Visits Planet Earth
''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 El Saturn Records, Saturn label in 1966, and was reissued on CD by Evidence Music, 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. Track listing 12" Vinyl All songs by Sun Ra unless otherwise noted; Side A: #"Planet Earth" - (4.54) #"Eve" - (5.35) #"Overtones of China" - (4.21) Side B: #"Reflections in Blue" - (5.55) #"Two Tones" (Patrick, Davis) - (3.36) #"El Viktor" - (2.28) #"Saturn" - (3.55) The sides were switched for the Evidence reissue, as well as being coupled with the album ''Interstellar Low Ways''. Musicians On ''Reflections In Blue'', ''Two Tones'', ''El Viktor'' and ''Saturn'', recorde ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sun Ra
Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific output, and theatrical performances. For much of his career, Ra led "The Arkestra", an ensemble with an ever-changing name and flexible line-up. Born and raised in Alabama, Blount became involved in the Chicago jazz scene during the late 1940s. He soon abandoned his birth name, taking the name Le Sony'r Ra, shortened to Sun Ra (after Ra, the Egyptian god of the Sun). Claiming to be an alien from Saturn on a mission to preach peace, he developed a mythical persona and an idiosyncratic credo that made him a pioneer of Afrofuturism. Throughout his life he denied ties to his prior identity saying, "Any name that I use other than Ra is a pseudonym." His widely eclectic and avant-garde music echoed the entire history of jazz, from ragtime and ea ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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John Gilmore (musician)
John Gilmore (September 28, 1931 – August 20, 1995) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and percussionist. He was known for his tenure with the avant-garde keyboardist/bandleader Sun Ra from the 1950s to the 1990s. Biography Gilmore was raised in Chicago and played clarinet from the age of 14. He took up the tenor saxophone while serving in the United States Air Force from 1948 through 1951. He then pursued a musical career, beginning as a tenor saxophonist on a national tour with the Harlem Globetrotters in an ensemble that included pianist Earl Hines in 1952. In 1953 Gilmore met pianist and bandleader Sun Ra who had a profound impact on him as a musician. For the next four decades, he recorded and performed almost exclusively with Sun Ra; first as a trio, and then in the band Arkestra. This was puzzling to some, who noted Gilmore's talent, and thought he could be a major star like John Coltrane or Sonny Rollins. Despite being five years older than Gilmore, Colt ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1966 Albums
Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo is deposed by a military coup in the Republic of Upper Volta (modern-day Burkina Faso). * January 10 ** Pakistani–Indian peace negotiations end successfully with the signing of the Tashkent Declaration, a day before the sudden death of Indian prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. ** The House of Representatives of the US state of Georgia refuses to allow African-American representative Julian Bond to take his seat, because of his anti-war stance. ** A Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference convenes in Lagos, Nigeria, primarily to discuss Rhodesia. * January 12 – United States President Lyndon Johnson states that the United States should stay in South Vietnam until Communist aggression there is ended. * January 15 – 1966 Nigeria ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sun Ra Albums
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radiation, and is the most important source of energy for life on Earth. The Sun's radius is about , or 109 times that of Earth. Its mass is about 330,000 times that of Earth, comprising about 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System. Roughly three-quarters of the Sun's mass consists of hydrogen (~73%); the rest is mostly helium (~25%), with much smaller quantities of heavier elements, including oxygen, carbon, neon, and iron. The Sun is a G-type main-sequence star (G2V). As such, it is informally, and not completely accurately, referred to as a yellow dwarf (its light is actually white). It formed approximately 4.6 billionAll numbers in this article are short scale. One billion is 109, or 1,000,000,000. years ago from the gravitat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sun Ra Discography
The Sun Ra discography is one of the largest discographies in music history. Jazz keyboardist, bandleader and composer Sun Ra recorded dozens of singles and over one hundred full-length albums, comprising well over 1,000 songs, and making him one of the most prolific recording artists of the 20th century. History His own El Saturn Records albums were usually printed in editions of 75 copies per album, and were sold primarily at live performances. 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. Despite the technological limitations, Ra used some innovative recording techniques, and these recordings provided an unprecedented level of documentation, and were inspirational in showing how artists could take control of the means of production and distribution of their works. Prior to the 1970s, most of these albums were produced in Chicago through the "El Saturn Records Research" enterprise established by Ra and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ronnie Boykins
Ronald Boykins (December 17, 1935 – April 20, 1980) was a jazz bassist and is best known for his work with pianist/bandleader Sun Ra, although he had played with such disparate musicians as Muddy Waters, Johnny Griffin, and Jimmy Witherspoon prior to joining Sun Ra's Arkestra. Biography Like his fellow Sun Ra bandmates, John Gilmore and Pat Patrick, Boykins attended Chicago's DuSable High School and studied under its famed music teacher "Captain" Walter Dyett. He also studied with Ernie Shepard, who would later work with Duke Ellington. Boykins joined the Arkestra in 1958, during the Chicago period, and travelled with them to Canada and then to New York City. Boykins has been described as "the pivot around which much of Sun Ra's music revolved for eight years, as well as one of the most determining elements in the sound of the Arkestra." This is especially pronounced on the key recordings from 1965 ('' The Magic City'', '' The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume One'' and ''T ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Marshall Allen
Marshall Belford Allen (born May 25, 1924) is an American free jazz and avant-garde jazz alto saxophone player. He also performs on flute, oboe, piccolo, and EWI (an electronic valve instrument made by Steiner, Crumar company). Allen is best known for his work with Sun Ra, having recorded and performed mostly in this context since the late 1950s, and having led The Sun Ra Arkestra since 1993, after Sun Ra's death. Critic Jason Ankeny describes Marshall as "one of the most distinctive and original saxophonists of the postwar era." Biography Marshall Allen was born in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. During the Second World War he enlisted in the 92nd Infantry Division and was stationed in France. Allen studied alto saxophone in Paris and played in Europe with Art Simmons and James Moody. He is best known for his mastery of pyrotechnic effects on the alto – he has said that he "wanted to play on a broader sound basis rather than on chords" (1971 interview with Tam Fi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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James Spaulding
James Ralph Spaulding Jr. (born July 30, 1937) is an American jazz saxophonist and flutist. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, United states, Spaulding attended the Chicago Cosmopolitan School of Music. Between 1957 and 1961, he was a member of Sun Ra's band. In the 1960s, he worked as a studio musician at Blue Note Records, recording with Wayne Shorter, Horace Silver, and Stanley Turrentine. He was also a member of Freddie Hubbard's quintet and the World Saxophone Quartet. He went on to work with some post-bop musicians such as Max Roach, Randy Weston and Woody Shaw. Under the leadership of Mercer Ellington, in the 1970s, Spaulding played in the Duke Ellington Orchestra. In the 1980s, Spaulding worked with Ricky Ford and, as part of an octet, with David Murray. Discography As leader * 1976: ''James Spaulding Plays the Legacy of Duke Ellington'' ( Storyville) * 1988: '' Gotstabe a Better Way!'' (Muse) * 1988: ''Brilliant Corners'' (Muse) * 1991: '' Songs of Courage'' (Muse) * 1993 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Victor Sproles
Victor Sproles (November 18, 1927 in Chicago – May 13, 2005) was an American jazz bassist. Sproles worked in the 1950s with Red Rodney and Ira Sullivan and appears on the Sun Ra recordings '' Super-Sonic Jazz'', '' Sound of Joy'' and '' Deep Purple''. In 1957 he appeared on the Verve recording ''Stan Meets Chet'' with Stan Getz and Chet Baker. In 1960 he joined Johnny Griffin's Big Soul Band and in 1961 played in Muhal Richard Abrams' Experimental Band. In 1964 he joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, recording the album SMake It'' for Limelight; Lee Morgan and his old Sun Ra bandmate John Gilmore were in the group. He recorded two more albums with the Messengers after Gilmore left. He subsequently appeared Lee Morgan's Blue Note albums '' The Rumproller'' and ''The Sixth Sense''. In 1974 he played in Clark Terry's big band and appeared on Buddy DeFranco's album ''Free Fall''. Discography *1955: ''Modern Music from Chicago'' — Red Rodney with Ira Sullivan (ts, t), ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Charles Davis (saxophonist)
Charles Davis (May 20, 1933 – July 15, 2016) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Davis played alto, tenor and baritone saxophone, and performed extensively with Archie Shepp and Sun Ra. Biography Born in Goodman, Mississippi, Davis was raised in Chicago. After being sent to boarding school at St Benedict's in Milwaukee, he graduated from DuSable High School before studying at the Chicago School of Music. Davis also studied privately with John Hauser. During the 1950s, he played with Billie Holiday, Ben Webster, Sun Ra and Dinah Washington. Davis also performed and recorded with Kenny Dorham, with whom he associated musically for many years. During the 1960s, he performed and recorded with Elvin Jones, Jimmy Garrison, Illinois Jacquet, Freddie Hubbard, Johnny Griffin, Steve Lacy and Ahmad Jamal, also working with Blue Mitchell, Erskine Hawkins, John Coltrane and Clifford Jordan. In 1964, Davis topped ''DownBeat'' magazine's International Jazz Critics Poll for bariton ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pat Patrick (musician)
Laurdine Kenneth "Pat" Patrick Jr. (November 23, 1929 – December 31, 1991) was an American jazz musician and composer. He played baritone saxophone, alto saxophone, and Fender bass and was known for his 40-year association with Sun Ra. His son, Deval Patrick, was formerly governor of Massachusetts. Early life Patrick was born in East Moline, Illinois, to Laverne and Laurdine Kenneth Patrick His father (1905–2001), a native of Kansas, worked as an iron moulder at a factory at the time of his son's birth. Patrick first learned piano, drums, and trumpet as a child, and then switched to saxophones. He attended and studied music at DuSable High School in Chicago, where he met future bassist Richard Davis and future saxophonists John Gilmore and Clifford Jordan. Patrick was baritone saxophonist for the Regal Theater's house band while still at school. "In 1949 he enrolled at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, but he soon returned to the Chicago area to study at Wils ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major form of musical expression in traditional and popular music. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, complex chords, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation. Jazz has roots in European harmony and African rhythmic rituals. As jazz spread around the world, it drew on national, regional, and local musical cultures, which gave rise to different styles. New Orleans jazz began in the early 1910s, combining earlier brass band marches, French quadrilles, biguine, ragtime and blues with collective polyphonic improvisation. But jazz did not begin as a single musical tradition in New Orleans or elsewhere. In the 1930s, arranged dance-oriented swing big bands, Kansas City jazz (a hard-swinging, bluesy, improvisationa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |