"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

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.

"Michael D. Anderson. The Sun Ra Arkestra percussionist and executive director of The Sun Ra Music Archive."

"Thomas Thaddeus aka Eddie Thomas. Thomas was a percussionist, dancer and "incense dude" with the Arkestra throughout the late '70s period. He would appear again on Ra's 'Lanquidity' album for Philly Jazz in '79."

"Atakatune, aka Stanley Leon Morgan, Born in Philadelphia, PA in 1953, My father spent his childhood sharing time between Camden New Jersey and Philadelphia's Germantown neighborhood. It was in Germantown where he began a relationship at age 19 that would change his life forever. He first began to play the conga drums for Sun Ra's Arkestra in 1972 and would soon come to be referred to as "the premier Conga player and percussionist" under the direction of the Great Cosmic Philosopher Sun Ra."

"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."

"Jac Jacson 1932-1997: Bassoon, Ancient Egyptian Infinity Drum, Flute

"Jac" Jacson entered this earthly plane under the sign of cancer on July 15, 1932 in Georgetown, District of Columbia. He was born the second child of James Edward Jackson and Alethia Greene Jackson. At the age of 11 he moved with his family to New Haven, Connecticut.

While still in his formative years, Jac distinguished himself by demonstrating his formidable artistic abilities. His musical genius was first glimpsed when he began his career as a self taught jazz flutist in his mid-teens. Initially, he played with local jazz bands in and around New Haven. In the early 1960's, anxious to expand his musical horizions, he left for the Big Apple.

In the early to mid sixties Jac lived with his young family on the Lower East side of Manhattan. He supplemented his musical earning by painting and making jewelry in his shop. It was during this period about 1964, that he met up with and joined Sun Ra.

With that cosmic collision of spirits a new energy was created. Its effects have been felt around the world. A musical vibration that will forever grow and change, ebb and flow, pulse and beat wildly in the primordial, mercurial universe that is the legacy of Sun Ra and Jac his disciple in Space **** the Place."

"Trombonist Tyrone Hill remains best remembered for a three-decade stint as a member of cosmic jazz pioneer Sun Ra's Arkestra. Born in north Philadelphia in 1949, Hill first played the trombone in his middle school band. A neighbor of fledgling jazz greats including John Coltrane, Odean Pope, and Middie Middleton, he also harmonized in a local doo wop group. After four years studying trombone at the Combs School of Music, Hill tenured with the Uptown Theatre Orchestra, supporting headliners ranging from Smokey Robinson & the Miracles to James Brown. In 1969, he auditioned for Sun Ra but played only a handful of dates with the Arkestra before joining Philly soul hitmaker Billy Paul in 1971. Hill spent eight years touring and recording as Paul's musical director before returning to Philadelphia to rejoin the Arkestra on a permanent basis. In the years to follow, he played on more than three dozen Sun Ra LPs, and continued with the group following its founder's 1993 final departure from the terrestrial plane. In 1997 Hill recorded his first solo date, Out of the Box, for the Creative Improvised Music Projects label; a sequel, Soul-Etude, followed two years later. Hill left the planet on March 11, 2007, at the age of 58."-Jason Ankeny, All Music

"Rollo Radford is an American jazz and blues bassist and singer-songwriter (born October 29, 1943 in Chicago, IL). He is a member of the AACM and has played with artists ranging from Martha Reeves & The Vandellas to Sun Ra. Radford worked with the Sun Ra Arkestra from 1982 to 1992, and he is currently a member of the Siegel-Schwall Band. He is known for the groups Aesop Quartet, The Siegel-Schwall Band, The Sun Ra Arkestra."

"Don Mumford (February 9, 1954 - July 6, 2007) was an American musician who was noted in jazz circles.

Donald Dean Mumford was born in Lawrence, Kansas, on February 9, 1954, to Robert Herman and Mildred Elisabeth Brown Mumford. He had three brothers, Dale "Butch" Mumford, Marvin Mumford and John Mumford as well as two Sisters Katherine Mumford and Louise Mumford. He attended Lawrence public schools and Lawrence High School. He attended Mount Hood Junior College in Portland, Oregon.

At the time of his passing, Mumford was a resident of Des Moines, Iowa. He was struck by an automobile while riding a bicycle in Ames, Iowa. He was taken to the Iowa Methodist Hospital in Des Moines, where he died on July 6. He was buried in Maple Grove Cemetery in Lawrence after a July 12 memorial service in Lawrence.[1]

Mumford had an active career as a musician and private instructor. He played the drums and performed with several bands, including Sun Ra and Dollar Brand. He toured with various bands throughout Europe, Africa, Australia and the U.S. He was lead drummer on the album Motivation recorded by Rene van Helsdingen.

In addition to South African jazz pioneer Abdullah Ibrahim (Dollar Brand), during several productive years in the active music scene of Portland, Oregon, Mumford's mentors included drummer Mel Brown and saxophonist Jim Pepper. While in Oregon, Mumford played drums in such diverse settings as the play Red Beans and Rice, Carl Smith's Natural Gas Company and in one especially memorable jazz gig together with Ted Trimble, Steve Christofferson and Nancy King in Eugene. In the 1980s Mumford toured Africa and Europe with Abdullah Ibrahim and Essiet Okon Essiet, as well as with the famed aggregation of the late Sun Ra. In 2007 Mumford showed local artists and community members in Ames, Iowa the importance of a creative community. He helped start a movement to develop the Ames music scene and is the inspiration of the band Mumford's, based in Ames."