The Squid's Ear Magazine


Sun Ra and His Intergalactic Solar Research Arkestra: Helsinki 1971 (Transparency)

New sealed copy. Live recordings of Sun Ra's large Intergalactic Solar Research Arkestra performing live in Helsinki, 1971, plus a DVD of a 1971 interview with The Finnish Broadcasting Co.
 

Price: $39.95



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product information:

Personnel:



Sun Ra

Kwame Hadi

Tal Ebah (Doug E. Williams)

Marshall Allen

Danny Davis

Larry Northington

Istar Sundance

John Gilmore

Danny Ray Thompson

Pat Patrick

Hakim Rahim

Eloe Omoe

Al Batin Nur

Augustus Browning Jr.

James Jacson

Clifford Jarvis

Lex Humphries

Tommy Hunter

Nimrod Hunt

William Morrow

Roger Aralmon Hazoume

June Tyson

Malik Ramadin

Art Jenkins

Wisteria el Moondew (Judith Holton)

Cheryl Banks

Kevin Massey

Kenneth Alexaner

Richard Wilkinson


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




DVD: NTSC, Retion Free, 4:3 (720x480); Dolby Audio

UPC: 716205031427

Label: Transparency
Catalog ID: Transparency 0314
Squidco Product Code: 11890

Format: 2 CDs + 1 DVD
Condition: New
Released: 2009
Country: USA
Packaging: Jewel Tray Box
Recorded live at Kulttuuritalo (House of Culture), in Helsinki, Finland, on October 14th, 1971.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"This is the 20th Sun Ra release from Transparency and possibly the verybest. A complete 2 1/2-hour concert showcasing all dimensions of the group: free jazz, psychedelic, the beautiful vocals of June Tyson and a one-way ticket into space with several astounding Sun Ra synthesizer solos. The bonus DVD is a short interview with Sun Ra filmed the same day as the concert broadcast, aired only once on Finnish television and never seen since... until now. The concert and interview are licensed from YLE - The Finnish Broadcasting Company. This is an absolute MUST-HAVE!"-Transparency


DVD: NTSC, Retion Free, 4:3 (720x480); Dolby Audio


This album has been reviewed on our magazine:

The Squid
The Squid's Ear!

Artist Biographies

"Sun Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, legal name Le Sony'r Ra; May 22, 1914 - May 30, 1993) was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his experimental music, "cosmic philosophy", prolific output, and theatrical performances. He was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1979. For much of his career, Ra led "The Arkestra", an ensemble with an ever-changing name and flexible line-up.

Born and raised in Alabama, Blount would eventually become involved in the 1940s Chicago jazz scene. He soon abandoned his birth name, taking the name Sun Ra (after Ra, the Egyptian God of the Sun) and developing a complex persona and mythology that would make him a pioneer of Afrofuturism: he claimed he was an alien from Saturn on a mission to preach peace, and throughout his life he consistently denied any ties to his prior identity. His widely eclectic and exploratory music would eventually touch on virtually the entire history of jazz, ranging from swing music and bebop to free jazz and fusion, and his compositions ranged from keyboard solos to big bands of over 30 musicians. From the mid-1950s until his death, Ra led the musical collective The Arkestra (which featured artists such as Marshall Allen, John Gilmore, June Tyson throughout its various iterations). Its performances often included dancers and musicians dressed in elaborate, futuristic costumes inspired by ancient Egyptian attire and the space age.

Though his mainstream success was limited, Sun Ra was a prolific recording artist and frequent live performer, and remained both influential and controversial throughout his life for his music and persona. He is now widely considered an innovator; among his distinctions are his pioneering work in free improvisation and modal jazz and his early use of electronic keyboards. Over the course of his career, he recorded dozens of singles and over one hundred full-length albums, comprising well over 1000 songs, and making him one of the most prolific recording artists of the 20th century. Following Sun Ra's death in 1993, the Arkestra continues to perform."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Ra)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Marshall Belford Allen (born May 25, 1924) is an American free jazz and avant-garde jazz alto saxophone player. He also performs on flute, oboe, piccolo, and EVI (an electronic valve instrument made by Steiner, Crumar company).

Allen is best known for his work with eccentric keyboardist/bandleader Sun Ra, having recorded and performed mostly in this context since the late 1950s, and having led Sun Ra's Arkestra since 1993. Critic Jason Ankeny describes Marshall as "one of the most distinctive and original saxophonists of the postwar era."

Marshall Allen was born in Louisville, Kentucky.

During the Second World War he enlisted in the 92nd Infantry Division and was stationed in France. Allen studied alto saxophone in Paris and played in Europe with Art Simmons and James Moody.

He is best known for his mastery of pyrotechnic effects on the alto - he has said that he "wanted to play on a broader sound basis rather than on chords" (1971 interview with Tam Fiofori cited in). The opportunity came through his long association with Sun Ra, with whom he performed almost exclusively from 1958 to Ra's death in 1993, although he did record outside the Arkestra, notably with Paul Bley's group in 1964 and with Olatunji's group during the mid-1960s. Critic Scott Yanow has described Allen's playing as "Johnny Hodges from another dimension".

Since the departure of Sun Ra and John Gilmore, Allen has led the Arkestra, and has recorded two albums as their bandleader. In May 2004, Allen celebrated his 80th birthday on stage with the Arkestra, as part of their performance at the Ninth Vision Festival in New York City. Allen gave another performance on his birthday in 2008 at Sullivan Hall in New York City.

Allen often appears in NYC-area collaborations with bassist Henry Grimes and has also participated in the "Outerzone Orchestra" together with Francisco Mora Catlett, Carl Craig and others in an appreciation of Sun Ra's music."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Allen)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Danny Davis was mainly an alto saxophone player and long-time member of the Sun Ra Arkestra, spanning a period from the early '60s to the late '80s. He is also heard on albums on the Japanese Fool label, and with Takehisa Kosugi & Peter Kowald on the FMP label."

-Discogs, Squidco 3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"John Gilmore (September 28, 1931 Ð August 19, 1995) was an avant-garde jazz saxophonist known for his tenure with keyboardist/bandleader Sun Ra from the 1950s to the 1990s.

Gilmore grew up in Chicago and played clarinet from the age of 14. He took up the tenor saxophone while serving in the United States Air Force from 1948 to 1952, then pursued a musical career, playing briefly with pianist Earl Hines before encountering Sun Ra in 1953.

For the next four decades, Gilmore recorded and performed almost exclusively with Sun Ra. This was puzzling to some, who noted Gilmore's talent, and thought he could be a major star like John Coltrane or Sonny Rollins. Despite being five years older than Gilmore, Coltrane was impressed with his playing, and took informal lessons from Gilmore in the late 1950s. Coltrane's epochal, protoÐfree jazz "Chasin' the Trane" was inspired partly by Gilmore's sound.

In 1957 he co-led with Clifford Jordan a Blue Note date that is regarded as a hard bop classic: Blowing In from Chicago. Horace Silver, Curly Russell, and Art Blakey provided the rhythm section. In the mid-1960s Gilmore toured with the Jazz Messengers and he participated in recording sessions with Paul Bley, Andrew Hill (Andrew! and Compulsion), Pete La Roca (Turkish Women at the Bath), McCoy Tyner (Today and Tomorrow) and a handful of others. In 1970 he co-led a recording with Jamaican trumpeter Dizzy Reece. His main focus throughout, however, remained with the Sun Ra Arkestra.

Gilmore's devotion to Sun Ra was due, in part, to the latter's use of harmony, which Gilmore considered both unique and a logical extension of bebop. Gilmore had stated that Sun Ra was "more stretched out than Monk" and that "I'm not gonna run across anybody who's moving as fast as Sun Ra ... So I just stay where I am."

Gilmore occasionally doubled on drums and also played bass clarinet until Sun Ra hired Robert Cummings as a specialist on the latter instrument in the mid-1950s. However, tenor sax was his main instrument and Gilmore himself made a huge contribution to Sun Ra's recordings and was the Arkestra's leading sideman, being given solos on almost every track on which he appeared. In the Rough Guide to Jazz, Brian Priestley says:

Gilmore is known for two rather different styles of tenor playing. On performances of a straight ahead post-bop character (which include many of those with Sun Ra), he runs the changes with a fluency and tone halfway between Johnny Griffin and Wardell Gray, and with a rhythmic and motivic approach which he claims influenced Coltrane. On more abstract material, he is capable of long passages based exclusively on high-register squeals. Especially when heard live, Gilmore was one of the few musicians who carried sufficient conviction to encompass both approaches.

Many fans of jazz saxophone consider him to be among the greatest ever, his fame shrouded in the relative anonymity of being a member of Sun Ra's Arkestra. His "straight ahead post-bop" talents are exemplified in his solo on the Arkestra's rendition of "Blue Lou," as seen on Mystery, Mr. Ra.

After Sun Ra's 1993 death, Gilmore led Ra's Arkestra for a few years before his own death from emphysema. Marshall Allen then took over the Arkestra leadership."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gilmore_(musician))
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

Danny Ray Thompson is a bassoon player, saxophonist and long-time member of the Sun Ra Arkestra, spanning a period from the mid-'60s to the late '80s. He has been in the groups Black Heat, The Heliosonic Tone-tette, and The Sun Ra Arkestra.

-Squidco 3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"To describe the phenomenal musical background of musician, composer, arranger "Pat" Patrick could fill several pages. His versatility combined with a distinctly individual sound has enhanced groups led by Erskine Hawkins, Sun Ra, Leon Thomas, Cab Calloway, Earl Hines, Horace Henderson, James Moody, Cootie Williams, Duke Ellington and Thelonius Monk to mention a few. His musical education includes study under Captain Walter Dyett at Du Sable High, Willy Randall of the original Earl Hines Band, Clark Terry and Wilson Jr. College in Chicago. Pat is the winner of the Downbeat TDWR (Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition) 1971 critics poll and fifth in the Downbeat "Established Talent" critics poll in 1972. Honours in the Popular Readers poll are also to his credit. Not only has he had several of his compositions recorded, but has composed music for a number of plays and television. He has recorded with Sun Ra, James Moody, Quincy Jones, Mongo Santamaria, Olatunji and John Coltrane among others. Pat Patrick is co-founder of the Baritone Saxophone Retinue.

As composer, bandleader, and full-time member of the Sun Ra Arkestra, Pat Patrick was a visionary musician whose singular contribution to the jazz tradition has not yet been fully recognised. As well holding down the baritone spot in the Arkestra for 35 years, Patrick played flute and alto, composed in both jazz and popular idioms, and was a widely respected musician, playing with Duke Ellington, Eric Dolphy, Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane, with whom he appeared on Africa/Brass. But he is best known for his crucial contributions to key Sun Ra recordings including Angels and Demons at Play, Jazz in Silhouette and Nubians of Plutonia, among dozens of others.

As a bandleader, Patrick only released one LP - the almost mythical Sound Advice, recorded with his Baritone Saxophone Retinue, a unique gathering of baritone saxophone masters including Charles Davis and Rene Mclean. First issued in 1977 on Sun Ra's legendary Saturn Records imprint, Sound Advice is a deephued exploration of this special instrument, a lost masterpiece of Arkestrally-minded Ellingtonia where higher adepts of the lower cosmic tones are heard in rare conference."

-Pat Patrick Bandcamp Page (https://patpatrick.bandcamp.com/)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Eloe Omoe, real name Leroy Taylor, was a Reed player (clarinet, bassoon, oboe) with the Sun Ra Arkestra from 1970 to 1989. Born in 1949, died in 1989."

-Discogs.com (https://www.discogs.com/artist/252022-Eloe-Omoe)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Clifford Osbourne Jarvis (August 26, 1941 - November 26, 1999) was an American hard bop and free jazz drummer, who in the 1980s moved to London, England, where he spent the remainder of his career.

Clifford Jarvis, the son of Malcom "Shorty" Jarvis was born in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, where he studied at Berklee College of Music in the 1950s.

Moving to New York City, he established himself in jazz between 1959 and 1966, by recording with bebop and hard-bop musicians including Randy Weston, Yusef Lateef, Freddie Hubbard, Barry Harris, Jackie McLean, John Patton, Chet Baker, Kenny Drew, Walter Davis, and Elmo Hope, and playing with Grant Green and Rahsaan Roland Kirk.

He worked and recorded with musicians associated with free jazz, including Sun Ra (from 1962 to 1976), Pharoah Sanders, Sonny Simmons, Alice Coltrane, and Archie Shepp.

During the 1980s, Jarvis moved to England, where he played with younger musicians including Courtney Pine. He also worked as a music educator at Chats Palace Arts Centre in London and Pyramid Arts Development in Dalston. Jarvis continued teaching until his death in 1999."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_Jarvis)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"June Tyson (born February 5, 1936, Albemarle, North Carolina - d. November 24, 1992, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was a singer and dancer who achieved prominence performing with keyboardist and bandleader Sun Ra.

When she joined Sun Ra's Arkestra around 1968, she became the first female member of his band. (Sun Ra had previously recorded with a few female vocalists, but they were not members of his band.) She became a close and trusted friend of Ra, and helped him with costume design. Tyson continued to perform and record with Ra up to her death.

Tyson was diagnosed with cancer and grew increasingly ill. When she was unable to sing because of her illness, she played the violin."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Tyson)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



Disc 1:



1. announcer; Discipline #? 5:41

2. Theme of the Stargazers 0:49

3. Discipline 8 34:01

4. Love in Outer Space 10:33

5. Watusi (Pitts-Sherrill) 11:09

6. Enlightenment (Dotson-Ra) 7:17

7. unidentified Ra solo; announcer 4:57



Disc 2:



1. Calling Planet Earth 5:39

2. unidentified title 4:29

3. Space Is the Place 18:42

4. Angels and Demons at Play (Boykins-Allen-Ra) 13:57

5. The Satellites Are Spinning 5:58

6. Second Stop Is Jupiter 6:39

7. Somewhere Else 7:53

8. To Nature's God 4:55

9. Sun Ra and his Band from Outer Space Prepare for the Journey to Other Worlds; Sometimes I Feel Likea Motherless Child (traditional) 7:05



Disc 3:



Sun Ra Interview

Musiikkiykkonen (Music One) program

YLE - The Finnish Broadcasting Company

Filmed October 14, 1971

Aired October 24, 1971

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Sun Ra
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