A great book that looks not just at the music of
Sun Ra, but also the theory behind it – the special take on reality, and interstellar philosophy that made
Ra as important a thinker as he was a musician! The music is approached from a theoretical framework that's extremely illuminating – especially if you only know some of the
Arkestra records at face value, and not in the larger context of
Sun Ra's ideas – and the author includes plenty of history to illuminate the ideas, but in ways that are nicely different than some of the previous books on the subject. The whole thing is a really great look at the transformative power of the music of
Ra – that quality that's always made him far more than just another avant jazz musician, and instead a figure of inspiration and social change to decades of listeners who have followed
his sound. Very well researched, with copious notes. Paperback, 372 pages.