Song:The Beginning
Album:The Futuristic Sounds Of Sun Ra
Pianist arranger bandleader Sun Ra was one of the more unusual figures in jazz because of his whole cosmic prescence stuff. But his music was very innovative. He told people he was from another planet but he was actually born Herman Blount May 22, 1914 in Birmingham, AL. His musical career began normally. He learned to play piano as a child and was an arranger for Fletcher Henderson in 1947. But by the mid 50s he changed his name to Sun Ra and was playing advanced bebop with sax players Pat Patrick, John Gilmore & Marshall Allen. Though many musicians would pass through the Sun Ra Arkestra, some like Gilmore and Allen would remain with him for most of their careers. Sun Ra released albums on his own label during the 50s and it was in the late 50s he started with the Egyptian stage attire and the science fiction references. He and several of his core musicians moved to New York in 1961 and this album was recorded for Savoy at that time. Though Ornette Coleman was getting a lot of attention for free jazz, Sun Ra was doing a lot of that first but never got the exposure because people thought he was weird. But Futuristic Sounds is a very strong album of experimental jazz and it was released with several bonus tracks by Lone Hill Jazz in 2006. Sun Ra continued to perform his brand of big band jazz until his death on May 30, 1993 at age 79. Here's the Sun Ra Arkestra performing in Berlin, Germany 1983.
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