Sun ra Space is The Place

“These unique works comprise a precis of Ra's portfolio. There are jovial romps through tradition and remarkable, thoughtful expansions of it. Small wonder his work continues to inspire today's leading pianists.” - Martin Johnson (WSJ, NPR, and beyond)

Recorded live at Pit-Inn, Shinjuku, Tokyo, August, 8, 1988.

Recorded live at Pit-Inn, Shinjuku, Tokyo, August, 8, 1988.

In early 1973, thanks to the intrepid persuasion of jazz producer Ed Michel, Sun Ra signed a licensing agreement with the prestigious jazz imprint Impulse (then part of ABC/Paramount Records) to reissue catalog titles from Ra's proprietary Saturn label, as well as some new Arkestra recordings. Michel had produced Ra's most commercially successful album, Space is the Place, in 1972 for Blue Thumb Records, and he figured Ra was finally primed for a wider Earthly audience. The Impulse deal struck with Ra and manager Alton Abraham specified a cap of 50 albums — ten annually for five years — although all masters were subject to approval by Impulse and theoretically less than 50 could be issued.

A celestial journey is just what Sun Ra and his Arkestra have created with Space is the Place. Sun Ra’s opus is at its simplest, a trip through outer bound melodies! Planetary bodies, eras in time, crystals, space caravans… Allow yourself to envision or feel a world away!Featuring an album's worth of previously unissued recordings from the same soundtrack sessions! These newly discovered tracks are heavy on the prose of Sun Ra, as he and June Tyson bestow countless bits of information and inspiration onto the listener.

A celestial journey is just what Sun Ra and his Arkestra have created with Space is the Place.

Sun Ra and the Arkestra played a week of eleven concerts at the Detroit Jazz Center. The shows were organized and soundboard recorded by Rick Steiger (a collaborator of John Sinclair). On New Year's Eve the Arkestra performed nearly a hundred Sun Ra compositions in three different sets. Remastered from the original cassette soundboard recordings by Christopher Eddy. Limited edition of 500 copies, originally a 28 cd-r set from 2007 in an edition of 400.

The collection, titled Gilles Peterson Presents Sun Ra And His Arkesta, features music from the cosmic jazz legend's various projects Sun Ra And His Arkestra, Sun Ra Quartet, etc—as well as some solo music. The tracklist is littered with previously unreleased tracks, including a live version of Sun Ra classic "Space Is The Place." The compilation will be available on vinyl and CD formats. Peterson has long been a fan of Sun Ra's iconic brand of jazz in a Playing Favourites feature from 2014 he described it as his "favourite music." For the CD version, Peterson picks personal favourites, classics and unreleased tracks and weaves them into a flowing piece across 2CDs, showcasing the incredible variety of Ra’s work. Alongside the familiar tones of ‘Love In Outer Space’, the modal classic ‘Sleeping Beauty’ and a heavy version of ‘We Travel The Spaceways’, he brings in the off-kilter 1950s doo-wop of ‘Dreaming’, a 45 given to him personally by the late John Peel, alongside an unreleased 1987 bossa take on ‘Astro Black’, the experimental dub ambience of ‘Adventure-Equation’ and the defiant anthem, ‘Blackman’.