Illegal Foreign Object

Sun Ra moved mountains. He coaxed running water uphill, choreographed meteor showers, raised suns in the North, and set ’em in the South. Sun Ra was a powerhouse.

Born millions of years ago on planet Saturn, Ra blessed us with his genius here on Earth for just a kiss over 79 years. When he fired up the Outer Space Visual Communicator and returned home in 1993, he left behind a map to the everlasting in the form of hundreds upon hundreds of songs, ranging from bebop to avant-garde, free jazz to prog, fusion to blues to full-on interplanetary funk madness. His catalog is a cosmic wealth of soul mining.

Ra’s undulating tentacles of musical exploration stayed stretched out in all directions throughout the breath of his long career. Art, Egyptology, history, Chicago, Afrofuturism, Duke Ellington, space, time, Alabama, Kabbalah concepts, logic, Fats Waller, ancient civilizations, and the writings of Madame Helena P. Blavatsky, Ra gulped it all down, let it churn for a while, then regurgitated back in our faces. He wasn’t always an easy listen but he never lacked authenticity.

The Sun not only touched the hearts and minds of those of us who stride the path of the listener; George Clinton, John Coltrane, Afrika Bambaataa, MC5, John Frusciante, Pharaoh Sanders, Flea, Lonnie Liston Smith, and Sonic Youth also got a little on ’em while making their winding ways to becoming inspirations in their own right. He also pushed the boundaries of jazz itself, becoming one of the first jazz leaders to use two double basses, the electric bass, electric keyboards, and to explore polyrhythms. Without Sun Ra and his Arkestra, the musical landscape looks (and sounds) very different.

This morning, one of Ra’s more straight-ahead offerings, the sprawling The Other Side Of The Sun, has filled my ears. It’s an album that will test what casual fans might think they know of the man and his mighty Arkestra. The album itself may have been a test for the band as well, especially when tasked to tackle jazz standards like “Flamingo” and “Sunny Side Of The Street” and bend them into something entirely distinctive. Mission accomplished. Many will recognize “Space Is The Place”, albeit a funkier version than the 1973-released original, but it is in the opening track, “Space Fling”, a barn-burner of a rollick, where the band really cuts loose and let’s it all hang out.

Track List:

1. Space Fling 10/10
2. Flamingo 8/10
3. Space Is The Place 9/10
4. The Sunny Side Of The Street 7/10
5. Manhattan Cocktail 7/10

Grade: 82