Sun Ra

A new Sun Ra LP touches ground in the earthly bins, 50 years after its creation! Sun Ra is still trying to get our attention 50 years after dispatching this transmission. Humanity's path since then makes his message even more urgent today. Years after Herman Poole "LeSony'r Ra" Blount "left the planet" he's still trying to reach us, to wake us up and to change our destiny. Sun Ra and the Arkestra weren't a traditional studio band, and every star in the vast galaxy of their discography reflects...

Preorder now! This title will be available May 24th, 2024. Please note that orders containing any items that are on preorder will ship in full when all items are in stock. The outsized sounds emerging from the Excelsior Mill organ captured here constitute a unique chapter in the Sun Ra story, a dizzying phantasmagoria that offers a whole new view on what Ra could do. It might thrill you; it might unnerve you; it might strum your heartstrings; it might spook the living daylights out of you....

Preorder now! This title will be available May 24th, 2024. Please note that orders containing any items that are on preorder will ship in full when all items are in stock. The outsized sounds emerging from the Excelsior Mill organ captured here constitute a unique chapter in the Sun Ra story, a dizzying phantasmagoria that offers a whole new view on what Ra could do. It might thrill you; it might unnerve you; it might strum your heartstrings; it might spook the living daylights out of you....

When you wish upon a star… that turns out to be Saturn! Previously unheard Ra culled from the archives and compiled based on their association to that children's film corporation with the cartoon rodent. Pressed on earth on pink vinyl! Jazz aficionados and Disney nerds alike will marvel at how seamlessly Sun Ra and his Arkestra put their own unique twist on both well-known and overlooked Disney songs. Pink Elephants on Parade takes nine songs from Disney’s storied catalog and recontextualizes...

An F-bomb saturated hip-hop call & response club cut...from Sun Ra?! • An iconic demonic slice of Saturnian splendor, one of the most coveted releases in the Ra canon!• Features the emblematic “Nuclear War” anthem, earmarked to be played like an air raid siren when we as a society decide to pack up and call it a planet. A cut further popularized by Yo La Tengo.• Stunning new cover art blending favorite elements from the handmade original Saturn pressings.While the most renown track in...

Soothing Sounds for Saturnians! Sun Ra, notorious for his aggressive keyboard attack and seemingly schizophrenic stylings, here offers a unique selection playing the celeste-like Fender Rhodes electric piano, which has a distinct sound (think Doors' "Riders on the Storm") and an interesting history. This is Ra sound at his most relaxed and contemplative state. This Sun Ra 1980 solo set at Haverford College has been kicking around the internet and in the digital libraries of Ra collectors for...

Across the history of jazz, there is no wilder, more future-forward composer and performer than Herman Poole Blount, aka Sun Ra. Known as much for his wild on-stage persona as his innovative compositions, Sun Ra was the avant-garde bleeding edge of the jazz genre, introducing modal composition and electronic instrumentation before almost anyone else -- not to mention bringing the space age to life with his obsession with all things extraterrestrial. Across more than 100 LPs released in his...

First ever US BluRay release of this iconic beacon of Afro-futurism!CD Box Set limited to 1100 units world wide.Includes Mathematics Of The Altered Destiny, a full CD of unheard music from Sun Ra featuring June Tyson! CD Set Ingredients: 2CDs (one previously unissued)A BluRay Disc of the Entire Film with bonus contentA DVD Disc of the Entire Film with bonus contentA 28 panel booket with photos and liner notes by esteemed Afrofuturism scholars.All secured in a pizza box style package This...

First ever US BluRay release of this iconic beacon of Afro-futurism!LP Box Set limited to 3300 units world wide.Includes Mathematics Of The Altered Destiny, a full LP of unheard music from Sun Ra featuring June Tyson! LP Set Ingredients: 3LPs (one previously unissued)One Gold LP in its own jacketOne Silver LP in its own jacketOne lime green LP in it’s own jacketA BluRay Disc of the Entire Film with bonus contentA DVD Disc of the Entire Film with bonus contentA large format 8 page booklet with...

Soothing Sounds for Saturnians! Sun Ra, notorious for his aggressive keyboard attack and seemingly schizophrenic stylings, here offers a unique selection playing the celeste-like Fender Rhodes electric piano, which has a distinct sound (think Doors' "Riders on the Storm") and an interesting history. This is Ra sound at his most relaxed and contemplative state. This Sun Ra 1980 solo set at Haverford College has been kicking around the internet and in the digital libraries of Ra collectors for...

Soothing Sounds for Saturnians! Sun Ra, notorious for his aggressive keyboard attack and seemingly schizophrenic stylings, here offers a unique selection playing the celeste-like Fender Rhodes electric piano, which has a distinct sound (think Doors' "Riders on the Storm") and an interesting history. This is Ra sound at his most relaxed and contemplative state. This Sun Ra 1980 solo set at Haverford College has been kicking around the internet and in the digital libraries of Ra collectors for...

A bongo comp with unissued Jill Kroesen, Tak Shindo, and Sun Ra!?!? Bongo Bongo Bongo! The mere uttering of the word conjures up dreams and images of parties, beaches, tropical vacations, beatniks and poets, goatees and cha-cha heels, drinking espresso in coffee shops, and of the freedom of the road while getting your kicks on Route 66. Fuzzy dice, bongos in the back. Bongo Rock! Bongo Fury! Bongo Madness! Beat on a pair of bongos and watch the party begin! SOME SKIN is designed to get that...

A bongo comp with unissued Jill Kroesen, Tak Shindo, and Sun Ra!?!? Bongo Bongo Bongo! The mere uttering of the word conjures up dreams and images of parties, beaches, tropical vacations, beatniks and poets, goatees and cha-cha heels, drinking espresso in coffee shops, and of the freedom of the road while getting your kicks on Route 66. Fuzzy dice, bongos in the back. Bongo Rock! Bongo Fury! Bongo Madness! Beat on a pair of bongos and watch the party begin! SOME SKIN is designed to get that...

Featuring what may be his only recordings on the Prophet keyboard, these once lost performances expand the omniverse of Ra across a stellar set of lengthy cuts! All recorded in a single day and finally making their terrestrial debut! Includes notes from Ranthropologist Brother Cleve and two CD-only bonus tracks! What happens when a Prophet meets a Prophet? The answer lies within these grooves. Amongst the hundreds of recordings issued by Sun Ra and his Arkestra, under their various guises, the...

Featuring what may be his only recordings on the Prophet keyboard, these once lost performances expand the omniverse of Ra across a stellar set of lengthy cuts! All recorded in a single day and finally making their terrestrial debut, pressed on colored vinyl and packaged with a Prophet keyboard brochure plus notes from Ranthropologist Brother Cleve! What happens when a Prophet meets a Prophet? The answer lies within these grooves. Amongst the hundreds of recordings issued by Sun Ra and his...

Ra to the Rescue is one of the rarer albums in the Sun Ra canon. There's a reason, and it has nothing to do with quality content (or lack thereof). When Ra and his business partner Alton Abraham launched their pioneering independent Saturn label in Chicago in the late 1950s, and on thru the 1960s—by which time Ra had moved to New York—each new album was carefully curated, titled, packaged with a printed, illustrated sleeve, and promoted in ads and catalogs. By the 1970s, when Ra and his band...

Ra to the Rescue is one of the rarer albums in the Sun Ra canon. There's a reason, and it has nothing to do with quality content (or lack thereof). When Ra and his business partner Alton Abraham launched their pioneering independent Saturn label in Chicago in the late 1950s, and on thru the 1960s—by which time Ra had moved to New York—each new album was carefully curated, titled, packaged with a printed, illustrated sleeve, and promoted in ads and catalogs. By the 1970s, when Ra and his band...

These LPs are factory sealed with visible bent corners on the jacket. Please note: all sales are final, no returns or exchanges. • GARAGE & SOUL SCREAMER CREATES AN EXOTICA MEETS COCAINE VERSION OF SUN RA MASTERPIECES!• CUT BY KEVIN GRAY, AND PRESSED ON GOLD VINYL AT THIRD MAN IN DETROIT!• INCLUDES LINER NOTES FROM IRWIN CHUSID AND BROTHER CLEVE. SCORCHING PROPULSIVE RENDITIONS OF RA! Garage & soul screamer Barrence Whitfield channels the Saturnian ruler of the omniverse with a soul-tripping...

Recorded in New York in 1979 and released that year on Sun Ra's Saturn label, this is a solid, overlooked set in the vast Ra canon. The tracks aren't so much compositions as excursions, pure jazz, lots of reflective piano in trio, quartet, and sextet settings. Features cover art interpreted from a favorite Arkestra hand drawn cover, and liner notes from Irwin Chusid. Includes 12 minutes of CD only bonus euphony! Also available on purple vinyl! INCLUDES: The Place Of Five Points...

Recorded in New York in 1979 and released that year on Sun Ra's Saturn label, this is a solid, overlooked set in the vast Ra canon. The tracks aren't so much compositions as excursions, pure jazz, lots of reflective piano in trio, quartet, and sextet settings. Features cover art interpreted from a favorite Arkestra hand drawn cover, and liner notes from Irwin Chusid. Pressed on colored vinyl! Also available on CD! INCLUDES: The Place Of Five Points • West End Side Of Magic City [Vita No....

A STUNNING RECREATION OF THE ORIGINAL GATEFOLD JACKET!LP INCLUDES ARCHIVAL DOCUMENT REPLICA OF HOW RA WANTED TO SPEND HIS MAJOR LABEL ADVANCE!CUT BY KEVIN GRAY, AND PRESSED ON BLACK VINYL AT THIRD MAN FOR OUT OF THIS WORLD SOUND QUALITY! Intrinsic energies of mythic worlds! Pathways was originally issued on LP in 1975 as part of Ra’s ill-fated and short-lived ABC/Impulse! partnership. This Modern Harmonic edition has been exquisitely mastered from the four-track session reel. The Impulse! LP...

An F-bomb saturated hip-hop call & response club cut...from Sun Ra?! • First ever reissues of this iconic demonic slice of Saturnian splendor, one of the most coveted releases in the Ra canon!• Features the emblematic “Nuclear War” anthem, earmarked to be played like an air raid siren when we as a society decide to pack up and call it a planet. A cut further popularized by Yo La Tengo.• Stunning new cover art blending favorite elements from the handmade original Saturn pressings.While the most...

An F-bomb saturated hip-hop call & response club cut...from Sun Ra?! • First ever reissues of this iconic demonic slice of Saturnian splendor, one of the most coveted releases in the Ra canon!• Features the emblematic “Nuclear War” anthem, earmarked to be played like an air raid siren when we as a society decide to pack up and call it a planet. A cut further popularized by Yo La Tengo.• Stunning new cover art blending favorite elements from the handmade original Saturn pressings.While the...

• AVAILABLE ON ON CD FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER! • FEATURING CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE QUEEN OF AFROFUTURISM, JUNE TYSON! • INCLUDES A BONUS CUT FROM THE SAME SESSIONS, NOT AVAILABLE ON THE ORIGINAL ALBUM! True studio albums of Ra with the Arkestra are rare on this planet or beyond. This studio saucer is an interplanetary interpreter, here to convert even the faintest of heart to the sounds of Sun Ra. Recorded with Arkestra veterans at the same NY studio that hosted countless Sun Ra sessions since...

• AVAILABLE ON LP FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OVER 30 YEARS! • FEATURING CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE QUEEN OF AFROFUTURISM, JUNE TYSON! • INCLUDES A BONUS CUT FROM THE SAME SESSIONS, NOT AVAILABLE ON THE ORIGINAL LP! True studio albums of Ra with the Arkestra are rare on this planet or beyond. This studio saucer is an interplanetary interpreter, here to convert even the faintest of heart to the sounds of Sun Ra. Recorded with Arkestra veterans at the same NY studio that hosted countless Sun Ra sessions...

Finally the Princess Leia of avant-garde jazz gets her due!Contains six unissued cuts of June with Sun Ra and the Arkestra!Features a full color booklet with unseen photos from the Tyson family photo album! THE VOICE OF AFROFUTURISTIC SCIENCE NON-FICTION! Check out this great June Tyson feature on Bandcamp. Undoubtedly the most sublime constellation in the Sun Ra cosmos, June Tyson’s voice is the perfect guide through one of the most challenging and varied musical legacies ever to be...

Finally the Princess Leia of avant-garde jazz gets her due!Mastered by Joe Lizzi, cut at Cohearent Audio by Kevin Gray and pressed on stocking gold vinyl at Third Man.Contains five unissued cuts from June with Sun Ra & the Arkestra!Features a full color zine style insert with unseen photos from the Tyson family photo album! Check out this great June Tyson feature on Bandcamp. THE VOICE OF AFROFUTURISTIC SCIENCE NON-FICTION! Undoubtedly the most sublime constellation in the Sun Ra cosmos,...

• GARAGE & SOUL SCREAMER CREATES AN EXOTICA MEETS COCAINE VERSION OF SUN RA MASTERPIECES!• COMPACT DISC INCLUDES TWO NON-LP CUTS!• INCLUDES LINER NOTES FROM IRWIN CHUSID AND BROTHER CLEVE. SCORCHING PROPULSIVE RENDITIONS OF RA!Garage & soul screamer Barrence Whitfield channels the Saturnian ruler of the omniverse with a soul-tripping exploration of Sun Ra favorites—from the explosive “Nuclear War” to the shimmering exotica of “Love In Outer Space” to the Funkadelicized "Everything Is Space."...

The never-before-seen in its entirety, visual documentation proving this avant-garde collaboration of mythic proportions did indeed occur. Recorded at Sideshows by the Seashore along the Coney Island boardwalk on June 8th, 1986 as documented on VHS by John Polizzi under the commission of event producers Rick Russo and Bronwyn Rucker. It was long believed that Cage and Ra never performed together but as you'll see,these two shared the stage the entire time. The VHS footage has been combined...

Intrinsic energies of mythic worlds! Pathways was originally issued on LP in 1975 as part of Ra’s ill-fated and short-lived ABC/Impulse! partnership. This Modern Harmonic edition has been exquisitely mastered from the four-track session reel. The Impulse! LP was formatted as “Quad Compatible”—short for “quadraphonic”—which you could enjoy if you had four speakers, a custom quad cartridge/stylus, and a quad decoder integrated into your ’70s hi-fi. (None of this technology ever achieved wide...

SOLAR GUIDED IMPROVISATIONS OF UNBRIDLED CACOPHONY! Recorded in ’73 and rejected by tin-eared major label execs in ’75, Crystal Spears (or “Crystal Clear” as it appears on the tape box) subsumes a cathartic brawl between Minimoog and Yamaha combo organ, with percussionists providing tonal textures, and plaintive oboe colliding with roaring electronic keyboards over waves of rollicking marimba, devilishly chattering below the fray. Crystal Spears is Ra’s once lost aural cinematheque! Crystal...

SOLAR GUIDED IMPROVISATIONS OF UNBRIDLED CACOPHONY! Recorded in ’73 and rejected by tin-eared major label execs in ’75, Crystal Spears (or “Crystal Clear” as it appears on the tape box) subsumes a cathartic brawl between Minimoog and Yamaha combo organ, with percussionists providing tonal textures, and plaintive oboe colliding with roaring electronic keyboards over waves of rollicking marimba, devilishly chattering below the fray. Crystal Spears is Ra’s once lost aural cinematheque! ...

AVANT JAZZ FROM MARSHALL ALLEN, FRED FRITH, TERRY RILEY & SCHOOLKIDS! The Oakland Elementary School Arkestra presents the odyssey of 4th, 5th & 6th grade students from novice musicians into an avant garde ensemble. An ensemble that engenders an array of sonic textures which never remain static or stagnant, but flow in a way that it's always surprising, often startling and astonishing. These schoolkids have traveled the spaceways of Modernism, Minimalism, Impressionism, Exotica, film...

AVANT JAZZ FROM MARSHALL ALLEN, FRED FRITH, TERRY RILEY & SCHOOLKIDS! The Oakland Elementary School Arkestra presents the odyssey of 4th, 5th & 6th grade students from novice musicians into an avant garde ensemble. An ensemble that engenders an array of sonic textures which never remain static or stagnant, but flow in a way that it's always surprising, often startling and astonishing. These schoolkids have traveled the spaceways of Modernism, Minimalism, Impressionism, Exotica, film...

Cymbals has finally landed… and brought a 2nd saucer with it! Originally recorded for the Impulse! jazz label in ’73, Cymbals is paired with a 2nd disc of unheard material from the same sessions. Hear Ra’s Baroque soundscapes, electrolytic clusters and dithering Moogs catalyze images of monoliths, space stations, computers malfunctioning and galaxies imploding on two compact saucers, with liner notes by known Ra-fficianado Brother Cleve! Making its debut here, the 2nd disc is culled from a...

Cymbals has finally landed… and brought a 2nd saucer with it! Originally recorded for the Impulse! jazz label in ’73, Cymbals makes its first legitimate release on vinyl, paired with a second LP of unheard material from the same sessions. Hear Ra’s Baroque soundscapes, electrolytic clusters and dithering Moogs catalyze images of monoliths, space stations, computers malfunctioning and galaxies imploding on pristine red and green vinyl with liner notes by known Ra-fficianado Brother Cleve!...

Astro-Black mythology, astro-timeless immortality! • A RA CORNERSTONE, CUT BY KEVIN GRAY & PRESSED AT THIRD MAN PRESSING!• NOW ON ASTRO BLACK VINYL!• PACKAGED WITH NEW COVER ART, WITH AN EYE CATCHING OBI STRIP Astro Black has long been known as a cornerstone of the Ra catalog. It is well recorded, features a superb Arkestral lineup, and successfully combines several of the styles in which Sun Ra orbited, from Saturnic jazz to astro-funk. Pressed on astro black vinyl at Third Man Pressing and...

Sensuous dreamscapes to transport the listener to the lush tropical environs of the outer reaches of the omniverse. Your choice of three astro black inter-stellar saucers or two compact saucers of "Exotic-Ra" bringing you to a lush cocktail party where space is the place. All packaged in a beautiful Chesley Bonestell adorned gatefold package with two sets of extensive notes! Sun Ra. Exotica. Incongruous? Listening to the 25 tracks herein will showcase that Sun Ra was, indeed, an Exoticat of...

"Plutonian Nights," the opening jam from the 1959 Afrofuturist classic album Nubians of Plutonia, is Sun Ra's quintessential, astro-majestic party joint. Among the top grooves in his immense catalog, Ra reveals his love for R&B is inseparable from his embrace of Jazz. (He once told bassist Richard Evans, "We don't play Jazz, we play Dazz.") Pat Patrick's bari sax morphs into a Fender bass, while the swinging flow of John Gilmore & Co. gives new meaning to the notion of 'Blowing' (Out From...

Shining sounds from the dawn of the Sun Ra Arkestra. "El is A Sound of Joy" was recorded in 1956 and appeared the following year on the very first Saturn LP, Super-Sonic Jazz. Incredible is the fact that saxophonist Charles Davis, here providing the soulful baritone anchor line (counterpoint to Ra's formidable left hand), remains in the front-line of today's Sun Ra Arkestra directed by Marshall Allen. Shuffle swing breakdown jets leisurely, casually, masterfully, painting lush, post-modern...

A new Sun Ra album touches ground in the earthly bins, 50 years after its creation! Sun Ra is still trying to get our attention 50 years after dispatching this transmission. Humanity?s path since then makes his message even more urgent today. Years after Herman Poole "LeSony'r Ra" Blount "left the planet" he's still trying to reach us, to wake us up and to change our destiny. Sun Ra and the Arkestra weren't a traditional studio band, and every star in the vast galaxy of their discography...

A new Sun Ra LP touches ground in the earthly bins, 50 years after its creation! Sun Ra is still trying to get our attention 50 years after dispatching this transmission. Humanity's path since then makes his message even more urgent today. Years after Herman Poole "LeSony'r Ra" Blount "left the planet" he's still trying to reach us, to wake us up and to change our destiny. Sun Ra and the Arkestra weren't a traditional studio band, and every star in the vast galaxy of their discography reflects...

Sun Ra's angular yet strident and soulful "Saturn," recorded in 1958, displays bluesy cubist bop in perfect alter-dimensional extension of Fletcher Henderson. It's also a showcase for John Gilmore's sax acrobatics and supersonic swing. Gilmore dove deep into the Ra Omniverse; "got the concept" - as Coltrane described the tenor giant - hooked by this composition, and never left. Dual baritones of Pat Patrick and Charles Davis (who continues in the front line of the living, glowing Arkestra of...

A TRIPLE LP AND DOUBLE CD OF INTERPLANETARY PERFECTION! A stunning live Sun Ra event, recorded at the Inter-Media Arts Center in New York, April 20, 1991! Modern Harmonic proudly presents this very special Sun Ra recording, issued here for the first time ever! This concert was just two years before Ra's "earthly departure" -- and his keyboard work was amazingly strident and vibrant here. The Arkestra was in perfect form as well; this special night also showcased the Arkestra's vocal...

"The Lady With The Golden Stockings" is a propulsive, forthright groove -- a decisive, deep-space, pre-dawn party jam, emitting golden sparks from the black hole center which begat "Africa" and "Watusa." Quantum-elasticity of temporal equations, bubbling bass, trumpet dancing on light waves, tenor sax serenade across the galaxy, signaling yonder... vessels... beings... femaliens... Pure poetry in sublime, delicate, rhythmelodic motion becomes "Spontaneous Simplicity." A centerpiece among the...

Double LP on clear vinyl!!If you were going to envision the ultimate avant-garde meeting-of-the-minds jam session, who would you pick? Even the most hopeful fan of strange and innovative music couldn't have seen this one coming: on one afternoon in 1986, at Coney Island's dilapidated freak show, space-age avant-jazz genius Sun Ra met avant-garde "serious music" composer John Cage in an unforgettable performance. You couldn't imagine two figures more opposite. Cage was known for his unusual...