editions of 75 copies per album, and were sold primarily at live performances. Most were hand-decorated by Arkestra members, and these LP records sometimes sell for high prices among collectors.

These Saturn Records releases typically had little or no information as to performers or recording dates, leading to some confusion among completists and fans.

Many of Sun Ra's early albums were recorded at home by Ra himself on wire or early tape recorders, and are decidedly lo-fi.

In the 1990s, after Sun Ra had "left this plane of existence," as he might say, many of his recordings were released on compact disc for the first time by Evidence Records or Ihnfinity Music .

8 Musicians

Certainly dozens--perhaps hundreds--of musicians passed through Sun Ra's bands over the years. Some stayed with him for decades, while others made only a few recordings or performances.

The following is a list of notable, long-term musical collaborators and the eras in which they played with Sun Ra and/or the Arkestra:

• Marshall Allen, saxophone (1950s - present)
• Ronnie Boykins , double bass (1950s - 1960s)
• James Jacson , bassoon
• John Gilmore, saxophone (1950s - 1990s)
• Eloe Omoe , bass clarinet
• Pat Patrick, saxophone (1950s - 1990s)
• Julian Priester , trombone (1950s, 1980s - 1990s)
• June Tyson, vocals

9 Documentaries, Motion Pictures and Biographies

Sun Ra and his Arkestra were the subject of a documentary film made in 1972 and a feature film entitled Space Is The Place in 1974. The soundtrack, also by Sun Ra, is available on CD.

To date, Space Is the Place: The Lives and Times of Sun Ra by John F. Szwed is probably the definitive biography.

10 Recommended Recordings

Some recommended albums (by no means all-inclusive): Atlantis, Supersonic Jazz, Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy, We Travel the Spaceways, Singles, Languidity, The Magic City.

11 External links

• Sun Ra and his Intergalactic Harmonies
• Space is the Place-Japanese translation
• Saturn Web: Sun Ra, the Arkestra & Free Jazz

Sun Ra, Ra, Sun Sun Ra, Sun Ra, Sun Ra, Sun Ra,

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