Sun Ra - 2018 - The Cymbals / Symbols Sessions: New York City 1973

Sun Ra

2018

The Cymbals / Symbols Sessions: New York City 1973

01. The World of the Invisible (06:52)

02. Thoughts Under a Dark Blue Light (16:32)

03. The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters (07:25)

04. The Mystery of the Two (07:35)

05. Land of the Day Star (03:57)

06. The Universe is Calling (04:10)

07. Space Landing (07:15)

08. Of Drastic Measures (04:50)

09. Of Otherness (07:31)

10. Myth Evidential (13:21)

11. Destination of the Known Unknown (09:37)

Alto Saxophone – Danny Davis

Bass – Ronnie Boykins

Bass Clarinet – Elmoe Omoe

Congas – Derek Morris

Drums – Harry Richards

Tenor Saxophone – John Gilmore

Trumpet – Akh Tal Ebah

Vibraphone, Organ, Keyboards – Sun Ra

LP1 is the first legitimate release of Cymbals on vinyl, LP2 contains some previously unreleased material. Packaged in a gatefold jacket with liner notes by Brother Cleve.

"The Universe Is Calling" was previously released as "Jazz And Romantic Sounds" on Out There A Minute

"Space Landing" was previously released as "The Eye Of Horus" on Sign Of The Myth

"Myth Evidential" was previously released as "The Truth Of Maat" on Sign Of The Myth

In early 1973, thanks to the intrepid persuasion of jazz producer Ed Michel, Sun Ra signed a licensing agreement with the prestigious jazz imprint Impulse (then part of ABC/Paramount Records) to reissue catalog titles from Ra's proprietary Saturn label, as well as some new Arkestra recordings. Michel had produced Ra's most commercially successful album, Space is the Place, in 1972 for Blue Thumb Records, and he figured Ra was finally primed for a wider Earthly audience. The Impulse deal struck with Ra and manager Alton Abraham specified a cap of 50 albums — ten annually for five years — although all masters were subject to approval by Impulse and theoretically less than 50 could be issued.

William Ruhlmann at AllMusic notes, "This was Ra's first association with something like a major record company, and though it resulted in ten actual releases, it didn't last long; another 12 planned releases were cancelled." Eight (egregiously remixed and/or remastered) existing Saturn titles were repackaged; on other planets, extraterrestrial jazz scholars refer to the Impulse period as "Ra's Quadraphonic Years."

Besides the reissues, two newly recorded albums were released—Astro Black and Pathways to Unknown Worlds. Another pair, Cymbals and Crystal Spears, recorded in 1973, were assigned catalog numbers before being shelved. They must have been rejected quickly, because that very year three Cymbals tracks were incongruously grouped with some of Ra's earliest 1940s & '50s recordings on a Saturn LP entitled Deep Purple.

The Cymbals sessions took place at one of Ra's most favored recording venues, Variety Studios, in New York. Other than the three tracks on Deep Purple, the Cymbals (a.k.a. Symbols) sessions were unissued during Sun Ra's lifetime. Five tracks from these sessions (tracks 1 thru 5 on this 11-track complete edition) were posthumously issued on a 2-CD set by Evidence in 2000 under the title The Great Lost Sun Ra Albums (which included Crystal Spears). The Evidence CDs had to rely on substandard source tapes, which at the time were the only tapes available.

This 2018 double album on Modern Harmonic used session master tapes from Michael D. Anderson's Sun Ra Music Archive, and represents the complete Cymbals/Symbols sessions.

Cymbals constitutes an intimate gathering by Arkestra standards. Although eight[or ten—see note below] musicians were involved, nothing larger than a sextet and often only a quartet plays on any one track. Ra's illustrious tenor saxophonist John Gilmore only performs on one title (“Thoughts Under A Dark Blue Light”), and Danny Davis plays alto on another ("Land of the Day Star"). Cymbals is notable for being one of the few ensemble albums in Sun Ra's vast catalog that does not feature Arkestra mainstay Marshall Allen.

As Bro. Cleve writes in the liner notes to the LP and CD editions of the Cymbals/Symbols packages, "The ABC/Impulse deal imploded, due to disappointing sales. The cut-out albums were dumped into bargain bins. Curiosity seekers heard Sun Ra, perhaps for the first time, for a dollar a disc. Sadly, the band made no money from sales of these LP’s. Ra returned to Saturn … Records, that is."

UPDATE from Bill Hunsinger (Feb 2020):

Ayé Aton told me that the one cut he recorded with Sun Ra as "the drummer" is "The World of the Invisible" from CYMBALS. Ayé claimed the track was recorded at the Ra house as a quartet, featuring Ra on keyboard, Ayé on drums, "a cat named Khusenaton who came up with [Ayé] from Chicago" on bass clarinet, and a bassist who Ayé couldn't recall or confirm. Marshall Allen confirmed to me that Khusenaton passed through the house at some point.

Originally recorded for the Impulse! jazz label in ’73, Cymbals is paired with a 2nd disc of unheard material from the same sessions. Hear Ra’s Baroque soundscapes, electrolytic clusters and dithering Moogs catalyze images of monoliths, space stations, computers malfunctioning and galaxies imploding on two compact saucers, with liner notes by known Ra-fficianado Brother Cleve!

Making its debut here, the 2nd disc is culled from a mysterious tape recorded during the same time frame and with many of the same musicians (though no Ronnie Boykins; Ra provides keyboard bass). Could this be one of the unissued Impulse! LPs? Quite probable. The tape box only lists the song titles.

The 2nd disc opens with some “Space Age Cocktail Music” as only Sun Ra could conjure in his intergalactic lounge. Continuing the Sci-Fi film references, the first four tracks could well be post-last call cantina music from a galaxy far, far away. The final two tracks, comprising Ra’s keyboards and accompanying drums/percussion, feels like an alternate soundtrack to 2001: A Space Odyssey, a film still playing in theaters in 1973.