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| 4.500 Ft
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| 1. | Friendly Galaxy
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| 2. | Solar Differentials
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| 3. | Space Aura
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| 4. | Love in Outer Space
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| 5. | Reflects Motion
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| 6. | Solar Symbols
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| 7. | Flight to Mars [*]
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Jazz
Sun Ra - Gong, Harp, Keyboards, Piano
Al Evans - Flugelhorn
Art Jenkins - Vocals
Artie Jenkins - Voices
C. Scoby Stroman - Drums
Calvin Newborn - Guitar, Guitar (Electric)
Danny Davis
Eddie Gale - Trumpet
Jimmy Johnson, Jr. - Percussion
John Gilmore - Clarinet (Bass), Clarinet (Bass), Drums, Drums, Percussion, Sax (Tenor), Sax (Tenor), Sounds, Voices
Marshall Allen - , Flute, Percussion, Sax (Alto)
Pat Patrick - Bongos, Drums, Flute, Sax (Baritone)
Ronnie Boykins - Bass, Bass (Acoustic)
Thomas "Bugs" Hunter - Drums, Engineer, Percussion, Reverb
Tommy Hunter - Drums, Engineer, Percussion, Reverb, Sounds
* Adam Abraham - Producer
* Charles Shabacon - Photography
* Chris Hall - Cover Art
* John Corbett - Liner Notes, Producer
* Jonathan Schneck - Reissue Remastering
Secrets of the Sun consists of sessions recorded by drummer Tommy "Bugs" Hunter in 1962 at the Choreographer's Workshop in New York City, the Arkestra's regular rehearsal studio. Since they had only recently moved to New York (some decided to stay in Chicago), these are small-group Arkestra recordings. This is an interesting transitional album because you can still hear echoes of the Chicago sound in some of the pieces, but the sound is growing beyond merely "exotic," with percussion playing an increasingly larger role and the pieces starting to sound more amorphous. "The Friendly Galaxy" has the same sort of mysterious vibe as "Ancient Aetheopia" with nice trumpet and piano work as well as John Gilmore on bass clarinet (which he plays on a couple cuts). "Solar Differentials" has a similar but weirder feel because the horns change to "Space Bird Sounds" and Art Jenkins adds some of his distinctive "Space Voice." "Space Aura" is built on a great horn riff, while both Gilmore (again on bass clarinet) and Sun Ra both shine on a stripped-down version of "Love in Outer Space." Things head a bit more out for the last couple tracks, where percussion and reverb start to dominate the sound, as they would on several of the Choreographer Workshop recordings. This is an interesting album for Ra fans because it's such a small band and shows how new ideas were taking hold in the music, not to mention Gilmore's use of bass clarinet, which he stopped playing completely sometime in the '60s. [The Atavistic reissue adds a track from the same time period that was originally slated to be one side of a Saturn album that was never released prior to this. "Flight to Mars" is a fascinating piece on a number of fronts. If it was actually recorded in 1962 with the rest of this album (and the listed personnel seems to bear this out), it would certainly be one of the earliest recorded examples (if not the earliest) of this type of side-long extended piece. It's also probably the earliest piece to have a tape splice, as the very beginning has a clumsy edit into a performance of "Somewhere in Space" (almost certainly the version that ended up on Out There a Minute) before the electric guitar (!) of Calvin Newborn performs a "lift-off" sound effect. From there, the band goes into a fantastic uptempo swinging number with some killer drumming from C. Scoby Stroman. Everyone gets some great solo space, but Ra is out of this world on piano. Piano and drums trade off, as do tenor and the arco bass of Ronnie Boykins while Newborn does some really cool comping on muted strings. For Ra fans, this track alone would be worth the price of admission; it's that good and makes the long-awaited reissue of Secrets of the Sun well worth it.]
---Sean Westergaard, All Music Guide
Sun Ra
Active Decades: '40s, '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s
Born: May 22, 1914 in Birmingham, AL
Died: May 30, 1993 in Birmingham, AL
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Avant-Garde, Progressive Big Band, Swing, Early Creative, Free Jazz, Mainstream Jazz, Progressive Jazz, Avant-Garde Jazz, Mixed Media, African Jazz, Experimental Big Band
Of all the jazz musicians, Sun Ra was probably the most controversial. He did not make it easy for people to take him seriously, for he surrounded his adventurous music with costumes and mythology that both looked backward toward ancient Egypt and forward into science fiction. In addition, Ra documented his music in very erratic fashion on his Saturn label, generally not listing recording dates and giving inaccurate personnel information, so one could not really tell how advanced some of his innovations were. It has taken a lot of time to sort it all out (although Robert L. Campbell's Sun Ra discography has done a miraculous job). In addition, while there were times when Sun Ra's aggregation performed brilliantly, on other occasions they were badly out of tune and showcasing absurd vocals. Near the end of his life, Ra was featuring plate twirlers and fire eaters in his colorful show as a sort of Ed Sullivan for the 1980s.
But despite all of the trappings, Sun Ra was a major innovator. Born Herman Sonny Blount in Birmingham, AL (although he claimed he was from another planet), Ra led his own band for the first time in 1934. He freelanced at a variety of jobs in the Midwest, working as a pianist/arranger with Fletcher Henderson in 1946-1947. He appeared on some obscure records as early as 1948, but really got started around 1953. Leading a big band (which he called the Arkestra) in Chicago, Ra started off playing advanced bop, but early on was open to the influences of other cultures, experimenting with primitive electric keyboards, and playing free long before the avant-garde got established.
After moving to New York in 1961, Ra performed some of his most advanced work. In 1970, he relocated his group to Philadelphia, and in later years alternated free improvisations and mystical group chants with eccentric versions of swing tunes, sounding like a spaced-out Fletcher Henderson orchestra. Many of his most important sidemen were with him on and off for decades (most notably John Gilmore on tenor, altoist Marshall Allen, and baritonist Pat Patrick). Ra, who recorded for more than a dozen labels, has been well served by Evidence's extensive repackaging of many of his Saturn dates, which have at last been outfitted with correct dates and personnel details. In the late '90s, other labels began reissuing albums from Sun Ra's vast catalog, an effort that will surely continue for years to come.
---Scott Yanow, All Music Guide |
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