1957
Super Sonic Jazz
01. India
02. Sunology
03. Advice To Medics
04. Super Blonde
05. Soft Talk
06. Sunology - Part 2
07. Kingdom Of Not
08. Portrait Of The Living Sky
09. Blues At Midnight
10. El Is A Sound Of Joy
11. Springtime In Chicago
12. Medicine For A Nightmare
Electric piano, Wurlitzer, Space Gong, percussion)
John Gilmore (tenor sax and/or percussion 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12)
Pat Patrick (alto & baritone sax and/or percussion 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12)
Arthur Hoyle (trumpet 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12)
Charles Davis (baritone sax 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
Julian Priester (trombone 4, 5, 12)
James Scales (alto sax 4, 5, 11, 12)
02. Sunology
03. Advice To Medics
04. Super Blonde
05. Soft Talk
06. Sunology - Part 2
07. Kingdom Of Not
08. Portrait Of The Living Sky
09. Blues At Midnight
10. El Is A Sound Of Joy
11. Springtime In Chicago
12. Medicine For A Nightmare
Electric piano, Wurlitzer, Space Gong, percussion)
John Gilmore (tenor sax and/or percussion 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12)
Pat Patrick (alto & baritone sax and/or percussion 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12)
Arthur Hoyle (trumpet 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12)
Charles Davis (baritone sax 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
Julian Priester (trombone 4, 5, 12)
James Scales (alto sax 4, 5, 11, 12)
Ronnie Boykins (bass 1, 2, 6, 7)
Victor Sproles (bass 8, 9, 10)
Wilburn Green (electric bass 4, 5, 11, 12)
William Cochran (drums 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9,10)
Robert Barry (drums 4, 5, 11, 12)
Jim Herndon (a.k.a. Hernden) (tympani and timbali)
Recorded at Balkan Studio and RCA Studios, Chicago, 1956
Recorded in 1956, but released in 1957, Supersonic Jazz is arguably the first long-playing album by Sun Ra and His Arkestra on his Saturn label. However, it was not recorded as a debut. Rather, the album was assembled from tapes recorded during a number of sessions at two Chicago studios (RCA Victor and Balkan), and several tracks had been released as singles before their inclusion on this album. (Sunny's first fully realized commercial album was 1957's Jazz by Sun Ra, produced by Tom Wilson for the soon-defunct Transition label.)
Before these sessions, Sunny was still arranging for the Red Saunders Orchestra and singer Joe Williams, in addition to arranging for and coaching doo-wop ensembles. As Sunny's ambitions achieved liftoff, the Arkestra coalesced, began building a repertoire (mostly of the leader's originals), and made forays into studios. Deciding it was time for commercial releases, Sunny and business partner Alton Abraham launched Saturn (sometimes called El Saturn) as a record company in 1956.
As a first offering, Supersonic Jazz is a pinnacle Sun Ra release. While reflecting many prevailing bebop, Latin, and R&B conventions of the mid-1950s, it's evident that Sun Ra's musical voice and vision were starting to propel him away from the jazz mainstream. Biographer John Szwed finds on these recordings "characteristics which seemed alien to swing, bebop, or the new, more soulful and hard-edged music which was coming to be called hard bop."
"India," "Sunology," and "Portrait Of The Living Sky" delve into the mystic rhythms of an ancient Egyptian style. Jim Herndon and his tympani add a unique flair to the arrangements alongside other Arkestra members doubling on percussion. There are, in fact, a number of flavors on the album that seek an East-meets-West fusion, a virtual "Ancient Exotica."
Some titles such as "Portrait of the Living Sky" and "Kingdom of Not" appear on Supersonic Jazz and nowhere else; they do not recur in the massive Ra discography of studio, club, and concert recordings.
"Advice To Medics," which sounds like a living room recording, was captured during a 1957 rehearsal with vocalist Clyde Williams (who is not heard on the track). Some Ra scholars have speculated that the recording was reproduced at the wrong speed—recorded at 3¾ IPS, but played back at 7½ IPS. "Blues At Midnight," the first recorded rendition of this timeless Ra standard (a longer version appears on Jazz in Silhouette) allows the band, who were the cream of Chicago’s bebop stalwarts, a chance to stretch out.
This is the first album issued on Sun Ra's El Saturn label, and one of the very best of his 1950s Chicago period. Recorded in '56, the prescience of some of these performances is amazing. The solo electric piano piece "Advice to Medics" and the modal "India," with gongs aplenty, simply have no precedent except for Earl Hines' 1940 electric keyboard workout "child of a Disordered Mind." More importantly, all the music is terrific, including the straight bebop workout "Super Blonde." Ra's horn writing shows individuality and Ellington roots. Soloists include Pat Patrick (mostly on Jackie-esque alto here), John Gilmore, Julian Priester, and Chicago legend Art Hoyle on trumpet. A bonus is the album's original liners, perhaps written by Alton Abraham or Ra himself, plus excellent new notes by Tom Moon.
Sun Ra had only been heading his Arkestra for a couple of years when they recorded the 12 songs featured on this 1956 session. But while the arrangements, ensemble work, and solos are not as ambitious, expansive, or free-wheeling as they became on later outings, the groundwork was laid on such cuts as "India," "Sunology," and one of the first versions of "Blues at Midnight." Ra's band already had the essential swinging quality and first-class soloists, and he had gradually challenged them with compositions that did not rely on conventional hard bop riffs, chord changes, and structure but demanded a personalized approach and understanding of sound and rhythm far beyond standard thinking. You can hear in Ra's solos and those of John Gilmore, Pat Patrick, Charles Davis, and others an emerging freedom and looseness which would explode in the future.
Wow! This album is even better than I remembered it being, and is especially astounding for 1956. Although Sun Ra is better known as perhaps the premier eccentric avant-garde jazzer, this album shows all facets of his and his band's talents and abilities.
He shows that he can swing and slow-groove with the sophistication of the great jazz arrangers such as Duke Ellington, although a track like "El Is A Sound Of Joy" shows him beginning to push those boundaries. But there are also moments that are very forward-thinking, including the bold opener "India". While not completely into his "space music" yet, this song and a few others leave no doubt as to his adventurousness. On this track and several others, the instrumentation becomes quite eclectic employing tympani, gongs, handclaps, and an early use of electric keyboards masterfully played by Ra himself. And the band is first-class, musicians' musicians in the jazz world. A young Julian Priester gets in the only composition not by Sun Ra with the edgy and exciting "Soft Talk", which is not at all soft.
Within this one album, he looks backward 15 years and forward 15 years to the innovations of John Coltrane and Miles Davis' band to come. Sun Ra and his band were often commercially overlooked in their lower-budget boundary-ignoring approach, but this is an absolutely superb example of the best of what jazz can offer on all levels.
Victor Sproles (bass 8, 9, 10)
Wilburn Green (electric bass 4, 5, 11, 12)
William Cochran (drums 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9,10)
Robert Barry (drums 4, 5, 11, 12)
Jim Herndon (a.k.a. Hernden) (tympani and timbali)
Recorded at Balkan Studio and RCA Studios, Chicago, 1956
Before these sessions, Sunny was still arranging for the Red Saunders Orchestra and singer Joe Williams, in addition to arranging for and coaching doo-wop ensembles. As Sunny's ambitions achieved liftoff, the Arkestra coalesced, began building a repertoire (mostly of the leader's originals), and made forays into studios. Deciding it was time for commercial releases, Sunny and business partner Alton Abraham launched Saturn (sometimes called El Saturn) as a record company in 1956.
As a first offering, Supersonic Jazz is a pinnacle Sun Ra release. While reflecting many prevailing bebop, Latin, and R&B conventions of the mid-1950s, it's evident that Sun Ra's musical voice and vision were starting to propel him away from the jazz mainstream. Biographer John Szwed finds on these recordings "characteristics which seemed alien to swing, bebop, or the new, more soulful and hard-edged music which was coming to be called hard bop."
"India," "Sunology," and "Portrait Of The Living Sky" delve into the mystic rhythms of an ancient Egyptian style. Jim Herndon and his tympani add a unique flair to the arrangements alongside other Arkestra members doubling on percussion. There are, in fact, a number of flavors on the album that seek an East-meets-West fusion, a virtual "Ancient Exotica."
Some titles such as "Portrait of the Living Sky" and "Kingdom of Not" appear on Supersonic Jazz and nowhere else; they do not recur in the massive Ra discography of studio, club, and concert recordings.
"Advice To Medics," which sounds like a living room recording, was captured during a 1957 rehearsal with vocalist Clyde Williams (who is not heard on the track). Some Ra scholars have speculated that the recording was reproduced at the wrong speed—recorded at 3¾ IPS, but played back at 7½ IPS. "Blues At Midnight," the first recorded rendition of this timeless Ra standard (a longer version appears on Jazz in Silhouette) allows the band, who were the cream of Chicago’s bebop stalwarts, a chance to stretch out.
This is the first album issued on Sun Ra's El Saturn label, and one of the very best of his 1950s Chicago period. Recorded in '56, the prescience of some of these performances is amazing. The solo electric piano piece "Advice to Medics" and the modal "India," with gongs aplenty, simply have no precedent except for Earl Hines' 1940 electric keyboard workout "child of a Disordered Mind." More importantly, all the music is terrific, including the straight bebop workout "Super Blonde." Ra's horn writing shows individuality and Ellington roots. Soloists include Pat Patrick (mostly on Jackie-esque alto here), John Gilmore, Julian Priester, and Chicago legend Art Hoyle on trumpet. A bonus is the album's original liners, perhaps written by Alton Abraham or Ra himself, plus excellent new notes by Tom Moon.
Sun Ra had only been heading his Arkestra for a couple of years when they recorded the 12 songs featured on this 1956 session. But while the arrangements, ensemble work, and solos are not as ambitious, expansive, or free-wheeling as they became on later outings, the groundwork was laid on such cuts as "India," "Sunology," and one of the first versions of "Blues at Midnight." Ra's band already had the essential swinging quality and first-class soloists, and he had gradually challenged them with compositions that did not rely on conventional hard bop riffs, chord changes, and structure but demanded a personalized approach and understanding of sound and rhythm far beyond standard thinking. You can hear in Ra's solos and those of John Gilmore, Pat Patrick, Charles Davis, and others an emerging freedom and looseness which would explode in the future.
Wow! This album is even better than I remembered it being, and is especially astounding for 1956. Although Sun Ra is better known as perhaps the premier eccentric avant-garde jazzer, this album shows all facets of his and his band's talents and abilities.
He shows that he can swing and slow-groove with the sophistication of the great jazz arrangers such as Duke Ellington, although a track like "El Is A Sound Of Joy" shows him beginning to push those boundaries. But there are also moments that are very forward-thinking, including the bold opener "India". While not completely into his "space music" yet, this song and a few others leave no doubt as to his adventurousness. On this track and several others, the instrumentation becomes quite eclectic employing tympani, gongs, handclaps, and an early use of electric keyboards masterfully played by Ra himself. And the band is first-class, musicians' musicians in the jazz world. A young Julian Priester gets in the only composition not by Sun Ra with the edgy and exciting "Soft Talk", which is not at all soft.
Within this one album, he looks backward 15 years and forward 15 years to the innovations of John Coltrane and Miles Davis' band to come. Sun Ra and his band were often commercially overlooked in their lower-budget boundary-ignoring approach, but this is an absolutely superb example of the best of what jazz can offer on all levels.
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