Here's a pretty fascinating interview on Sun Ra and the artwork from his albums. I've been impressed by his music for a while, but I didn't know much about the operation he was running. It's pretty cool that he and his associates got together and put these records together as a kind of kitchen table crafts project.
The interview is with Irwin Chusid, a coeditor of the book. I listen to Chusid's show on WFMU quite a lot. He's got impeccable taste in jazz, and plays some unpredictable stuff too (e.g. indie pop balanced with unknowns singing along with hold music.) He's also notable among their on-air talent for being resistant to current-thing ideologies, which is something I appreciate more than I used to.
Anyway, if you're curious as to what Sun Ra sounded like on the albums with this distinctive handmade art, here's an example. You might not expect to hear him and the Arkestra playing standards, but they hit it out of the park.
2 comments:
That was a great article. I always liked what I heard of Sun Ra's music but I didn't know much about the man himself. Of course I can be excused for that since a lot of what he told interviewers about his background was made up. He was mysterious, weird even, to say the least but just knowing he came from Birmingham you'd have to assume he had likely met a number of famous jazz musicians and probably received an excellent musical education. I loved the story too about the kitchen table arts and crafts evenings.
Rolling Stone had an article a few years ago about how Sun Ra remains popular even now. No surprise there, eh? The costumes and stage sets he designed were precursors of what became a major rock esthetic: David Bowie, for one example (okay, I'm thinking of Spiders From Mars - a mere hop, skip and jump from Saturn).
Sometimes I Love You was a treat to hear.
That WFMU still exists seems like a kind of miracle, doesn't it? I remember well when the college they'd been associated with went bankrupt very shortly after the station became independent. I do have a link bookmarked that I'll have to open a bit more often.
I've only scratched the surface with his music but I've liked what I've heard. He had an interesting life, too. He was a conscientious objector during World War 2 and defended himself in court. Of course this is when he was plain old Herman Blount. The Sun Ra thing would start a few years later. Also, while he was playing music professionally when he was in high school, he didn't really break through with the public--again, after taking on the Sun Ra identity--until he was well into his forties. I suspect that part of it was that while Birmingham, Alabama is a great place to learn music, it wasn't an industry center like New York or Chicago or even New Orleans.
It wouldn't surprise me if David Bowie had gotten some ideas from him. Bowie had pretty small-c catholic taste in music, and he went in a weird jazzy direction at the end. As for George Clinton, well, the Sun Ra influence is pretty undeniable.
Also known as "Sometimes I'm Happy." Yeah, turns out to be perfect for him.
Upsala College and WFMU have interesting histories in and of themselves. It's hard to believe they were also connected. The station must be doing something right, since aside from being on the air it also has several web-only streams. Which of course means they do way more programming than any one person could keep up with.
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