In some far off place, many light years in space, I’ll wait for you. Where human feet have never trod, where human eyes have never seen. I’ll build a world of abstract dreams and wait for you.
- Sun Ra
As I wrote last week, it was Anthony Braxton that perhaps brought me first to Sun Ra. While I was still in Europe, I had been reading articles about Anthony Braxton in The Wire magazine, primarily written by Graham Lock. Then in 1988, Lock published Forces In Motion, written while he followed Braxton and his Quartet on their November 1985 tour of England. The Quartet included Marilyn Crispell, Mark Dresser, and Gerry Hemingway. I think this was the second Jazz book I ever bought.
I was able to find it at Moe’s Books in Oakland. The first Jazz book was Robert Gordon’s Jazz West Coast, published in 1986 by Quartet Books. I picked that one up at Ray’s Jazz Shop in London. So it was a huge leap, reading about the Gerry Mulligan’s pianoless quartet to, for example, Braxton’s pulse track structures….
I love Forces In Motion. It really opened my eyes to a whole new world of jazz music and musicians: Lenni Tristano, Leo Smith, Marilyn Crispell, Warne Marsh, Roscoe Mitchell and Joseph Jarman from the AACM, and, most of all, Sun Ra. In fact, the first chapter of Lock’s book is called Astro Black Mythology. I think most of all, I liked how Lock was honest enough to admit when he was out of his depth - something I could relate to at that time. As a result, Lock often encourages Braxton and the other band members to elaborate when on the brink of closing a question.
Over the years, one of the things I really admire about Braxton is his willingness to move with complete autonomy between diverse musical worlds. For example, he has absorbed the influences of John Coltrane, Paul Desmond and Eric Dolphy with equal enthusiasm as those of John Cage or Karlheinz Stockhausen – a fact that has made him a controversial figure among musicians and critics.
At the time I was reading Forces In Motion, Anthony Braxton was teaching at Mill’s College in Oakland. Incredibly, one night I met him at Koncepts Cultural Gallery, also in Oakland. I went outside during a break at a Sun Ra show and out walked Anthony Braxton. I walked over to him and struck up a conversation. While asking him about the AACM, he said, ‘Hey, why don’t you give them a call.” He gave me their phone number in Chicago. A few days later, I dialed the number and “Sparks” (Martin Alexander) answered the phone. I can still remember it, “Hello. This is Sparks.” A very nice gentleman. He sent me a package in the mail (snail mail in those days) with a bunch of information about the AACM. He also put me in touch with Don Moye, which lead to an interview with Lester Bowie. I wrote about that meeting in an early edition:
I had seen Sun Ra at Slim’s on Halloween night in 1988, but beyond what I had read in The Wire, I knew very little about him. With Graham Lock’s book and the connection with the AACM, I was starting to learn more about Sun Ra. Then in 1989, Blue Delight came out - the first Sun Ra record released by A&M. Pretty much from that point on, I joined the cult that is Sun Ra.
So let’s continue on with Part 2 of Sun Ra’s last recordings. Here is Journey Towards Stars from Sun Ra’s 1990 A&M release Purple Night, recorded in November of 1989. I love the whimsical piano and bass duet to start this one off.
Sun Ra’s Somewhere Else, released posthumously in 1993 by Rounder Records, is a collection of the tracks recorded by A&M that were not released on their two albums. The recording quality is clearly a step down from A&M for sure, but the music is still excellent. For example, here are two songs from Somewhere Else that I like a lot.
Priest, is a great example of Sun Ra’s piano playing at that time a and, of course, a beautiful trombone solo by Julian Priester - hence the title.
Discipline/Tall Trees in the Sun is classic Sun Ra and challenges the theory that Sun Ra was selling out. I think this is some of Sun Ra’s best “out” music, with a great solo by John Gilmore - a tall tree indeed….
Here’s one more for the road, Beautiful Love from Hours After recorded by Black Saint in 1986, but not released until 1989. I love this song, with Sun Ra taking the rare vocal solo and one of my favorite John Gilmore solos. This is a special track. I find this is in some ways Sun Ra’s swan song and truly a timeless recording.
Next week, On that Big River called Jazz, we’ll stay in the 1980s and explore the backwaters of a small but significant record label, Jac Holzman’s Elektra/Musician Records.
If you like what you’ve been reading and hearing so far on our journey and would like to share this with someone you think might be interested in learning more about our great American art form: Jazz, just hit the “Share” button at the bottom of the page. Also, if you feel so inclined, become a subscriber to my journey by hitting the “Subscribe” button here:
Also, find my playlist on Spotify: From Fred Astaire to Sun Ra.
Feel free to contact me at any time to talk shop. I welcome and encourage that.
Until then, keep on walking….