Sun Ra

If you were going to envision the ultimate avant-garde meeting-of-the-minds jam session, who would you pick? Even the most hopeful fan of strange and innovative music couldn't have seen this one coming: on one afternoon in 1986, at Coney Island's dilapidated freak show, space-age avant-jazz genius Sun Ra met avant-garde "serious music" composer John Cage in an unforgettable performance. You couldn't imagine two figures more opposite. Cage was known for his unusual approach to composition,...

Double LP on clear vinyl!!If you were going to envision the ultimate avant-garde meeting-of-the-minds jam session, who would you pick? Even the most hopeful fan of strange and innovative music couldn't have seen this one coming: on one afternoon in 1986, at Coney Island's dilapidated freak show, space-age avant-jazz genius Sun Ra met avant-garde "serious music" composer John Cage in an unforgettable performance. You couldn't imagine two figures more opposite. Cage was known for his unusual...

Shining sounds from the dawn of the Sun Ra Arkestra. "El is A Sound of Joy" was recorded in 1956 and appeared the following year on the very first Saturn LP, Super-Sonic Jazz. Incredible is the fact that saxophonist Charles Davis, here providing the soulful baritone anchor line (counterpoint to Ra's formidable left hand), remains in the front-line of today's Sun Ra Arkestra directed by Marshall Allen. Shuffle swing breakdown jets leisurely, casually, masterfully, painting lush, post-modern...

"The Lady With The Golden Stockings" is a propulsive, forthright groove – a decisive, deep-space, pre-dawn party jam, emitting golden sparks from the black hole center which begat "Africa" and "Watusa." Quantum-elasticity of temporal equations, bubbling bass, trumpet dancing on light waves, tenor sax serenade across the galaxy, signaling yonder... vessels... beings... femaliens... Pure poetry in sublime, delicate, rhythmelodic motion becomes "Spontaneous Simplicity.” A centerpiece among the...

2016 Black Friday Exclusive! Available at Midnight on November 25th! Limited Quantities!A TRIPLE LP AND DOUBLE CD OF INTERPLANETARY PERFECTION!A stunning live Sun Ra event, recorded at the Inter-Media Arts Center in New York, April 20, 1991! Modern Harmonic proudly presents this very special Sun Ra recording, issued here for the first time ever! This concert was just two years before Ra’s “earthly departure” – and his keyboard work was amazingly strident and vibrant here. The Arkestra was in...

A TRIPLE LP AND DOUBLE CD OF INTERPLANETARY PERFECTION! A stunning live Sun Ra event, recorded at the Inter-Media Arts Center in New York, April 20, 1991! Modern Harmonic proudly presents this very special Sun Ra recording, issued here for the first time ever! This concert was just two years before Ra’s “earthly departure” – and his keyboard work was amazingly strident and vibrant here. The Arkestra was in perfect form as well; this special night also showcased the Arkestra’s vocal...

**PARENTAL ADVISORY -- EXPLICIT LYRICS**"Nuclear War," Sun Ra's groove-infested x-rated warning, was an early 80s underground hit when it appeared on a 12-inch (plus the Saturn album A Fireside Chat With Lucifer). Ra and crew expose the deathly horror with deadly serious call-and-response, leavened with funk and a pinch of humor for better digestion, eyes gleaming in a laid-back, lilting, cosmo-gangster-lean. "Outer Reach Intense Energy" and "Twilight" are originally unreleased works,...

"Plutonian Nights," the opening jam from the 1959 Afrofuturist classic album Nubians of Plutonia, is Sun Ra's quintessential, astro-majestic party joint. Among the top grooves in his immense catalog, Ra reveals his love for R&B is inseparable from his embrace of Jazz. (He once told bassist Richard Evans, "We don't play Jazz, we play Dazz.") Pat Patrick's bari sax morphs into a Fender bass, while the swinging flow of John Gilmore & Co. gives new meaning to the notion of 'Blowing' (Out From...

Among Sun Ra's most famous and jet-propelled anthems, "Rocket Number Nine" is heard here in one of the earliest renditions from a marathon June 1960 session, with a staggering, swaggering, hip-bop beat. Ignition. Liftoff. "Rocket Number Nine Take Off for the Planet Venus, Zoom Zoom! Up in the air! Zoom! Up!" Paired with originally unknown recordings, including the driving, bossa nova-infused "Ankhnation" from 1959 and "Project Black Mass" from 1962. More energized and driving in contrast with...

Sun Ra's angular yet strident and soulful "Saturn,” recorded in 1958, displays bluesy cubist bop in perfect alter-dimensional extension of Fletcher Henderson. It's also a showcase for John Gilmore's sax acrobatics and supersonic swing. Gilmore dove deep into the Ra Omniverse; "got the concept" - as Coltrane described the tenor giant - hooked by this composition, and never left. Dual baritones of Pat Patrick and Charles Davis (who continues in the front line of the living, glowing Arkestra of...

The first-ever collection of Arkestra vocal tracks! Over 75 minutes of vocal performances - audible perfection! Featuring album art interpreted from the work of "the father of modern space art," Chesley Bonestell, plus extensive liner notes. Across the history of jazz, there is no wilder, more future-forward composer and performer than Herman Poole Blount, aka Sun Ra. Known as much for his wild on-stage persona as his innovative compositions, Sun Ra was the avant-garde bleeding edge of the...

A new Sun Ra album touches ground in the earthly bins, 50 years after its creation!Sun Ra is still trying to get our attention 50 years after dispatching this transmission. Humanity’s path since then makes his message even more urgent today. Years after Herman Poole “LeSony’r Ra” Blount “left the planet” he’s still trying to reach us, to wake us up and to change our destiny.Sun Ra and the Arkestra weren’t a traditional studio band, and every star in the vast galaxy of their discography...

A new Sun Ra LP touches ground in the earthly bins, 50 years after its creation! Sun Ra is still trying to get our attention 50 years after dispatching this transmission. Humanity’s path since then makes his message even more urgent today. Years after Herman Poole “LeSony’r Ra” Blount “left the planet” he’s still trying to reach us, to wake us up and to change our destiny. Sun Ra and the Arkestra weren’t a traditional studio band, and every star in the vast galaxy of their discography reflects...

All test pressings come in a generic jacket with varying center labels representing the plant where the record was pressed. You’ll get them from us, the way we get them from the plant! Unless indicated, all test pressings are on black vinyl.Extremely limited quantities!

**PARENTAL ADVISORY -- EXPLICIT LYRICS**Get all three Sun Ra 10" EPs for a special price!Sun Ra - Rocket Number Nine:Among Sun Ra's most famous and jet-propelled anthems, "Rocket Number Nine" is heard here in one of the earliest renditions from a marathon June 1960 session, with a staggering, swaggering, hip-bop beat. Ignition. Paired with originally unknown recordings, including the driving, bossa nova-infused "Ankhnation" from 1959 and "Project Black Mass" from 1962. Romping, rumbling low...

**PARENTAL ADVISORY -- EXPLICIT LYRICS**Get all three Sun Ra 10" EPs plus NRBQ's Interstellar 10" for a special price! Sun Ra - Rocket Number Nine:Among Sun Ra's most famous and jet-propelled anthems, "Rocket Number Nine" is heard here in one of the earliest renditions from a marathon June 1960 session, with a staggering, swaggering, hip-bop beat. Ignition. Paired with originally unknown recordings, including the driving, bossa nova-infused "Ankhnation" from 1959 and "Project Black Mass" from...

Get all three Sun Ra 7" singles together! MH-101 - Saturn / Mystery Mr. Ra: Sun Ra's angular yet strident and soulful "Saturn,” recorded in 1958, displays bluesy cubist bop in perfect alter-dimensional extension of Fletcher Henderson. It's also a showcase for John Gilmore's sax acrobatics and supersonic swing. "Mystery, Mr. Ra," recorded live in 1984 and originally unissued, is just on the friendly side of ominous. Its deep funk, delivered by James Jacson on the Ancient Egyptian Astro Infinity...

Across the history of jazz, there is no wilder, more future-forward composer and performer than Herman Poole Blount, aka Sun Ra. Known as much for his wild on-stage persona as his innovative compositions, Sun Ra was the avant-garde bleeding edge of the jazz genre, introducing modal composition and electronic instrumentation before almost anyone else -- not to mention bringing the space age to life with his obsession with all things extraterrestrial. Across more than 100 LPs released in his...