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![Sun Ra: Space Is The Place [2 CDs + BLURAY + DVD + BOOKLET] (Modern Harmonic) Sun Ra: Space Is The Place [2 CDs + BLURAY + DVD + BOOKLET] (Modern Harmonic)](https://www.teuthida.com/productImages/misc4/33189.jpg)
Digitally restoring and expanding on Sun Ra's 1972 soundtrack for the film of the same name, in a solid box set with two audio CDs, a DVD and BluRay + bonus featuures of the original film, along with a previously unreleased album recorded at the same soundtrack sessions, The Mathematics Of The Altered Destiny, and a booklet with notes from multiple Afrofuturism scholars.
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Larry Northington-alto saxophone, congas, percussion
Danny Davis-alto saxophone, flute, bass clarinet, percussion
Marshall Allen-alto saxophone, flute, oboe, bassoon, kora, cowbell, percussion
Danny Ray Thompson-baritone saxophone, percussion
Eloe Omoe-bass clarinet, bongos, percussion
Ken Moshesh-congas
Lex Humphries-drums
Sun Ra-piano, synthesizer, organ, clavinet, keyboards, voice
John Gilmore-tenor saxophone, drums, percussion, vocals
Wayne Harris-trumpet
Kwame Hadi-trumpet, congas, vibraphone
June Tyson-vocals, bells
Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.
Comes in rectangular cardboard box containing two CDs, one containing about 40 minutes of unissued Sun Ra studio recordings, a BluRay & DVD of the entire film, and a booklet with notes from multiple Afrofuturism scholars. Track 2-5 is a CD only bonus track, previously available on Some Skin, A Modern Harmonic Bongo & Percussion Party.
UPC: 090771826725
Label: Modern Harmonic
Catalog ID: CD-MH-267
Squidco Product Code: 33189
Format: 2 CDs / BLURAY / DVD
Condition: New
Released: 2023
Country: USA
Packaging: BOEXSET w/ 2 CDs + BLURAY + DVD + BOOKLET
Recorded in Oakland, California in 1972.
"A celestial journey is just what Sun Ra and his Arkestra have created with Space is the Place. Sun Ra's opus is at its simplest, a trip through outer bound melodies! Planetary bodies, eras in time, crystals, space caravans... Allow yourself to envision or feel a world away with this deluxe package of 2 CDs, a BluRay Disc and DVD of the film, and lots more!
The audio portion contains the original music composed for the film, which was eventually released as a soundtrack in 1993. It also features The Mathematics Of The Altered Destiny, a previously unissued album recorded in the same soundtrack sessions but is finally being released half a century after it was recorded. This newly discovered album is heavy on the prose of Sun Ra, as he and June Tyson bestow countless bits of information and inspiration onto the listener.
The film soundtrack is an entirely different journey than the 1973 Blue Thumb LP it shares its title with. We suggest you take both journeys. These recordings were sourced from the Sun Ra tape vault, then were digitally restored to make an album this special sound the best it possibly could.
The BluRay contains the entire glorious film complete with film artifacts, and was sourced from the restoration prepared by Rapid Eye Movies of Germany. The bonus features on the BluRay are composed of Ra and Ra-centric material from the Modern Harmonic archives, including video from the Outer Space Visual Communicator footage. An additional track from these sessions, "The Idea Of The Greater Age" can be found on the CD version of this album or on the album Some Skin: A Modern Harmonic Bongo and Percussion Party."-Modern Harmonic
Comes in rectangular cardboard box containing two CDs, one containing about 40 minutes of unissued Sun Ra studio recordings, a BluRay & DVD of the entire film, and a booklet with notes from multiple Afrofuturism scholars. Track 2-5 is a CD only bonus track, previously available on Some Skin, A Modern Harmonic Bongo & Percussion Party.
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Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Danny Davis "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." ^ Hide Bio for Danny Davis • Show Bio for Marshall Allen "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." ^ Hide Bio for Marshall Allen • Show Bio for Danny Ray Thompson 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. ^ Hide Bio for Danny Ray Thompson • Show Bio for Eloe Omoe "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." ^ Hide Bio for Eloe Omoe • Show Bio for Ken Moshesh Ken Moshesh is a musician & videographer based in Durham, NC. He has created the Ameri-Cosmic drumming system. ^ Hide Bio for Ken Moshesh • Show Bio for Sun Ra "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." ^ Hide Bio for Sun Ra • Show Bio for John Gilmore "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: 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." ^ Hide Bio for John Gilmore • Show Bio for June Tyson "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." ^ Hide Bio for June Tyson
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
8/26/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
8/26/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
8/26/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
8/26/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
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.
8/26/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
8/26/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
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Track Listing:
CD1
1. It's After The End Of The World 3:25
2. Under Different Stars 3:55
3. Discipline 33 3:22
4. Watusa 7:11
5. Calling Planet Earth 3:04
6. I Am The Alter-Destiny 1:08
7. Satellites Are Spinning 2:33
8. Cosmic Forces 3:09
9. Outer Spaceways Incorporated 3:00
10. We Travel The Spaceways 2:28
11. The Overseer 3:04
12. Blackman / Love In Outer Space 16:53
13. Mysterious Crystal 5:53
14. I Am The Brother Of The Wind 5:54
15. We'll Wait For You 4:11
16. Space Is The Place 4:23
CD2
1. The Mathematics Of The Altered Destiny 13:18
2. Listen Intently To The Things I Do Not Say 7:09
3. CreationIs Fabrication 13:46
4. My World Is The Space Way 6:29
5. The Idea Of The Greater Age 4:08
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