I heard the great Sun Ra bassist Ronnie Boykins play long before I ever even knew who Sun Ra was or heard his Arkestra’s music.
In high school, my oldest brother had a record collection with a few killer jazz/blues fusion albums. One of them was John Mayall’s classic Room To Move. I loved it. In fact, that was the album that helped my learn to play the harmonica.
One of the first John Mayall albums I ever bought was his 1973 Ten Years Are Gone.
This is a terrific double album with so many great musicians: Blue Mitchell on trumpet; Freddy Robinson on guitar; Victor Gaskin on bass; and Red Holloway on alto, tenor and flute. One of my favorite songs is I Still Care, with a sweet saxophone solo by Red Holloway.
About the same time I bought that album, George Benson’s On Broadway from his Weekend In L.A. album was a big hit on the radio. That album put me on a quest to find more George Benson music, and I soon found this one:
The reason I bought it was I noticed Red Holloway’s name on the back cover - the name of the bass player never registered in my mind. Many years would pass before I realized the bass player on that album was Sun Ra’s coveted bass player, Ronnie Boykins.
From The New Boss Guitar of George Benson, here is Shadow Dancers:
As it turns out, this was George Benson’s debut album, recorded in May 1964, when he was 21 years old - and what a start it was….
Ronnie Boykins is best known as Sun Ra’s star bass player. Along with John Gilmore and Marshall Allen, Boykins was a core member of Sun Ra’s early Arkestra. He was a master musician and Sun Ra’s cosmic partner until he left the Arkestra in 1966. Perhaps his talent is best displayed on Sun Ra’s Rocket Number 9 Take Off For The Planet Venus:
Boykins’ arco bass solo at the 3:20 minute mark is iconic, and Val Wilmer writes that, “…it is probably the first recorded example of the bass being played as a horn in a relatively ‘free’ context.”
Although Boykins remains best known, perhaps deservedly so, for his work with Sun Ra, he also played on many wonderful albums outside the gravitational pull of the Arkestra. This week on that Big River Called Jazz, I’d like to feature some of his outer galaxy gems that I think deserve wider recognition.
Some of these gems were recorded, however, while he was still a core member of Sun Ra’s Arkestra. The first is Elmo Hope’s Sounds From Rikers Island, recorded in August 1963 for the Audio Fidelity label:
From that album, on Three Silver Quarters, Boykins plays in a nice trio format with Elmo Hope on piano and Philly Joe Jones on drums:
Incidentally, Sun Ra’s great tenorman John Gilmore also appears on this album.
As I mentioned earlier, Boykins played on Benson’s 1964 debut The New Boss Guitar of George Benson, recorded for the Prestige label, and here is another classic from that album, Just Another Sunday:
In November 1965, Boykins played on Marion Brown’s seminal avant-garde ESP album Marion Brown Quartet:
Cool cover. This was also Brown’s debut as a leader. When you have 20 minutes or so, hit this link and listen to Brown’s Capricorn Moon from this album playing as background music for Arne Sucksdorff’s interesting 1953 Swedish film Det Stora Äventyret. Boykins and Reggie Johnson play some mean bass to kick off this song.
In 1967, Boykins joined Roland Kirk on his Verve release Now please don’t you cry, beautiful Edith. This is a wonderful album.
There are so many great tracks to choose from, but I’ll select the album’s title track:
In the early 1970s, Boykins was active in the New York City loft scene, recording with Sam Rivers on his 1974 Impulse! release Crystal and with Charles Tyler on Tyler’s own 1974 AK-BA Records release Voyage from Jericho.
Also during this time, Boykins, along with fellow Sun Ra bandmate Roger Blank, was a member of the Melodic Art-Tet, an ethnic cultural organization dedicated to the preservation and active exposure of Afro-American arts. The band formed out of the 1972 New York Musicians’ Festival, which was organized as a counter festival in protest to George Wein moving the Newport Jazz Festival to New York City at the exclusion of many of the active musicians in the metropolitan area.
Another member of Melodic Art-Tet was Ahmed Abdullah, who would later join Sun Ra’s Arkestra. Unfortunately, the Melodic Art-Tet never recorded and lasted only from 1970 to 1974. Luckily one of their final dates, recorded at Columbia University radio station WKCR in October 1974 (however with William Parker on bass), was preserved and has now been released. Here’s an ad from one of their performances at Ornette Coleman’s Artist House:
Incredibly, Boykins recorded just one record as a leader. In 1975, he led a session for ESP that produced The Will Come, Is Now.
Interestingly, during the time Boykins was making these recordings with the Loft Jazz crowd, he was also swinging with the legendary Mary Lou Williams, a demanding pianist always searching for the best musicians to accompany her on record dates and shows.
I think I like Ronnie Boykins’ duo and trio recordings best - they allow me to really hear him play in a more intimate and spacious setting. In fact, some of my favorite Boykins’ music is from Marian McPartland’s 1978 Piano Jazz radio show, featuring her idol Mary Lou Williams. At the time, Boykins was touring with Williams. For the broadcast, Williams chose just Boykins to play with her in a nice duo format. Click here and go to the 9:15 minute mark to hear her with Boykins playing John Stubblefield’s Baby Man - two masters at work.
Here’s one more for the road. In December 1980, just weeks after Ronnie Boykins’ 44th birthday, the Chicago trio Air recorded this beautiful tribute song called R. B. Sadly, Boykins passed away just four months later, before the record was released. R.B. is a song we should all listen to during Black Music Month:
I think nothing more needs to be said.
Next week on that Big River called Jazz, we’ll step back in time and dig our paddles in and explore a little deeper the waters of Roland Kirk.
Coffee time, my dreamy friend, it's coffee time
Let's listen to some jazz and rhyme
And have a cup of coffee
Let me show a little coffee house I know
Where all the new Bohemians go
To have a cup of coffee
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Until then, keep on walking….