Sun Ra Three Classic

4 early albums from the legendary jazz oracle & his band plus 18 bonus singles on this 4cd set. 1956's 'JAZZ BY SUN RA' contains some of Sun Ra's most complex, yet accessible efforts, 'SUPERSONIC JAZZ' (also 1956) lays the groundwork for the group's ambitious, expansive & free-wheeling arrangements of later years, 1958's 'JAZZ IN SILHOUETTE' is a prime example of Ra & company in a transitional phase, prior to their full-fledged explorations into the avant-garde & 'THE FUTURISTIC SOUND OF SUN RA' (1961) is boppish with a slightly exotic flavour.

For more than two decades, the disciple that has most visibly carried on Sun Ra Arkestra’s legacy and sound is their musical director, alto saxophonist Marshall Allen, the iconic fire breather and life force that restored the Arkestra’s vitality in the massive vacuum left by Ra and John Gilmore’s death in the ‘90s. Allen turned 98 in 2022 and, as evidenced by Living Sky, his influence and leadership remain undiminished. Marking the Arkestra’s first new recording since their 2021 Grammy-nominated album Swirling, Living Sky was recorded on June 15, 2021 at Rittenhouse SoundWorks in Philadelphia and features a total of nineteen musicians, including a strings section. It was mixed and mastered by three-time Grammy winner Dave Darlington (Eddie Palmieri, Brian Lynch, Wayne Shorter).

Sun Ra - Media Dreams, Complete Concert Milan 1978 (2008) {2CD Set ART YARD CD 002}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 582 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 231 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 34 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1978, 2008 El Saturn Records / Enterplanetary Koncepts / Art Yard | ART YARD CD 002
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Progressive Jazz

This is the companion to Disco 3000, made on the same classic Italian quartet tour with John Gilmore, Michael Ray (trumpet) and the minimal but perfect Luqman Ali (drums). Ra himself plays piano and electronic keyboards, including the mysterious Crumar Mainman, which Ra describes as like a piano, organ, clavichord, cello, violin and brass instruments and which also, importantly, has a facility for pre-programmed bass-lines and electronic percussion, which Ra uses constantly and to great effect in this small ensemble setting and seldom, if ever, elsewhere. The best of this collection (most of CD1) is luminous: very electronic, often rhythmical and melodic, always economical and making every sound count.

Sun Ra - Taking a Chance on Chances (2018) {Sun Ra LLC Official Digital Download}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44kHz - Official Digital Download (bandcamp.com) -> 273 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 128 Mb | Cover | 5% repair rar
© 2018 Sun Ra LLC
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Jazz Funk / Experimental Big Band / Progressive Jazz

This is not The Great Lost Sun Ra Album. It's a GOOD Lost Sun Ra Album, and it's been more or less found. Taking a Chance on Chances (or "… on Chancey," as some typographically allege) was recorded at the Jazz Showcase, Chicago, in 1977, and issued on Saturn vinyl in 1977 (catalog #772). Only one problem: according to the authoritative Earthly Recordings of Sun Ra, by Robert L. Campbell and Christopher Trent (2nd ed., 2000), "all known copies of Saturn LP 772 have a defective pressing on Side A."

Sun Ra - Somewhere Over The Rainbow (2018) {Sun Ra LLC Official Digital Download}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44kHz - Official Digital Download (bandcamp.com) -> 275 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 98 Mb | Cover | 5% repair rar
© 2018 Sun Ra LLC
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Jazz Funk / Experimental Big Band / Progressive Jazz

As live, late-1970s Sun Ra albums go, Somewhere Over the Rainbow is a cut above. It's similar to and contemporaneous with The Soul Vibrations of Man and Taking a Chance on Chances, two live sets also issued on Saturn in 1977 (and available in our digitally remastered download catalog). Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Saturn 7877) was also known as We Live to Be: the titles of track one on side A were often handwritten on labels and/or generic sleeves, a common practice in Saturn's DIY packaging process.

This edition of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers is an unusual one. The personnel includes Blakey veterans Lee Morgan (returning to the band after some success as a leader), Curtis Fuller, and Victor Sproles, along with John Hicks (who appeared on three other Blakey records) and the tenor saxophonist John Gilmore (of Sun Ra fame) in his only appearance with the band. As was typical of Blakey-led groups, the emphasis is on original material by its members; the one Broadway show tune included, "Faith," is from a long since forgotten I Had a Ball. Morgan's driving blues "'S Make It" is easily the highlight of the session, though Hicks' richly voiced "Waltz for Ruth" and Fuller's Latin-flavored "Little Hughie" also deserve to be better known than they are. It's a shame that this was the only recording by this particular lineup of the Jazz Messengers, as Gilmore's strong blowing complements Morgan very well.

Fire! Orchestra - Exit! (2013) {Rune Grammofon RCD 2138}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 288 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 105 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 11 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2013 Rune Grammofon | RCD 2138
Jazz / Modern Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz

Sometimes it's best not to predict. If the idea of expanding Fire!'s core trio of saxophonist/electric pianist Mats Gustafsson, bassist Johan Berthling and drummer Andreas Werlin into Fire! Orchestra's massive, 28-piece behemoth was based on the trio's extant discography— You Liked Me Five Minutes Ago (Rune Grammofon, 2009), Unreleased (Rune Grammofon, 2011), and In the Mouth of a Hand Rune Grammofon, 2012)—then a relentless album of high energy and high volume density would be expected. Which makes Exit! a complete and utter surprise, and in the best possible way.