Ronnie Boykins

The Will Come, Is Now
ESP 1099

Sun Ra

Featuring Pharoah Sanders & Black Harold

ESP 4054

Reissued and newly discovered sounds by composer/bandleader Sun Ra [1914-1993] are helping to fill gaps in his massive oeuvre and present a more complete picture of his activities. These two exceptional discs for instance, recorded a decade apart by a distinct Ra Arkestra and a valued member of his organization reveal additional – and unexpected – facets of Ra’s musical life.

Paradoxically, each suggests that despite his extraterrestrial trappings, the loquacious Ra may have actually been only as avant-garde as Duke Ellington, who similarly was never at a loss for words. Featuring Pharoah Sanders & Black Harold for example, combines previously un-issued and spottily distributed 1964 tracks that showcase musicians who otherwise didn’t play with the Arkestra. In this way the sessions are not unlike radio air checks that capture the work of unrecorded Ellington bands of the 1940s. Similar to what those slabs of the Ducal canon also reveal, the tracks prove that no matter how powerful the presence of tenor saxophonist Sanders – subbing for John Gilmore who had joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers – and log drummer/flutist Black Harold (Murray) – who would reappear for a time in the 1990s in Chicago’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble – is, their contributions don’t really modify Ra’s singular and mercurial vision.

Recorded in 1975, The Will Come, Is Now is the only disc led by bassist Ronnie Boykins [1935-1980], whose strength propelled the Arkestra from the later 1950s to mid-1960s. It raises yet another Ellington-related question. Like leadership forays by Ellington saxophonist Johnny Hodges and others which remained beholden to Ellington’s sound without playing any of his compositions, could it be, as scholars have observed about Ellington, that some of Ra set pieces actually arose from musical ideas his sidemen contributed? Certainly this CD’s six tracks played by a septet – the other members of which had no experience with Sun Ra – features sounds, music and the song titles, all written by Boykins, that have an unmistakable Arkestral cast.

George Avaloz’s conga, bells and shaker timbres plus Art Lewis’ percussion and drum beats that are audible throughout – not to mention Boykins’ vigorous bass underpinning – eerily evoke Ra small-band sessions as accurately as solo LPs by Hodges, or Rex Stewart among others, did Ellingtonia. Take a piece such as “Dawn Is Evening, Afternoon”, which cognitively layers surging reed passages on top of positioned drum press rolls and conga bumps. It sure sounds like a leaf from the Ra band book. More crucially however – and in a different fashion – Boykins’ unheralded but professional front line of trombonist Daoud Haroom and saxophonists Monty Waters, Jimmy Vass and Joe Ferguson easily take the sped-up and fragmented tempo changes in stride. Even the faux Oriental measures that at points place vamping horn exposition on top of Boykins’ walking bass don’t faze their close interaction.

This mixture of Bebop and Exotica is obvious throughout the CD. Squeals and snorts from Waters – who died just recently – and stinging counter lines from Vass, for instance, often make common cause with the berimbau-like shakes and bell ringing from the percussionists.

Boykins presents his own variation on post-modernism here as well. “Starlight At The Wonder Inn”, which named for a Chicago club where the Arkestra frequently had a residency, features a low-pitched, mellow string exploration by the bassist that actually seems to be Ellington’s “Prelude to a Kiss” rather than an original melody – a trope reminiscent of Ra’s performances with their frequent interpolation of quotes from other tunes. At the same time as the bassist’s expressive low-pitched intonation is exposed, Vass responds with sharp asides and the drummer with tough whacks and strokes. Boykins’ time-keeping skill is so impressive, in fact, than it’s obvious why in later years the Arkestra would often go for a protracted period without a bassist if Ra couldn’t find someone to properly replicate Boykins’ role

Happily Boykins is a member of the 16-piece Arkestra on Featuring Pharoah Sanders & Black Harold. Yet for added string heft the live date also includes second bassist Alan Silva, whose experience stretches from stints with Albert Ayler and Cecil Taylor at the New Thing’s birth to cerebral sound stretching with the likes of British drummer Roger Turner and German trombonist Johannes Bauer in this century.

The most obvious exposure of the bass tag team is on “The Now Tomorrow”. In double counterpoint, one plays lanky sul tasto lines and the other answers with staccato shuffle bowing. A pseudo-ballad, at the top the piece includes doubled, piercing flute arpeggios, an unidentified mid-range chord that could come from either a string struck col legno or an oboe played moderato [!] and an extro that simultaneously involves pitched boogie-woogie-styled cadences on the piano and ringing celeste timbres.

Reassuringly familiar yet completely unique – like Ellington’s best work – Ra shapes the Klangfarbenmelodie through sudden twists and turns with looming multi-horn space chord explosions at one point and Africanized percussion forays or scrubbed string expositions elsewhere. A track like “Discipline 9” for example, whose impressionistic polyphony is built on sliding piano harmonies, at first appears to be an Ellingtonian or Mingusian-styled tone poem. Yet the middle section exposes an off-key vocalization of “We Travel the Spaceways”, while the drummers sound a shuffle beat and Ra clanks the keys as if he was playing for a beginner’s dance class. Finally among the clave and wood block chatter, friction and scrapes emerge with otherworldly intonation that can probably be traced back to Art Jenkins’ space voice.

Sanders’ almost patented overblowing, vocalization and altissimo shrieks are most clearly expressed on “The Other World” plus “The World Shadow” and its two affiliated extensions. But even here, he’s just one voice among many. Pat Patrick’s honking baritone saxophone is as prominent on the first tune, along with plunger puffs and darting sharp-toned triplets from trumpeters Al Evans and Chris Capers, plus gutbucket blats from trombonist Teddy Nance. With Ra nothing is simple however, so before the finale kicks in, the composition has gone through two further variations. Modulating through a Swing Era-style vamp, the background behind Patrick growls is transformed with double-gaited rhythms that not only show off call-and-response facility of the two trap-set drummers, but involve paradiddles, smacks, press rolls knocked out by nearly every musician playing percussion as well as Murray’s log drum textures.

This combination of kit and log drum pounding is also apparent on “The World Shadow”, along with Sanders vociferous screams and hocketing timbres, while Ra’s pianism half relates to Thelonious Monk and half to Cow Cow Davenport. Then, hard metallic clanging from cymbals, gongs and the like replace deep-dish percussion, Cat Anderson-like trumpet triplets become more obvious than the saxophone riffs and the choked, warbling space voice leads in to “Rocket Number 9” taken as another boogie-woogie. Before the miniature suite rappels downwards to dimuendo at the end of “The Voice of Pan” with log drumming following a gentling flute break, Sanders and Marshall Allen lock saxophones in a showdown worthy of Ellington sax battle by exuberant stars such as Paul Gonsalves. Glottal punctuation, double-quick cries and key pops issue from both horns with no differentiated or diminishing in reed strength from them or the other saxophonists who eventually join the fray.

Filled with exhilarating performances, this CD adds another notable session to the Ra cannon. Plus like an Ellington-tinged small group effort by the Duke’s closest associates, Boykins’ set not only provides equally memorable music, but a glimpse of the influences on and influences from Ra.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Black: 1. Cosmic Interpretation 2. The Other World 3. The Second Star is Jupiter 4. The Now Tomorrow 5. Discipline 9 6. Gods on a Safari 7. The World Shadow 8. Rocket Number 9 9. The Voice of Pan 10. Dawn Over Israel 11. Space Mates

Personnel: Black: Chris Capers (trumpet); Al Evans (trumpet and flugelhorn); Teddy Nance (trombone); Bernard Pettaway (bass trombone); Marshall Allen and Danny Davis (alto saxophones); Pharoah Sanders (tenor saxophone); Pat Patrick (baritone saxophone); Robert Cummings (bass clarinet); Black Harold [Murray] (flute and log drum); Sun Ra (piano and celeste) Alan Silva and Ronnie Boykins (bass); Clifford Jarvis and Jimmhi Johnson (drums) and Art Jenkins (space voice)

Track Listing: Will: 1. The Will Come, Is Now 2. Starlight At The Wonder Inn 3. Demon's Dance 4. Dawn Is Evening, Afternoon 5. Tipping On Heels 6. The Third I

Personnel: Will: Daoud Haroom (trombone, bells, shaker); Monty Waters (alto and soprano saxophones, bells and shaker); Jimmy Vass (flute, alto and soprano saxophones, bells and shaker); Joe Ferguson (flute, soprano and tenor saxophone and shaker); Ronnie Boykins (bass, sousaphone, bells and shaker); Art Lewis (percussion, drums, bells, shaker) and George Avaloz (conga, bells and shaker)

July 24, 2009

Sun Ra

Featuring Pharoah Sanders & Black Harold
ESP 4054

Ronnie Boykins

The Will Come, Is Now

ESP 1099

Reissued and newly discovered sounds by composer/bandleader Sun Ra [1914-1993] are helping to fill gaps in his massive oeuvre and present a more complete picture of his activities. These two exceptional discs for instance, recorded a decade apart by a distinct Ra Arkestra and a valued member of his organization reveal additional – and unexpected – facets of Ra’s musical life.

Paradoxically, each suggests that despite his extraterrestrial trappings, the loquacious Ra may have actually been only as avant-garde as Duke Ellington, who similarly was never at a loss for words. Featuring Pharoah Sanders & Black Harold for example, combines previously un-issued and spottily distributed 1964 tracks that showcase musicians who otherwise didn’t play with the Arkestra. In this way the sessions are not unlike radio air checks that capture the work of unrecorded Ellington bands of the 1940s. Similar to what those slabs of the Ducal canon also reveal, the tracks prove that no matter how powerful the presence of tenor saxophonist Sanders – subbing for John Gilmore who had joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers – and log drummer/flutist Black Harold (Murray) – who would reappear for a time in the 1990s in Chicago’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble – is, their contributions don’t really modify Ra’s singular and mercurial vision.

Recorded in 1975, The Will Come, Is Now is the only disc led by bassist Ronnie Boykins [1935-1980], whose strength propelled the Arkestra from the later 1950s to mid-1960s. It raises yet another Ellington-related question. Like leadership forays by Ellington saxophonist Johnny Hodges and others which remained beholden to Ellington’s sound without playing any of his compositions, could it be, as scholars have observed about Ellington, that some of Ra set pieces actually arose from musical ideas his sidemen contributed? Certainly this CD’s six tracks played by a septet – the other members of which had no experience with Sun Ra – features sounds, music and the song titles, all written by Boykins, that have an unmistakable Arkestral cast.

George Avaloz’s conga, bells and shaker timbres plus Art Lewis’ percussion and drum beats that are audible throughout – not to mention Boykins’ vigorous bass underpinning – eerily evoke Ra small-band sessions as accurately as solo LPs by Hodges, or Rex Stewart among others, did Ellingtonia. Take a piece such as “Dawn Is Evening, Afternoon”, which cognitively layers surging reed passages on top of positioned drum press rolls and conga bumps. It sure sounds like a leaf from the Ra band book. More crucially however – and in a different fashion – Boykins’ unheralded but professional front line of trombonist Daoud Haroom and saxophonists Monty Waters, Jimmy Vass and Joe Ferguson easily take the sped-up and fragmented tempo changes in stride. Even the faux Oriental measures that at points place vamping horn exposition on top of Boykins’ walking bass don’t faze their close interaction.

This mixture of Bebop and Exotica is obvious throughout the CD. Squeals and snorts from Waters – who died just recently – and stinging counter lines from Vass, for instance, often make common cause with the berimbau-like shakes and bell ringing from the percussionists.

Boykins presents his own variation on post-modernism here as well. “Starlight At The Wonder Inn”, which named for a Chicago club where the Arkestra frequently had a residency, features a low-pitched, mellow string exploration by the bassist that actually seems to be Ellington’s “Prelude to a Kiss” rather than an original melody – a trope reminiscent of Ra’s performances with their frequent interpolation of quotes from other tunes. At the same time as the bassist’s expressive low-pitched intonation is exposed, Vass responds with sharp asides and the drummer with tough whacks and strokes. Boykins’ time-keeping skill is so impressive, in fact, than it’s obvious why in later years the Arkestra would often go for a protracted period without a bassist if Ra couldn’t find someone to properly replicate Boykins’ role

Happily Boykins is a member of the 16-piece Arkestra on Featuring Pharoah Sanders & Black Harold. Yet for added string heft the live date also includes second bassist Alan Silva, whose experience stretches from stints with Albert Ayler and Cecil Taylor at the New Thing’s birth to cerebral sound stretching with the likes of British drummer Roger Turner and German trombonist Johannes Bauer in this century.

The most obvious exposure of the bass tag team is on “The Now Tomorrow”. In double counterpoint, one plays lanky sul tasto lines and the other answers with staccato shuffle bowing. A pseudo-ballad, at the top the piece includes doubled, piercing flute arpeggios, an unidentified mid-range chord that could come from either a string struck col legno or an oboe played moderato [!] and an extro that simultaneously involves pitched boogie-woogie-styled cadences on the piano and ringing celeste timbres.

Reassuringly familiar yet completely unique – like Ellington’s best work – Ra shapes the Klangfarbenmelodie through sudden twists and turns with looming multi-horn space chord explosions at one point and Africanized percussion forays or scrubbed string expositions elsewhere. A track like “Discipline 9” for example, whose impressionistic polyphony is built on sliding piano harmonies, at first appears to be an Ellingtonian or Mingusian-styled tone poem. Yet the middle section exposes an off-key vocalization of “We Travel the Spaceways”, while the drummers sound a shuffle beat and Ra clanks the keys as if he was playing for a beginner’s dance class. Finally among the clave and wood block chatter, friction and scrapes emerge with otherworldly intonation that can probably be traced back to Art Jenkins’ space voice.

Sanders’ almost patented overblowing, vocalization and altissimo shrieks are most clearly expressed on “The Other World” plus “The World Shadow” and its two affiliated extensions. But even here, he’s just one voice among many. Pat Patrick’s honking baritone saxophone is as prominent on the first tune, along with plunger puffs and darting sharp-toned triplets from trumpeters Al Evans and Chris Capers, plus gutbucket blats from trombonist Teddy Nance. With Ra nothing is simple however, so before the finale kicks in, the composition has gone through two further variations. Modulating through a Swing Era-style vamp, the background behind Patrick growls is transformed with double-gaited rhythms that not only show off call-and-response facility of the two trap-set drummers, but involve paradiddles, smacks, press rolls knocked out by nearly every musician playing percussion as well as Murray’s log drum textures.

This combination of kit and log drum pounding is also apparent on “The World Shadow”, along with Sanders vociferous screams and hocketing timbres, while Ra’s pianism half relates to Thelonious Monk and half to Cow Cow Davenport. Then, hard metallic clanging from cymbals, gongs and the like replace deep-dish percussion, Cat Anderson-like trumpet triplets become more obvious than the saxophone riffs and the choked, warbling space voice leads in to “Rocket Number 9” taken as another boogie-woogie. Before the miniature suite rappels downwards to dimuendo at the end of “The Voice of Pan” with log drumming following a gentling flute break, Sanders and Marshall Allen lock saxophones in a showdown worthy of Ellington sax battle by exuberant stars such as Paul Gonsalves. Glottal punctuation, double-quick cries and key pops issue from both horns with no differentiated or diminishing in reed strength from them or the other saxophonists who eventually join the fray.

Filled with exhilarating performances, this CD adds another notable session to the Ra cannon. Plus like an Ellington-tinged small group effort by the Duke’s closest associates, Boykins’ set not only provides equally memorable music, but a glimpse of the influences on and influences from Ra.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Black: 1. Cosmic Interpretation 2. The Other World 3. The Second Star is Jupiter 4. The Now Tomorrow 5. Discipline 9 6. Gods on a Safari 7. The World Shadow 8. Rocket Number 9 9. The Voice of Pan 10. Dawn Over Israel 11. Space Mates

Personnel: Black: Chris Capers (trumpet); Al Evans (trumpet and flugelhorn); Teddy Nance (trombone); Bernard Pettaway (bass trombone); Marshall Allen and Danny Davis (alto saxophones); Pharoah Sanders (tenor saxophone); Pat Patrick (baritone saxophone); Robert Cummings (bass clarinet); Black Harold [Murray] (flute and log drum); Sun Ra (piano and celeste) Alan Silva and Ronnie Boykins (bass); Clifford Jarvis and Jimmhi Johnson (drums) and Art Jenkins (space voice)

Track Listing: Will: 1. The Will Come, Is Now 2. Starlight At The Wonder Inn 3. Demon's Dance 4. Dawn Is Evening, Afternoon 5. Tipping On Heels 6. The Third I

Personnel: Will: Daoud Haroom (trombone, bells, shaker); Monty Waters (alto and soprano saxophones, bells and shaker); Jimmy Vass (flute, alto and soprano saxophones, bells and shaker); Joe Ferguson (flute, soprano and tenor saxophone and shaker); Ronnie Boykins (bass, sousaphone, bells and shaker); Art Lewis (percussion, drums, bells, shaker) and George Avaloz (conga, bells and shaker)

July 24, 2009

Sun Ra

Secrets of the Sun
Atavistic ALP 266 CD

Sun Ra

Live in Cleveland 1975

Golden Years of New Jazz GY 29

Sun Ra’s near-cultish status among some fans, means that, unlike the fanatical disciples such as Dean Benedetti, who preserved non-commercially released work of Charlie Parker and other major jazz figures, Ra material-hoarders number in the hundreds. Consequently previously unknown – or un-circulated – material turns up with increased regularity. Both of these sessions fit into that category.

While not indispensable, each exposes a different facet of the pianist/bandleader’s career. Live in Cleveland 1975 captures a 15-piece version of the Arkestra – heavy on the woodwinds and percussion and Ra’s electronic keyboards – running through new variations on a series of Ra classics – and some surprises. The punningly titled Secrets of the Sun on the other hand, recorded in 1962, showcases smaller Ra units, often involved with piecing together the first versions of soon-to-be notable tunes.

Many of the Arkestra soloists who defined the band’s music over the long-term are accounted for, including saxophonists Marshall Allen and John Gilmore (on both CDs) plus singer June Tyson (on Cleveland) and bassist Ronnie Boykins (on Secrets). Yet the most noteworthy sections of these discs showcase players with shorter Arkestra tenure, or are those tracks featuring usual instruments.

Without a listed traps drummer, for example, the majority of Cleveland’s selections depend for their rhythmic impetus on the electric bass ostinato of the little-known Dale Williams. It’s his relentless and powerful licks plus the clattering congas of Atakatune and Odun on “Enlightenment” and other tunes that pump a proper number of beats into the songs to allow solo freedom. “Enlightenment”, for instance, finds Ra shuddering out the theme on organ while Damon Choice provides ringing vibraphone counterpoint.

Meanwhile the “Friendly Galaxy 2 – I am the Brother of the Wind, I Pharaoh” medley is given an wholly individualistic reading, built on Williams’ pedal-point anchoring, sharp trumpet blasts and the gentle curved lines of five unison flutes. As the horns wrap rococo-like around his voice, Ra proclaims one of his futuristic pronouncements, the message of which is strengthened by tremolo polytones arising from braying brass and flute fripperies.

More predictably – for Ra and the Arkesatra at least – “Sophisticated Lady” is recast as a Swing freak-out, with chordal pumps from the entire band, hocketing plunger tones from the trumpets – going Cootie Williams or Rex Stewart one better – and a stand-out story-telling tenor saxophone solo from Gilmore. As for Ra, his piano playing jumps between high-frequency and triple timing – owing a lot more to Earl “Fatha” Hines than Duke Ellington.

Another scene-setting highpoint comes at the beginning of the program with an 11-minute version of “Astro Nation (of the United World in Outer Space)”. Replete with chants and vocalizing from Eddie Thomas, Tyson and Ra plus hand clapping and backing vocals from everyone, it pinpoints Ra’s rapprochement with the 1970s – mixed up with 1930s echoes. Need a comparison? Imagine if Motown’s Norman Whitfield had produced A Love Supreme if the band was Walter Page’s Blue Devils. Williams’ relentless ostinato is prominent here, but so are squawking split tones from Allen’s alto saxophone and Ra’s slithering Moog rushes and texture propelling. As the vocalization encompasses soulful R&B, pop-gospel and sanctified church call-and-response – with Ra as the preacher. At points the chants and shouts reference the Four Top’s Levi Stubbs in full cry, at others a Full Gospel choir.

Massed pop-gospel choirs, Whitfield-styled production and a Love Supreme were all in the future for Ra and company in 1962. But on evidence of the seven tracks on Secrets of the Sun the concepts which would take Arkestra aggregations from being jazz-dance bands to who-knows-whats was being worked out in a series of sound laboratory experiments at that time.

Like Williams 13 years later, Boykins’ connective pedal point is crucial to most of the performances, bonding a lot more than just the rhythm section. Aiding him are extended vamps from Gilmore and some hand drumming from Tommy Hunter. Art Jenkins’ “space voice” though, which emerged over the years in various forms in different Arkestra line-ups, is an acquired taste. On “Solar Differentials” for instance, he sounds as if he’s gargling and bubble-blowing rather than singing. His kazoo-like tones are only made palatable through Ra’s pseudo boogie-woogie key fanning and Boykins’ thumping beat.

C, Scoby Stroman, drummer on nearly all the tracks is another challenge. Never adverse to take a flashy and thickly pulsed solo that emphasized rolls, flams and chinging cymbal work, his style is an extension of Max Roach’s and Art Blakey’s. As exceptional as that percussion sound may have been for Hard Bop, Ra’s mystical originality and a mishmash of Space Age sensibility demand something far different.

Stroman – aided by Hunter’s percussion – does introduce irregularly pitched rolls and drags on “Reflects Motion” while Ra lays out some kinetic, Cecil Taylor-styled dynamics. But as the piece develops with Gilmore overblowing and sliding theme variations up to altissimo and down again, Ra is wise enough to limit his contributions to comping. Meanwhile the drags, rebounds and clattering cymbals from the percussion section suggest a Perez Prado-performed Beatnik movie soundtrack – all of which is more than a bit distracting, considering what the saxophonist is doing upfront.

One of the few guitarists to ever be featured with Ra, Calvin Newborn also exhibits a stance wedded to the American present not the cosmos. On “Friendly Galaxy”, for instance, his electrified licks and Allen’s or Pat Patrick’s Frank Wess-style fluting mated with Hunter’s tympanis merely creates a version of Exotica.

Furthermore, although memorable and lively, the over-17½ -minute “Flight to Mars” magnifies these undigested jazz-to-mysticism transitions even more. Ra-centric in that it mixes march tempo, rocket-launch intimations and chants, it’s more Bebop in Space than Arkestra by definition. Stroman’s cynosure rhythms have him laying into the traps, ranging over the kit in showy solos as if he is a mutation of Roach and Buddy Rich combined. Allen contributes double-tongued flute peeps, and during his andante arpeggios Ra evidently can’t decide whether to be Errol Garner or Hines. The situation gets more inchoate later on as the otherwise reliable Boykins suddenly begins channeling Slam Stewart. He saws his strings into col legno double-stopping ending in a contrapuntal face off with Gilmore’s sax runs. Meanwhile Newborn’s chromatic single-string licks begin working themselves backwards from Wes Montgomery emulations to Charlie Christian-like twangs. A summation series of octave jumps and runs from Ra – with Boykins seconding him – prevent the tune from dissolving into expected cliché of shout choruses and trading fours, but before Ra redefines the situation, apparently the tape ran out and the music unexpectedly ends..

Not the recommended starting point for those new to Ra, these CDs will still give pleasure to listeners who haven’t been exposed to many of Ra and the Arkestra's discs. The sessions will also probably be treasured and examined with Talmudic concentration by convinced Ra completists.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Secrets: 1. Friendly Galaxy 2. Solar Differentials 3. Space Aura 4. Love in Outer Space 5. Reflects Motion 6. Solar Symbols 7. Flight to Mars

Personnel: Secrets: (collective) Al Evans (flugelhorn); Eddie Gale (trumpet); Marshall Allen (alto saxophone, flute, morrow and percussion); John Gilmore (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, space bird sounds, space drums and vocal); Pat Patrick (baritone saxophone, flute, bongo and space drums); Sun Ra (piano and gong); Calvin Newborn (guitar); Ronnie Boykins (bass) Tommy Hunter (drums, percussion, space bird sounds and reverb); C. Scoby Stroman (drums); Jimmy Johnson (percussion) and Art Jenkins (space voice)

Track Listing: Cleveland: 1. Astro Nation (of the United World in Outer Space) 2. Enlightenment 3. Love in Outer Space 4. Theme of the Stargazers – the Satellites are Spinning 5. Friendly Galaxy 2 – I am the Brother of the Wind, I Pharaoh 6. Synthesizer Solo 7. Sophisticated Lady

Personnel: Cleveland: Akh Tal Ebah and Kwame Hadi (trumpets); Marshall Allen and Danny Davis (alto saxophone and flute); John Gilmore (tenor saxophone); Eloe Omoe (bass clarinet and flute); Danny Thompson (baritone saxophone and flute); James Jacson (bassoon, flute and infinity drum); Sun Ra (piano, organ and moog); Damon Choice (vibraphone); Dale Williams (electric bass); Atakatune and Odun (congas); June Tyson (vocal and dance) and Eddie Thomas (vocal and dance)

June 18, 2009

Sun Ra

Live in Cleveland 1975
Golden Years of New Jazz GY 29

Sun Ra

Secrets of the Sun

Atavistic ALP 266 CD

Sun Ra’s near-cultish status among some fans, means that, unlike the fanatical disciples such as Dean Benedetti, who preserved non-commercially released work of Charlie Parker and other major jazz figures, Ra material-hoarders number in the hundreds. Consequently previously unknown – or un-circulated – material turns up with increased regularity. Both of these sessions fit into that category.

While not indispensable, each exposes a different facet of the pianist/bandleader’s career. Live in Cleveland 1975 captures a 15-piece version of the Arkestra – heavy on the woodwinds and percussion and Ra’s electronic keyboards – running through new variations on a series of Ra classics – and some surprises. The punningly titled Secrets of the Sun on the other hand, recorded in 1962, showcases smaller Ra units, often involved with piecing together the first versions of soon-to-be notable tunes.

Many of the Arkestra soloists who defined the band’s music over the long-term are accounted for, including saxophonists Marshall Allen and John Gilmore (on both CDs) plus singer June Tyson (on Cleveland) and bassist Ronnie Boykins (on Secrets). Yet the most noteworthy sections of these discs showcase players with shorter Arkestra tenure, or are those tracks featuring usual instruments.

Without a listed traps drummer, for example, the majority of Cleveland’s selections depend for their rhythmic impetus on the electric bass ostinato of the little-known Dale Williams. It’s his relentless and powerful licks plus the clattering congas of Atakatune and Odun on “Enlightenment” and other tunes that pump a proper number of beats into the songs to allow solo freedom. “Enlightenment”, for instance, finds Ra shuddering out the theme on organ while Damon Choice provides ringing vibraphone counterpoint.

Meanwhile the “Friendly Galaxy 2 – I am the Brother of the Wind, I Pharaoh” medley is given an wholly individualistic reading, built on Williams’ pedal-point anchoring, sharp trumpet blasts and the gentle curved lines of five unison flutes. As the horns wrap rococo-like around his voice, Ra proclaims one of his futuristic pronouncements, the message of which is strengthened by tremolo polytones arising from braying brass and flute fripperies.

More predictably – for Ra and the Arkesatra at least – “Sophisticated Lady” is recast as a Swing freak-out, with chordal pumps from the entire band, hocketing plunger tones from the trumpets – going Cootie Williams or Rex Stewart one better – and a stand-out story-telling tenor saxophone solo from Gilmore. As for Ra, his piano playing jumps between high-frequency and triple timing – owing a lot more to Earl “Fatha” Hines than Duke Ellington.

Another scene-setting highpoint comes at the beginning of the program with an 11-minute version of “Astro Nation (of the United World in Outer Space)”. Replete with chants and vocalizing from Eddie Thomas, Tyson and Ra plus hand clapping and backing vocals from everyone, it pinpoints Ra’s rapprochement with the 1970s – mixed up with 1930s echoes. Need a comparison? Imagine if Motown’s Norman Whitfield had produced A Love Supreme if the band was Walter Page’s Blue Devils. Williams’ relentless ostinato is prominent here, but so are squawking split tones from Allen’s alto saxophone and Ra’s slithering Moog rushes and texture propelling. As the vocalization encompasses soulful R&B, pop-gospel and sanctified church call-and-response – with Ra as the preacher. At points the chants and shouts reference the Four Top’s Levi Stubbs in full cry, at others a Full Gospel choir.

Massed pop-gospel choirs, Whitfield-styled production and a Love Supreme were all in the future for Ra and company in 1962. But on evidence of the seven tracks on Secrets of the Sun the concepts which would take Arkestra aggregations from being jazz-dance bands to who-knows-whats was being worked out in a series of sound laboratory experiments at that time.

Like Williams 13 years later, Boykins’ connective pedal point is crucial to most of the performances, bonding a lot more than just the rhythm section. Aiding him are extended vamps from Gilmore and some hand drumming from Tommy Hunter. Art Jenkins’ “space voice” though, which emerged over the years in various forms in different Arkestra line-ups, is an acquired taste. On “Solar Differentials” for instance, he sounds as if he’s gargling and bubble-blowing rather than singing. His kazoo-like tones are only made palatable through Ra’s pseudo boogie-woogie key fanning and Boykins’ thumping beat.

C, Scoby Stroman, drummer on nearly all the tracks is another challenge. Never adverse to take a flashy and thickly pulsed solo that emphasized rolls, flams and chinging cymbal work, his style is an extension of Max Roach’s and Art Blakey’s. As exceptional as that percussion sound may have been for Hard Bop, Ra’s mystical originality and a mishmash of Space Age sensibility demand something far different.

Stroman – aided by Hunter’s percussion – does introduce irregularly pitched rolls and drags on “Reflects Motion” while Ra lays out some kinetic, Cecil Taylor-styled dynamics. But as the piece develops with Gilmore overblowing and sliding theme variations up to altissimo and down again, Ra is wise enough to limit his contributions to comping. Meanwhile the drags, rebounds and clattering cymbals from the percussion section suggest a Perez Prado-performed Beatnik movie soundtrack – all of which is more than a bit distracting, considering what the saxophonist is doing upfront.

One of the few guitarists to ever be featured with Ra, Calvin Newborn also exhibits a stance wedded to the American present not the cosmos. On “Friendly Galaxy”, for instance, his electrified licks and Allen’s or Pat Patrick’s Frank Wess-style fluting mated with Hunter’s tympanis merely creates a version of Exotica.

Furthermore, although memorable and lively, the over-17½ -minute “Flight to Mars” magnifies these undigested jazz-to-mysticism transitions even more. Ra-centric in that it mixes march tempo, rocket-launch intimations and chants, it’s more Bebop in Space than Arkestra by definition. Stroman’s cynosure rhythms have him laying into the traps, ranging over the kit in showy solos as if he is a mutation of Roach and Buddy Rich combined. Allen contributes double-tongued flute peeps, and during his andante arpeggios Ra evidently can’t decide whether to be Errol Garner or Hines. The situation gets more inchoate later on as the otherwise reliable Boykins suddenly begins channeling Slam Stewart. He saws his strings into col legno double-stopping ending in a contrapuntal face off with Gilmore’s sax runs. Meanwhile Newborn’s chromatic single-string licks begin working themselves backwards from Wes Montgomery emulations to Charlie Christian-like twangs. A summation series of octave jumps and runs from Ra – with Boykins seconding him – prevent the tune from dissolving into expected cliché of shout choruses and trading fours, but before Ra redefines the situation, apparently the tape ran out and the music unexpectedly ends..

Not the recommended starting point for those new to Ra, these CDs will still give pleasure to listeners who haven’t been exposed to many of Ra and the Arkestra's discs. The sessions will also probably be treasured and examined with Talmudic concentration by convinced Ra completists.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Secrets: 1. Friendly Galaxy 2. Solar Differentials 3. Space Aura 4. Love in Outer Space 5. Reflects Motion 6. Solar Symbols 7. Flight to Mars

Personnel: Secrets: (collective) Al Evans (flugelhorn); Eddie Gale (trumpet); Marshall Allen (alto saxophone, flute, morrow and percussion); John Gilmore (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, space bird sounds, space drums and vocal); Pat Patrick (baritone saxophone, flute, bongo and space drums); Sun Ra (piano and gong); Calvin Newborn (guitar); Ronnie Boykins (bass) Tommy Hunter (drums, percussion, space bird sounds and reverb); C. Scoby Stroman (drums); Jimmy Johnson (percussion) and Art Jenkins (space voice)

Track Listing: Cleveland: 1. Astro Nation (of the United World in Outer Space) 2. Enlightenment 3. Love in Outer Space 4. Theme of the Stargazers – the Satellites are Spinning 5. Friendly Galaxy 2 – I am the Brother of the Wind, I Pharaoh 6. Synthesizer Solo 7. Sophisticated Lady

Personnel: Cleveland: Akh Tal Ebah and Kwame Hadi (trumpets); Marshall Allen and Danny Davis (alto saxophone and flute); John Gilmore (tenor saxophone); Eloe Omoe (bass clarinet and flute); Danny Thompson (baritone saxophone and flute); James Jacson (bassoon, flute and infinity drum); Sun Ra (piano, organ and moog); Damon Choice (vibraphone); Dale Williams (electric bass); Atakatune and Odun (congas); June Tyson (vocal and dance) and Eddie Thomas (vocal and dance)

June 18, 2009

Sun Ra

On Jupiter
Art Yard CD 004

Sun Ra

Sleeping Beauty

Art Yard CD 003

Unlike many committed sonic experimenters, keyboardist/composer/band leader Sun Ra (1914-1993) never denigrated any type of music – he used them for his own ends.

Thus these notable 1979 sessions, recorded when his Intergalactic Myth Science Solar Arkestra numbered 20 plus musicians, do more than promulgate Ra’s usual mixture of Black Pride and Science Fiction in an improvised jazz context. The compositions add elements of impressionistic moodiness, gospel harmonies, doo-wop vocals, solo piano blues and big band riffs. Furthermore, post-production processing plus the distortions available from electrified guitar, bass, piano and organ also bring out echoes of rock, R&B and even disco.

Still the Arkestra – which continues to tour extensively years after Ra has returned to his purported birth place of the planet Saturn – confirms its peerless individuality on every track here. For instanced the contrapuntal nasality of the oboe of Marshall Allen, who now leads the band, can be heard in broken octave concordance with wiggling electric piano lines or interrupting the flams and rebounds of the band’s three percussionists. Meanwhile the coarse cries and irregular vibrato of John Gilmore’s tenor saxophone slice through slurping brass and reed harmonies and toughens vocal chants which plead “UFO UFO/Take me where I wanna go”. A brassy obbligato from Michael Ray’s trumpet sustains fanfares as female vocalists suggest “Knocking on the door of the Cosmos”, then add punctuation to rhythmic clapping.

With James Jacson’s bassoon provide the bottom on piano Ra can sound like Errol Garner one moment and Cecil Taylor the next. High-class Arkestra work, if these CDs have any drawbacks it’s that each times out at approximately 30 minutes and could easily have been combined.

-- Ken Waxman

-- For Whole Note Vol. 14 #2

October 8, 2008

Sun Ra

The Complete Disco 3000 Concert
Art Yard CD 001

Sun Ra & His Outer Space Arkestra

Some Blues But Not The Kind Thats Blue

Atavistic UMS ALP 265 CD

Nearly 15 years after his death – oops, leave-taking for another planet – reissued, unknown and newly discovered sessions by keyboardist/composer/band leader Sun Ra (1914-1993) continue to appear. With the facilities of his own Saturn label plus whichever label(s) he was signed to at the time available to him, Ra evidently recorded just about every scrap of sound involving him and his band.

Furthermore, although Ra was first and foremost a large ensemble specialist – he directed the last constantly working big band – if the occasion demanded, he fronted small groups as well – as these fascinating documents attest. As tradition-oriented as he was futuristic, Ra’s set list was as colossal as it was unpredictable. Thus these discs recorded in 1973, 1977 and 1978, contain not only new material such as both CDs’ title tracks, but a mixture of Ra “hits” such as “We Travel the Spaceways” and “Sun of the Cosmos” and standards such as “My Favorite Thing” and “Nature Boy”.

Taking the discs separately, Disco 3000, a two-CD set from a 1978 Milan concert, showcases probably the smallest band with which Ra ever toured. Besides himself on piano, organ, moog synthesizer, rhythm machine and vocals plus a brief appearance by band singer June Tyson, there are only three other players – Michael Ray on trumpet and vocals, John Gilmore on tenor saxophone, drums and vocals and Luqman Ali on drums and vocals. The tracks from 1977 on Some Blues But Not The Kind Thats (sic) Blue features a tentet – Ra, Gilmore and Ali plus Akh Tal Ebah on trumpet and flugelhorn; Marshall Allen and Danny Davis on alto saxophones and flutes; James Jackson on flute and bassoon; Eloe Omoe on bass clarinet; Richard “Radu” Williams on bass and Atakatune on conga. The final two tracks are from 1973 with two versions of “I’ll Get By” arranged as a solo vehicle for either Ebah or Gilmore, backed by Ra’s pumping, decidedly pre-bop organ and Ronnie Boykins’ rhythmically solid bass line.

Especially because of the bassist, either version is moving in its simplicity, but both curiously exist outside of the-then contemporary time frame. On its own, Ra’s pumping and syncopation on organ resemble Fats Waller’s approach to the double keyboard more than anything played post-Jimmy Smith. Ebah’s lightly swinging chromatic reading of the tune wouldn’t have been out of place with Jimmy Lunceford’s or Fletcher Henderson’s band. Even Gilmore’s relaxed tonality and undulating exploration of the piece – which almost never strays from the melody – puts him in the Chu Berry-Herschel Evans early Swing mode. It contains none of the harmonic advances that Coleman Hawkins latterly brought to the horn in the 1940s and 1950s.

Gilmore takes on the spectre of John Coltrane however when, accompanied by the full band in1977, he performs “My Favorite Things”, one of Trane’s signature pieces for soprano saxophone. Although Coltrane was fragmenting the tune into nearly unrecognizable molecules by his death in 1967, Gilmore, playing tenor only is more restrained and respectful of the theme. At the same time, Gilmore who was touted by Trane as one of the building blocks in his – Coltrane’s – mature style, still flutter tongues and rolls out split tones. Gilmore’s also no cynosure. To attain its conclusive form, his elaboration of the theme depend on Ra’s tremolo, flowery and hand-over-hand accompaniment plus percussive boogie-woogie-like comping, as well as some clattering slaps from Ali.

Others tracks on the CD are more modern – especially the newly discovered “Untitled”, with its slurping bassoon and snorting bass clarinet involved in a staccato chase that ends up as discordant as Ra’s pianism is legato. Yet the overriding impression from the session is that of an older Ra coming to terms with his past. Surging on pop and bang friction from Akatune’s conga drumming, 1977’s “I’ll Get By” contrasts markedly with the 1973 versions. Although Gilmore is again channeling Chu Berry, Ali gives the impressions he’s manipulating a stripped down “cocktail drum” set and Ra’s metronomic runs and high-frequency cadences recalls Teddy Wilson Errol Garner and even George Shearing. With left-handed feints and dragging cross patterns, his solo suggests a time before the jet plane, let alone the rock ship was in common use.

Rocket ships and space travel are front-and-centre in 1978 for The Complete Disco 3000 Concert, especially when the stripped down Ra crew outputs a selection of Arkestra favorites. “We Travel the Spaceways” gets an energetic treatment, with Ra singing lead while thrusting out agitato and staccato piano clusters; Ray and Gilmore alternately squeaking in the stratosphere and unearthing subterranean growls as the band hand-claps and exits the stage.

“Dance of the Cosmo Aliens” is built on a constant drum beat and massive gong reverberations audible while Ra pulsates spliced and smashed nearly liquid coloration from his Moog, along with triggered drum machine clinks, bass drum backbeat and maracas-like friction. Before concluding with a gong resonation that would have impressed J. Arthur Rank, he snakes out a chord that is as slippery and slinky as if it was played on a Farfisa organ. “Spontaneous Simplicity” features a synthesizer tone midway between a vibraharp and a gamelan, as well as throbbing organ riffs, although most of the tune is a showcase for Ray’s twisted and bent vibrated grace notes. Even “Echoes of the World” is presented as a fantasia for Gilmore’s Tranesque – or is it actually Gilmoresque? – styling, all double-tongued and double-timed, as well as tinkling keyboard fills from Ra.

Then there’s the title tune, which fades in-and-out of aural focus as Tyson helps Ra interpolate “Space is the Place” into the theme, while Gilmore contributes double-tongued trills and Ray’s plunger work builds up to a blues tonality. Before Gilmore has finishes chewing through the tune with long-lined tone extensions and Ray aims for Cat Anderson-like stratospheric triplets, Ra elaborates separate melodies – neither particularly disco-like – from each hand. One thumps and crunches with incontinent rhythms from the Moog, while the other uses the organ’s fluttering watery grooves to make its point. Ali’s – and perhaps Gilmore’s – drumming helps to push the undulating overtones into place, but suppleness is missing with no double bass present.

Most notably, the Janus-like future-past dichotomy that was present on the earlier disc remains a sub-theme here. “When There is no Sun” includes atonal horn trills and smears, a poetic recitation by the band in toto, a brief recap of “Space is the Place”, Ra splashing and splaying polyphonic themes from both electronic keyboards, and wiggling and whooshing rocket-launching oscillations. But it ends with a Tatum-like solo piano run though of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”.

The vibes – to use a 1970s word – are even more retro on “Sky Blues”. A throwback to the sort of honky-tonk riffs Ra must have internalized growing up in Alabama – recall that Avery Parish, composer of “After Hours” was a friend – this could be Ra’s rent party homage. Is he channeling Ray Bryant or is it Jimmy Yancy or Little Brother Montgomery? With the piano outlook adding a constant walking bass line to the theme development and Ali whacking a thick shuffle beat, Ra’s key ruffling provides the appropriate backdrop to Ray’s vamps and riffs plus Gilmore’s tough tenor honking that could have migrated from a David “Fathead” Newman or Don Wilkerson session.

Ra’s phantasmagoric ability to simultaneously create in the past, present and future is showcased well on both of these discs. While nothing here approaches indispensable Ra, with a mind as fertile as Ra’s – and sidemen this committed – it’s always valuable to get a new glimpse into his compositional and performance strategy. Additionally, more easily available Ra is always welcome.

-- Ken Waxman

.

Track Listing: Blues: 1. Some Blues But Not The Kind Thats Blue* 2. I'll Get By 3. My Favorite Things 4. Untitled 5. Nature Boy 6. Tenderly 7. Black Magic; 8. I'll Get By+ 9. I'll Get By+

Personnel: Blues: Akh Tal Ebah (trumpet and flugelhorn); Marshall Allen and Danny Davis (alto saxophone and flute); James Jackson (flute and bassoon); Eloe Omoe (bass clarinet); John Gilmore (tenor saxophone); Sun Ra (piano or organ); Richard “Radu” Williams* or Ronnie Boykins+(bass); Luqman Ali (drums) and Atakatune (conga)

Track Listing: Disco: Disc 1: 1. Disco 3000 2. Sun of the Cosmos 3. Echos of The World 4. Geminiology 5. Sky Blues 6. Friendly Galaxy Disc 2: 1. Third Planet incl, Friendly Galaxy 2. Dance of the Cosmo Aliens 3. Spontaneous Simplicity 4. Images incl, Over The Rainbow 5. When There is no Sun 6. We Travel the Spaceways

Personnel: Disco: Michael Ray (trumpet and vocals); John Gilmore (tenor saxophone, drums and vocals); Sun Ra (piano, organ, moog synthesizer, rhythm machine and vocals); Luqman Ali (drums and vocals) and June Tyson (vocals)

May 3, 2008

Sun Ra & His Outer Space Arkestra

Some Blues But Not The Kind Thats Blue
Atavistic UMS ALP 265 CD

Sun Ra

The Complete Disco 3000 Concert

Art Yard CD 001

Nearly 15 years after his death – oops, leave-taking for another planet – reissued, unknown and newly discovered sessions by keyboardist/composer/band leader Sun Ra (1914-1993) continue to appear. With the facilities of his own Saturn label plus whichever label(s) he was signed to at the time available to him, Ra evidently recorded just about every scrap of sound involving him and his band.

Furthermore, although Ra was first and foremost a large ensemble specialist – he directed the last constantly working big band – if the occasion demanded, he fronted small groups as well – as these fascinating documents attest. As tradition-oriented as he was futuristic, Ra’s set list was as colossal as it was unpredictable. Thus these discs recorded in 1973, 1977 and 1978, contain not only new material such as both CDs’ title tracks, but a mixture of Ra “hits” such as “We Travel the Spaceways” and “Sun of the Cosmos” and standards such as “My Favorite Thing” and “Nature Boy”.

Taking the discs separately, Disco 3000, a two-CD set from a 1978 Milan concert, showcases probably the smallest band with which Ra ever toured. Besides himself on piano, organ, moog synthesizer, rhythm machine and vocals plus a brief appearance by band singer June Tyson, there are only three other players – Michael Ray on trumpet and vocals, John Gilmore on tenor saxophone, drums and vocals and Luqman Ali on drums and vocals. The tracks from 1977 on Some Blues But Not The Kind Thats (sic) Blue features a tentet – Ra, Gilmore and Ali plus Akh Tal Ebah on trumpet and flugelhorn; Marshall Allen and Danny Davis on alto saxophones and flutes; James Jackson on flute and bassoon; Eloe Omoe on bass clarinet; Richard “Radu” Williams on bass and Atakatune on conga. The final two tracks are from 1973 with two versions of “I’ll Get By” arranged as a solo vehicle for either Ebah or Gilmore, backed by Ra’s pumping, decidedly pre-bop organ and Ronnie Boykins’ rhythmically solid bass line.

Especially because of the bassist, either version is moving in its simplicity, but both curiously exist outside of the-then contemporary time frame. On its own, Ra’s pumping and syncopation on organ resemble Fats Waller’s approach to the double keyboard more than anything played post-Jimmy Smith. Ebah’s lightly swinging chromatic reading of the tune wouldn’t have been out of place with Jimmy Lunceford’s or Fletcher Henderson’s band. Even Gilmore’s relaxed tonality and undulating exploration of the piece – which almost never strays from the melody – puts him in the Chu Berry-Herschel Evans early Swing mode. It contains none of the harmonic advances that Coleman Hawkins latterly brought to the horn in the 1940s and 1950s.

Gilmore takes on the spectre of John Coltrane however when, accompanied by the full band in1977, he performs “My Favorite Things”, one of Trane’s signature pieces for soprano saxophone. Although Coltrane was fragmenting the tune into nearly unrecognizable molecules by his death in 1967, Gilmore, playing tenor only is more restrained and respectful of the theme. At the same time, Gilmore who was touted by Trane as one of the building blocks in his – Coltrane’s – mature style, still flutter tongues and rolls out split tones. Gilmore’s also no cynosure. To attain its conclusive form, his elaboration of the theme depend on Ra’s tremolo, flowery and hand-over-hand accompaniment plus percussive boogie-woogie-like comping, as well as some clattering slaps from Ali.

Others tracks on the CD are more modern – especially the newly discovered “Untitled”, with its slurping bassoon and snorting bass clarinet involved in a staccato chase that ends up as discordant as Ra’s pianism is legato. Yet the overriding impression from the session is that of an older Ra coming to terms with his past. Surging on pop and bang friction from Akatune’s conga drumming, 1977’s “I’ll Get By” contrasts markedly with the 1973 versions. Although Gilmore is again channeling Chu Berry, Ali gives the impressions he’s manipulating a stripped down “cocktail drum” set and Ra’s metronomic runs and high-frequency cadences recalls Teddy Wilson Errol Garner and even George Shearing. With left-handed feints and dragging cross patterns, his solo suggests a time before the jet plane, let alone the rock ship was in common use.

Rocket ships and space travel are front-and-centre in 1978 for The Complete Disco 3000 Concert, especially when the stripped down Ra crew outputs a selection of Arkestra favorites. “We Travel the Spaceways” gets an energetic treatment, with Ra singing lead while thrusting out agitato and staccato piano clusters; Ray and Gilmore alternately squeaking in the stratosphere and unearthing subterranean growls as the band hand-claps and exits the stage.

“Dance of the Cosmo Aliens” is built on a constant drum beat and massive gong reverberations audible while Ra pulsates spliced and smashed nearly liquid coloration from his Moog, along with triggered drum machine clinks, bass drum backbeat and maracas-like friction. Before concluding with a gong resonation that would have impressed J. Arthur Rank, he snakes out a chord that is as slippery and slinky as if it was played on a Farfisa organ. “Spontaneous Simplicity” features a synthesizer tone midway between a vibraharp and a gamelan, as well as throbbing organ riffs, although most of the tune is a showcase for Ray’s twisted and bent vibrated grace notes. Even “Echoes of the World” is presented as a fantasia for Gilmore’s Tranesque – or is it actually Gilmoresque? – styling, all double-tongued and double-timed, as well as tinkling keyboard fills from Ra.

Then there’s the title tune, which fades in-and-out of aural focus as Tyson helps Ra interpolate “Space is the Place” into the theme, while Gilmore contributes double-tongued trills and Ray’s plunger work builds up to a blues tonality. Before Gilmore has finishes chewing through the tune with long-lined tone extensions and Ray aims for Cat Anderson-like stratospheric triplets, Ra elaborates separate melodies – neither particularly disco-like – from each hand. One thumps and crunches with incontinent rhythms from the Moog, while the other uses the organ’s fluttering watery grooves to make its point. Ali’s – and perhaps Gilmore’s – drumming helps to push the undulating overtones into place, but suppleness is missing with no double bass present.

Most notably, the Janus-like future-past dichotomy that was present on the earlier disc remains a sub-theme here. “When There is no Sun” includes atonal horn trills and smears, a poetic recitation by the band in toto, a brief recap of “Space is the Place”, Ra splashing and splaying polyphonic themes from both electronic keyboards, and wiggling and whooshing rocket-launching oscillations. But it ends with a Tatum-like solo piano run though of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”.

The vibes – to use a 1970s word – are even more retro on “Sky Blues”. A throwback to the sort of honky-tonk riffs Ra must have internalized growing up in Alabama – recall that Avery Parish, composer of “After Hours” was a friend – this could be Ra’s rent party homage. Is he channeling Ray Bryant or is it Jimmy Yancy or Little Brother Montgomery? With the piano outlook adding a constant walking bass line to the theme development and Ali whacking a thick shuffle beat, Ra’s key ruffling provides the appropriate backdrop to Ray’s vamps and riffs plus Gilmore’s tough tenor honking that could have migrated from a David “Fathead” Newman or Don Wilkerson session.

Ra’s phantasmagoric ability to simultaneously create in the past, present and future is showcased well on both of these discs. While nothing here approaches indispensable Ra, with a mind as fertile as Ra’s – and sidemen this committed – it’s always valuable to get a new glimpse into his compositional and performance strategy. Additionally, more easily available Ra is always welcome.

-- Ken Waxman

.

Track Listing: Blues: 1. Some Blues But Not The Kind Thats Blue* 2. I'll Get By 3. My Favorite Things 4. Untitled 5. Nature Boy 6. Tenderly 7. Black Magic; 8. I'll Get By+ 9. I'll Get By+

Personnel: Blues: Akh Tal Ebah (trumpet and flugelhorn); Marshall Allen and Danny Davis (alto saxophone and flute); James Jackson (flute and bassoon); Eloe Omoe (bass clarinet); John Gilmore (tenor saxophone); Sun Ra (piano or organ); Richard “Radu” Williams* or Ronnie Boykins+(bass); Luqman Ali (drums) and Atakatune (conga)

Track Listing: Disco: Disc 1: 1. Disco 3000 2. Sun of the Cosmos 3. Echos of The World 4. Geminiology 5. Sky Blues 6. Friendly Galaxy Disc 2: 1. Third Planet incl, Friendly Galaxy 2. Dance of the Cosmo Aliens 3. Spontaneous Simplicity 4. Images incl, Over The Rainbow 5. When There is no Sun 6. We Travel the Spaceways

Personnel: Disco: Michael Ray (trumpet and vocals); John Gilmore (tenor saxophone, drums and vocals); Sun Ra (piano, organ, moog synthesizer, rhythm machine and vocals); Luqman Ali (drums and vocals) and June Tyson (vocals)

May 3, 2008

Guelph Jazz Festival:

Improv On The Move
for CODA

Taking the concept of free-flowing improvisation a step further, one morning at this year’s Guelph Jazz Festival (GJF), 15 musicians performed simultaneously in four different whitewashed rooms of the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre.

The workshop developed this way, according to Ajay Heble, GJF artistic director, because so many musicians wanted to participate. Some – American alto saxophonist Marshall Allan, British pianist Veryan Weston, Québécois guitarist René Lussier and American banjoist Eugene Chadbourne – rooted on a spot and collaborated with whoever came along. Others moved from place to place and up and down the staircase as they played.

Trumpeter Gordon Allen from Montreal added fanfares to understated percussive taps from Guelph drummer Jesse Stewart in the main space and later combined with Lussier for showier work in an upstairs room. New York-based alto saxophonist Matana Roberts, wearing a dress festooned with razor blades and safety pins, and tenor saxophonist Jason Robinson from San Diego acted like traveling minstrels. At one point the two and altoist Allen blended for spicy multiphonic runs. At another, Roberts played a feathery obbligato behind a simple blues Chadbourne was chording.

Toronto bassist Rob Clutton constantly schlepped his ungainly instrument. In one space he sympathetically backed Chadbourne’s avant-folk, before that he combined in a staircase duet with Halifax clarinetist Paul Cram. Interesting juxtapositions occurred as faint sonic timbres bled into the textures produced by the visible performers.

At Sticks & Stones’ afternoon gig, Roberts, wearing face paint and a flowing gown, proved herself equally facile on clarinet and saxophone. With drummer Chad Taylor’s polyrhythms and bassist Josh Abrams’ powerful plucking as anchors, her solos encompassed wide vibratos as well as piercing note pecks.

Sharing the bill, Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii’s quartet worked from more of a composerly base. The keyboardist’s contrapuntal styling was seconded by the understated inventiveness of percussionist Jim Black and thick col legno swoops and windmill motions of bassist Mark Dresser, so the energy level built throughout. When Fujii reached inside the piano to liberate quivering pulsations, the drummer sawed on his cymbals for daxophone-like squeals.

In a set that echoed Fujii’s recorded work with Japanese noise rockers, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura spun out muted staccato lines, reminiscent of 1970s Miles Davis. That sound served as a sub-motif for the Festival. It was echoed in interludes from drummer/trumpeter Arve Henriksen, whose Norwegian band Supersilent, late at night brought synthesizer and computer-processed noises to an enclosed downtown mall with post-rock soundscapes that promised more than they delivered.

Quicksilver grace notes were showcased more impressively by trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith in the all-star Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) ensemble that opened the showcase concert in the soft-seated River Run Centre. Smith’s sprints and spits made common cause with the bassoon, flute, didjerido, shaker and miscellaneous “little instruments” of Douglas Ewart, Hamid Drake’s percussion and Jeff Parker’s guitar. A last-minute addition Parker’s twangy fills never really jelled with the others’ work. Episodic rather than cohesive, the best audience response came with Ewart’s anti-George Bush recitation.

Headliners, The Art Ensemble of Chicago (AEC) fared much better, hitting a groove with its opening number and keeping the time steady, no matter what detours into hokum, faux primitivism, blues, post-bop dissonance or pseudo-swing were evident. Based around the durable bass work of Jaribu Shahid and the solid beat of percussionist Famoudu Don Moye, this underpinning allowed the front line its freedom.

Playing trumpet and flugelhorn singly or together Corey Wilkes, combined fiery execution with sophisticated note placement. His musical personality was strong enough to hold his own with Roscoe Mitchell and Joseph Jarman, who between them play most members of the reed and flute families. Theatrical in his face paint and ceremonial robes, Jarman frequently honked two saxes simultaneously and interspaced his solos – one of which he played on his back like a 1950s R&B saxophonist – with shouts and a shuffling dance. Resplendent in a well-cut business suit, Mitchell belied his appearance with fierce polyphonic reed responses to Jarman’s japes and notable solos on both saxophones and piccolo. Mitchell’s parody blues, “Big Red Peaches” was the show’s finger-snapping climax, with Wilkes playing Cootie Williams-like plunger tones and the AEC confirming its commitment to all forms of improv from the simplest to the most complex.

The AEC concert was the capper to the GJF’s celebration of the AACM’s 40th anniversary as well as five days of impressive music. The concurrent improvised music colloquium provides an academic cachet lacking in other festivals. Internationalism was represented by Israeli pianist Yitzhak Yedid and the European musicians, while a group of Quebec’s Musique Actuelle heavy hitters such as saxophonist Jean Derome and bassist Pierre Cartier celebrated another concentrated scene in shows throughout the fest.

More pop-oriented performers were presented in the licensed tent in front of city hall, so the casual as well as the committed could sample the music. Furthermore, with workshops, free and open to the public, the uncommitted could discover a showcase like Montreal clarinetist Lori Freedman’s intense solo concert that used the room’s acoustics as well as extended techniques,

Solidly established at 12, with attendance growing, international jazz fans follow the GJF’s progress as it heads into its teen years.

--Ken Waxman

November 15, 2005

SUN RA

Spaceship Lullaby: The Vocal Groups: Chicago 1954-60
Atavistic Unheard Music Series UMS243CD

Undoubtedly one of the most -- if not the most -- bizarre items in the massive Sun Ra discography, this CD showcases the pianist and infrequently members of his Arkestra backing up three pro-am Chicago vocal groups.

While there’s some grotesque fascination in listening to some of the 37 [!] songs the three sets of singers -- the Nu Sounds, the Lintels and the Cosmic Rays -- perform, you have to realize that many of the 74 plus minutes of music are merely of rehearsal tape quality. Plus true appreciation of the results must come with a certain tolerance for schmaltz. Before he took his band and cosmic visions to New York and later Philadelphia, Sun Ra was very much part of Black show biz in the Windy City. Thus much of the singing is given over to a cross section of pre-rock’n’roll standards and originals, some as cringe-inducing as “A Perfume Counter (in Paris)” and “The Wooden Soldier & The China Doll”, both sung by the Lintels.

Don’t expect soulful blues, refined jazz arrangements or Africanized space chants either. The three all-male vocal groups were aiming their efforts at the general public and depending on the year and the vocalists, the style emulated ranges from late Ink Spots-Mills Brothers to the first stirring of doo-wop. The former tunes feature a burbling bass singer and a semi-conversational tenor lead; the later street corner harmonies, teen angst lyrics and closely-voiced harmonies where “cha cha cha” are the most common backing syllables.

There are some highpoints, however. “Chicago USA”, sung by the Nu Sounds, was Ra’s entry in a contest to write new theme song for that city. Especially on the second run through, you can hear glimmerings of what, with a bit more seasoning, could have been a major city song like “New York’s My Home” or “Do You Know What It Means?” When the pianist’s flat handed expanse replicates the sound of waves splashing off the shore of Lake Michigan, veteran drummer Robert Barry gooses the beat with his cowbell and Pat Patrick’s baritone saxophone becomes the sound of the EL the association with Ra’s later work is strong as well.

You can even speculate why this ditty, that asserted that “no place on this earth compares to this Midwest paradise”, didn’t win the prize. Maybe Chicago already has too many anthems? Citizens of less musically favored places such as San Diego, Boston or Toronto wouldn’t mind a catchy number like this associated with their burg.

Although most of Ra’s later preoccupations were kept to a minimum in the days reflected o this CD, the lyrics and sentiments of the title tune could easily have fit in with the Arkestra in its salad days with June Tyson rather than the Cosmic Rays singing.

Powerful Patrick bari work and rattling, stuttering drum beats from Barry and timpanist Jim Herdon give the Cosmic Ray’s version of “Africa” some musical testosterone, while Marshall Allen’s flute and the riffing of the Arkestra reed section behind the bass singer give “Black Sky & Blue Moon” added heft.

That song and “Honey” are also performed by the Nu Sounds with only Ra and Barry accompanying them. However beefed-up instrumental backing and perhaps the passing of a couple of years make the Cosmic Rays’ version superior.

First time through, the arrangements seem to give collateral sophistication to nonsense syllables chanted by the back-up singers. Dual hand drumming and a unison vamp from Allen, Patrick, alto saxist James Spaulding and John Gilmore on tenor saxophone enliven the over-four minute second version. But the overall sonic picture is a lot muddier, as if the primitive tape machine was destabilized and couldn’t record all the sounds created by the singers’ close harmonies and the augmented instrumentation.

Other than all this, there’s a certain fascination in eavesdropping on Ra at the piano singing along and taking the raw singers -- especially the unknown members of the Lintels -- through their paces as he tries to shape something resembling professional harmonies from the groups. It’s also instructive to hear how the Mills Brothers harmonies and Mario Lanza pseudo operatic tenor lead of the Nu Sounds are supplanted by the Lintels’ rawer street corner tones which presage falsetto singers like Frankie Valli, when the Cosmic Rays’ lead singer heads into counter-tenor range.

Without the other instruments Barry and Ra stick to shuffle rhythms and cocktail piano accompaniment. You see why when Ra tries to teach the Nu Sound an original arrangement of his favorite “St. Louis Blues”, a tonal clash between his southern blues styling and their incipient northern doowooping is palpable.

Sun Ra completists will have to have this album and it may also interest those with a quirky fondness for offbeat singing. Others should approach it with caution, even if they’re familiar with other parts of the Ra legacy.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Spaceship Lullaby 2. Stranger in Paradise 3. Just one of those things 4. Honky Tonk 5. Haunted Heart 6. Evelyn 7. Honeysuckle Rose 8. Honey 9. Black Sky & Blue Moon 10. Ra coaching Roland Williams 11. Holiday for Strings (Ra dynamics demo) 12. Holiday for Strings 13. I Fall Asleep Counting my Blessings 14. Nice work If You Can Get It 15. Somebody Loves Me 16. Chicago USA 17. Chicago USA* 18. C’est Si Bon 19. Blue Moon 20. Baby Please Be Mine 21. Blue Skies 22. My Only Love 23. A Foggy Day 24. A Perfume Counter 25. Love Is… 26. Wordless Piece 27. I Was Wrong 28. Louise 29. St. Louis Blues 30. The Wooden Soldier & The China Doll 31. Africa 32. Somebody’s In Love 33. Bye Bye 34. Black Sky & Blue Moon 35. Honey 36. Honey 37.

Come Rain or Come Shine

Personnel: [Track 1-17, 23-30] Pat Patrick (baritone saxophone)*; Sun Ra (piano); Robert Barry (drums); The Nu Sounds: Roland Williams, John, Kalil (vocals); [Tracks 18-22] Ra, The Lintels: singers unknown (vocals); [Tracks 31-37] E.J. Turner (trumpet); Marshall Allen (alto saxophone and flute); James Spaulding (alto saxophone); John Gilmore (tenor saxophone); Pat Patrick (baritone saxophone); Sun Ra, piano, (Wurlitzer electric piano); Bebop Sam Thomas (guitar); Ronnie Boykins (bass); Robert Barry (drums); Jim Herdon (tympani); The Cosmic Rays: Calvin Barron, Matt Swift, Lonnie Tobert and one unknown (vocals)

March 8, 2004

SUN RA

Music From Tomorrow's World
Atavistic Unheard Music UMS/ALP 237CD

Analogous to hearing Count Basie's band at Kansas City's Reno Club in 1935 or Charlie Parker's legendary stand at New York's Famous Door in 1953 with Thelonious Monk on piano, these newly unearthed tapes offer 17 Chicago performances from 1960 by Sun Ra's then tiny Arkestra.

Their fascination lies more in what the Arkestra isn't then what it is. Not yet the familiar, well-organized band of a dozen musicians plus, instead these tracks feature both a sextet and an octet, working through -- sometimes for the first time -- newly recorded or soon to be taped Ra compositions. Some of the tunes would become Arkestra classics; some would never be recorded or heard again. Additionally, since the first seven selections were taped at Ra's regular gig at the Wonder Inn at Cottage Grove and 75th on Chicago's South Side, you get to hear how the band functioned in a non-listening room circumstance. Mixing familiar show tunes, light classics, jazz syncopation and Ra inventions, the band showed that schtick and showmanship were upfront more than 40 years ago.

To go with the outer space tunes and extraterrestrial references, Ra & Co. were already wearing space togs, as the booklet pictures show. Interestingly enough, however, since he then had a full head of hair, Ra's distinctive headgear is missing.

In this period of consolidation some of the longtime Arkestra heavy hitters such as alto saxophonist/flutist Marshall Allen, tenor saxophonist John Gilmore and bassist Ronnie Boykins were already on board. Other important contributors, who show up on the Majestic Hall recording session, include cornettist Phil Cohran and drummer Robert Barry, who stayed behind when the Arkestra left Chicago, but who helped introduce Ra's ideas of self-sufficiency when the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians was formed later in the decade. Impressive baritone sax man Ronald Wilson would rejoin the band again in the 1980s.

While the arrangements and solo spots are as convincing as they were to remain for the next few decades, each of the sections has some drawbacks. The tape recorder in the Wonder Inn seemed to have been placed closer to the crowd than the Arkestra. That means during some of the selections, cross talk, cash registers, off beat hand claps and a very persistent, probably-inebriated woman's commentary can be heard, sometimes louder than flute or bass solos. She may be enthusiastic all right, but hearing "Play it Sun Ray (sic), play it for me ..." more than once is a bit distracting. Furthermore, in concession to the location, crooner Ricky Murray joins the band for two Gershwin tunes that he manhandles in sort of ycelpt Billy Eckstine style.

Still, Allen ethereal flute work and angular alto solos are already distinctively individual, Ra is discovering hitherto unknown uses for the electric piano in the arrangements and the group is obviously in sync. For example a unison recitation of Ra's "Imagination" -- "If we came from nowhere here/Why can't we go somewhere there?" easily launches into a killer rendition of, appropriately, "How High the Moon".

All instrumental, the 10 Majestic Hall sessions are also not very well recorded. This is most noticeable on "Majestic 4" when after a powerful Wilson baritone romp and solid understated Boykins four-string excursion, the massed horns re-enter with harsh vamps that sound if they leaked in from a different studio session.

Besides highlighting some Ra numbers with unfamiliar or unknown titles, this part of the disc shows how having the auxiliary shapes and colors available with an octet allows the leader to daub that much more on his musical canvas. Cohran's high-pitched cornet gives the band a new top line, while Barry's inventive percussion often creates the roughs that link solos to one another. Not only that, but his frequent use of claves and other Afro-Cuban percussion also presages certain non-American heartland themes Ra would try out in later years.

Ra collectors will snap up this session as well they should, as will others interested in hearing how the composer's work developed over the years. However, despite containing some familiar classics this is definitely not a first purchase if you've never heard the Arkestra before. Investigate some of the bands earlier and later studio sessions, then when you understand how the band sounded at its zenith, you can come back and hear how it evolved from its Chicago roots.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Live at The Wonder Inn: 1. Angels & demons at play 2. Spontaneous simplicity 3. Space aura 4. S'wonderful 5. It ain't necessarily so 6. How high the moon 7. China gate The Majestic Hall session 8. Majestic 1 9. Ankhnaton 10. Possession 11. Tapestry from an asteroid 12. Majestic 2 13. Majestic 3 14. Majestic 4 15. Velvet 16. A call for all demons 17. Interstellar Lo-ways (introduction)

Personnel: [Tracks 1-7]: George Hudson (trumpet); Marshall Allen (alto saxophone, flute); John Gilmore (tenor saxophone); Sun Ra (piano, electric piano, percussion); Ronnie Boykins (bass); Jon L. Hardy (drums); Ricky Murray (vocals). [Tracks 8-17]: Phil Cohran (cornet); Gene Easton (alto saxophone); Marshall Allen (alto saxophone, flute); John Gilmore (tenor saxophone); Ronald Wilson (baritone saxophone); Sun Ra (piano); Ronnie Boykins (bass); Robert Barry (drums)

December 30, 2002