Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra - Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy/Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow

Posted By : capt.evil1 | Date : 19 Oct 2009 19:37:57 | Comments : 6 |

Sun Ra (b. May 22, 1914 - May 30, 1993)

“

Sun Ra (birth name: Herman Poole Blount, legal name Le Sony'r Ra) was born in Birmingham, Alabama. He abandoned his birth name and took on the name and persona of Sun Ra (Ra being the ancient Egyptian god of the sun).

Claiming that he was of the "Angel Race" and not from Earth, but from Saturn, Sun Ra denied any connection with his birth name, saying "That's an imaginary person, never existed … any name that I use other than Ra is a pseudonym."

He was a prolific jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his "cosmic philosophy," musical compositions and performances.

There has always been some controversy revolving around Sun Ra, but few of his albums ever generated more discussion than Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy, which covers 5 of the 12 numbers on this two-LP, single-disc outing.

Ra played "astro space organ," and the array of swirling tones, funky licks and smashing rhythms, aided and abetted by John Gilmore on bass clarinet, Marshall Allen on oboe, and arrangements that sometimes had multiple horns dueling in the upper register and other times pivoting off careening beats, outraged those in the jazz community who thought Eric Dolphy and John Coltrane had already taken things too far.

Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow contained "Cluster of Galaxies" and "Solar Drums", two rhythm section exercises with the sound treated with such strange reverberations that they threatened to obliterate the instruments' identity and turn the music into low-budget musique concrète.

While testing the tape recorder when the musicians were tuning up one day, drummer and audio engineer Tommy Hunter had discovered that if he recorded with the earphones on, he could run a cable from the output jack back into the input on the recorder and produce massive reverberation: "I wasn't sure what Sun Ra would think of it... I thought he might be mad - but he loved it. It blew his mind! By working the volume of the output on the playback I could control the effect, make it fast or slow, drop it out, or whatever." ~ New Jazz

”

Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy:

Track list:

01. And Otherness - (5.10)
02. Thither and Yon - (4.01)
03. Adventure-Equation - (8.26)
04. Moon Dance - (6.34)
05. Voice of Space - (7.42)

Personnel:

* Sun Ra - Hammond B-3 Organ, Clavioline, Percussion
* Marshall Allen - Oboe, Percussion
* Danny Davis - Alto Sax, Flute
* John Gilmore - Bass Clarinet, Percussion
* possibly Bernard Pettaway - Bass Trombone
* Pat Patrick - Baritone Saxophone
* Robert Cummings - Bass Clarinet
* Ronnie Boykins - Bass
* Clifford Jarvis - Drums
* James Jacson - Pecussion
* Tommy Hunter - Percussion, Reverb
* Ensemble vocals

First two tracks recorded at the Choreographer's Workshop, New York (the Arkestra's rehearsal space) in 1963. Adventure-Equation, Moon Dance and Voice of Space were recorded at the Tip Top club, Brooklyn, in the same year, at 10 in the morning whilst Tommy Hunter was playing nights there with Sarah McLawler's trio, since the club provided access to a Hammond B-3 organ gratis. Hunter remembers some neighbourhood kids running in during the recording and shouting, "These guys don't know how to play!"

Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow:

Track list:

06. Cluster of Galaxies - (2.22)
07. Ankh - (6.08)
08. Solar Drums - (2.27)
09. The Outer Heavens - (4.47)
10. Infinity of the Universe - (7.08)
11. Lights on a Satellite - (3.08)
12. Kosmos in Blue - (8.06)

Performers:

* Sun Ra - Piano, Sun Harp, Gong, Percussion
* Manny Smith - Trumpet
* Ali Hassan - Trombone
* Pat Patrick - Baritone Sax, Percussion, Clarinet
* John Gilmore - Tenor Sax, Bass Clarinet, Percussion
* Marshall Allen - Alto Sax, Bells, Percussion
* Ronnie Boykins - Bass
* John Ore - Second Bass on Kosmos in Blue
* C. Scoby Stroman - Drums
* Clifford Jarvis - Drums on Infinity of the Universe
* Tommy Hunter - Drums, Percussion on Cluster of Galaxies, Lights on a Satellite & Kosmos in Blue

Recorded entirely at the Choreographer's Workshop, New York (the Arkestra's rehearsal space) in 1962, except Lights on a Satellite & Kosmos in Blue, recorded in the same location in either November or December 1961.

EAC Log

Part 1 | Part 2

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Posted By: zyxirion Date: 19 Oct 2009 21:29:18

Thank You so very much! I love this album! When I first heard this and When Sun/Fate in.., I realised I have never heard music of this kind before and there will never ever be anything else quite like Sun Ra.
Some of this stuff is really, as I've heard some say "whacky", but that's exactly what I love most.
Thanks for the full scans, I had never read them before.

I don't want to seem too impudent, but does anybody have When Sun Comes Out(in lossless)? "Circe" is simply so unearthly!
This far, these two days have been days of celebration.
At this point I'm too poor to really own any of these albums, so it's a huge pleasure to listen to this superb music in decent quality.
Thank You, capt.evil1 and You, groaaar!

Posted By: capt.evil1 Date: 20 Oct 2009 11:13:28

You're welcome! Look for more Sun Ra posts next week.

Posted By: cletonico Date: 30 Oct 2009 08:59:12

oh please, could you Re-up this one?

it rare and nice to found Sun Ra albums specially in lossless

thanks for all the others!

Posted By: zyxirion Date: 01 Nov 2009 15:43:46

I will try to re-up that. I have a very slow connection, all services failed at the end of an upload, but I will try some other day.

Posted By: zyxirion Date: 22 Nov 2009 11:27:05

No, it simply will not work. In whichever service I try, it either stops at the end of upload as "unsuccessful" or does not even begin. Either my connection is too lousy or something.

Posted By: Raw_Power Date: 15 Jul 2010 20:42:42

Damn, it'd be great to have this. Still no re-up?

If not, thanks anyway. (But I really look forward to getting it!)

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