Fantastic material from the legendary Sun Ra – groundbreaking solo piano material, which shows a completely different side of his genius away from his work with the Arkestra! The package presents all volumes of Ra's seminal sides from 1966 – including a third volume, which has never been released at all – making for the most comprehensive package to ever document this side of his work in a more intimate manner! There's a sensitivity to these tracks that's really amazing – still moments of freedom that reflect Ra's connection to the avant garde of the time – but also echoes of Art Tatum and other stylists who influenced his initial vision in the early days – interwoven with his own sense of cosmic creation, in ways that are similar to his later solo projects – but which didn't often show up in other Saturn material of the time. Some tracks are altered standards, but many others are really great originals – and titles include the unreleased "Soundscapes", "The Eternal Tomorrow", "The Changing Wind", "World Island Festival", "Today Is Not Yesterday", "How Am I To Know", and "Yesterdays" – plus "Caloundronius", "Perspective Prismis Of Is", "Solar Boats", "The Ninth Eye", "Space Towers", "Cognition", "The Galaxy Way", "The Alter Destiny", and "Blue Differentials". LP, Vinyl record album

A really great record, and one that was recorded by a smaller version of the Arkestra than usual – done in this spiritual style that's almost a bit like some of the Horo Records material that Sun Ra had recorded just a short time before! There's an intimacy here that's wonderful – and the group features Ra on piano, John Gilmore on tenor, Hayes Burnette on bass, and Samarai Celestial on drums – and one track also features added work from Charles Davis on baritone and Michael Ray on trumpet. The album's a lot more inside than some of the freer work by Ra during the 70s – and we mean that in a great way – and there's also less of the full ensemble chanting that you'd hear on some of the other spiritual sessions from the 70s by the Arkestra. All of these aspects add up to make for a wonderfully special set from Ra and some of his key players – served up on titles that include "The Place Of Five Points", "Omniverse", "Visitant Of The Ninth Ultimate", and "Dark Lights In A White Forest". CD features two bonus tracks – a 1979 solo piano version of "Over The Rainbow", recorded at the Moers Festival – and a 1977 live take of "The Sound Mirror". CD

Like the similarly-titled volume 1 of Stars That Shine Darkly, this set by Ra was recorded live in Europe, but a year after that first date and with an entirely different group, featuring Ahmed Abdullah, Michael Ray, Marshall Allen, John Gilmore, Eloe Omoe, James Jacson and Danny Ray Thompson. "Stars That Shine Darkly" is a very out affair, while the numbers on side 2 – "Outer Reach Intensity-Energy", "Cosmos Rendezvous", "Barbizon", "The Double That" and "The Ever Is" – have a similarly free sound, but more spare groupings, and Ra on organ. LP, Vinyl record album

A totally essential 2 CD set that brings together a huge amount of singles that were recorded by Sun Ra and others for his legendary Saturn label! As you probably know, the albums that were recorded for Saturn were rare enough – but the singles on the label were even rarer, and some of them were pressed in batches as small as 75 copies! The material is a very strange mix of jazz, soul, doo wop, and R&B – but it's all got the off-kilter Sun Ra twist to it, and the music is a key slice in the independent history of underground jazz pioneered by Ra & The Arkestra. You'll hear plenty of stuff by Ra (including the legendary "I'm Gonna Unmask The Batman") – and you'll also get stuff by Lacy Gibson, The Cosmic Rays, The Nu Sounds, Yochannan, and The Qualities. Annotated with 36 pages of detailed notes, written by 4 different Ra experts – and a treat for collectors and novices alike! CD

2 lost classics by Sun Ra on one CD! Visits Planet Earth features music that was recorded by The Arkestra in Chicago in 1957 and 1958. Some of the tracks are from the same session as the Sound Of Joy LP, and a few others were from sessions later in the year. Ra plays piano and "solar piano", and the group's got some added percussion and tympani. Along with the usual suspects, James Spaulding also sits in with the group on a few tracks, playing both alto and flute. Titles include "Eve", "Overtones Of China", "Two Tones", and "El Viktor". Interstellar Low Ways is a record that features material was recorded in 1959 and 1960, but unissued until the mid 60's. Ra plays piano, chimes, and gong, and the tracks have a nice laid back spacey feel, with some ensemble vocals chanted by the group. Ronnie Boykins also plays the space gong on one cut, which sounds very nice. Cuts include "Somewhere In Space", "Space Loneliness", "Space Aura", and "Interplanetary Music". CD

The voice of June Tyson was a key part of the sound of the Sun Ra Arkestra during the first few decades of its existence – but this is the first time the lady herself has ever gotten a record under her own name – a beautiful collection of Ra-backed, Tyson-fronted tunes that includes classics and a fair bit of unreleased titles too! The music is from deep in the catalog of Saturn Records – and showcases a singer who could have taken both the jazz vocal and soul music worlds by storm, had she not chosen to dedicate herself to the larger cultural mission of the Arkestra – a place that June Tyson called home for more than a decade or two – and where she gave the world sublimely soulful vocals like these. Titles include the unissued "Enlightenment", "They'll Come Back", "Never Never Land", and "If You Are Not A Myth/Strange Worlds In My Mind" – plus "The Moors (complete version)", "Somebody Else's World", "Stardust From Tomorrow", "Astro Black", "Smile", "Tapestry From An Asteroid", and "Outer Space Is A Pleasant Place". LP, Vinyl record album

Saturn issue of two different slices of material by Sun Ra and the Arkestra – one from the early 60's one from around 1970. The early 60's session has some standards, given the Ra twist, like "Time After Time", "Sometimes I'm Happy", and "Time To Love" – plus an original called "State Street". The 1970 session has a darker feel, with longer tracks, and more electronics. The band's a bit more stripped down, and Ra plays synthesizer. Cuts on this side include "Invisible Shield", "Island In the Sun", and "Janus". Two sides of the Arkestra, both great! LP, Vinyl record album

A groundbreaking album of solo piano work by Sun Ra! The album's one of Ra's classic sides for the Saturn Records label – and at the time of its release, it was one of the most "out there" albums of solo piano ever recorded! Ra spins out these incredibly complex lines on haunting original compositions like "Blue Differentials", "The Galaxy Way", "Space Towers", and "Cogitation" – and he shows once again why he was head and shoulders above most jazz players in his class! CD

A really great record, and one that was recorded by a smaller version of the Arkestra than usual – done in this spiritual style that's almost a bit like some of the Horo Records material that Sun Ra had recorded just a short time before! There's an intimacy here that's wonderful – and the group features Ra on piano, John Gilmore on tenor, Hayes Burnette on bass, and Samarai Celestial on drums – and one track also features added work from Charles Davis on baritone and Michael Ray on trumpet. The album's a lot more inside than some of the freer work by Ra during the 70s – and we mean that in a great way – and there's also less of the full ensemble chanting that you'd hear on some of the other spiritual sessions from the 70s by the Arkestra. All of these aspects add up to make for a wonderfully special set from Ra and some of his key players – served up on titles that include "The Place Of Five Points", "Omniverse", "Visitant Of The Ninth Ultimate", and "Dark Lights In A White Forest". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the rarest Sun Ra albums of the 60s – and a wonderful set of material recorded when the group first moved to New York – really haunting tunes that are a strong extension from their earlier Chicago music, but not nearly as outside as work to come! There's a darkness here that's undeniable – lots of blue tones on the instruments, and a sort of brooding sensibility in the rhythms – almost conventional jazz peeled back to reveal its darker secrets – played by Ra on piano and percussion, John Gilmore on bass clarinet and tenor, Marshall Allen on alto sax, Eddie Gale on trumpet, Pat Patrick on flute, and Calvin Newborn on guitar. The production is especially nice – filled with some occasional tricks and echoes that really expand the sound – and there's also some cool vocalizations too, including "space voice" from Art Jenkins, and "space bird sounds" too! Titles include "Friendly Galaxy", "Solar Differentials", "Space Aura", "Love In Outer Space", "Reflects Motion", and "Solar Symbols". CD also features a wonderful bonus track – the previously-unreleased "Flight To Mars", which runs for 17 minutes, and has an almost narrative-like approach to the song that lives up to the space travel title. Players include Pat Patrick on baritone sax, Marshall Allen on flute, John Gilmore on tenor and voice, and Calvin Newborn on guitar. CD

The first album on Saturn! Despite the futurism that the title of the set might imply, the material on this LP is actually some of Sun Ra's earliest, and dates back to the years when the Arkestra was first beginning to make itself heard in Chicago. That doesn't stop the material from being amazing, though, as these prime early tracks really show how strong Ra's vision was, even when it was being applied to material that might look more simple on the surface. Titles include "El Is A Sound Of Joy", "Medicine For A Nightmare", "Sunology", "Advice To Medics", and "Portrait Of The Living Sky". LP, Vinyl record album

Nice one! This 1966 release on Saturn features music that was recorded by The Arkestra in Chicago in 1957 and 1958. Some of the tracks are from the same session as the Sound Of Joy LP, and a few others were from sessions later in the year. Ra plays piano and "solar piano", and the group's got some added percussion and tympani. Along with the usual suspects, James Spaulding also sits in with the group on a few tracks, playing both alto and flute. Titles include "Eve", "Overtones Of China", "Two Tones", and "El Viktor". Cool cover, too, with a colorful painting of a surrealistic space scene! LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful session recorded in New York in 1963 – and featuring the band at its progressive best! The album has many dark overtones, and features a core group that includes Marshall Allen, Danny Davis, John Gilmore, and Pat Patrick – playing their usual horns, plus percussion, amidst reverb by Thomas "Bugs" Hunter and performances by Ra on gong, pianoforte, and clavioline. The whole set has an open-ended "loft jazz" kind of feel – typical for the mid 70s New York avant scene, but groundbreaking at the time of this recording. Titles include "Celestial Fantasy", "The Idea Of It All", "Next Stop Mars", and "Ecstasy Of Being". CD

The first album on Saturn! Despite the futurism that the title of the set might imply, the material on this LP is actually some of Sun Ra's earliest, and dates back to the years when the Arkestra was first beginning to make itself heard in Chicago. That doesn't stop the material from being amazing, though, as these prime early tracks really show how strong Ra's vision was, even when it was being applied to material that might look more simple on the surface. Titles include "El Is A Sound Of Joy", "Medicine For A Nightmare", "Sunology", "Advice To Medics", and "Portrait Of The Living Sky". CD

A whole new side of the talents of Sun Ra – especially if you only know the longer-style jams on some of his albums from the 60s and 70s! From the very start of his career, Ra was every bit as interested in issuing music on 45s as he was on albums – and in fact, at some of the more desperate times, the 7" single turned out to be a very affordable format to try out new ideas – including some great projects with other artists! The array of work presented here is stunning – as the set includes some very up-close and personal moments with Ra on record, plus some tight jazzy tracks from the Arkestra, surprising vocal group material designed to crack the R&B market, and some especially cool projects with other singers too. The package is put together with very detailed notes on all the singles – and while the bulk of this material comes from the key Arkestra years of the late 50s through the early 80s, there's also a few tracks from other dates too – including a handful of songs that were only issued as 45s in later years. This limited part 2 of the vinyl set features wonderful tracks from later years – including "The Blue Set", "Space Loneliness", "State Street", "Love In Outer Space", "Mayan Temple", "Quest", "Rough House Blues", "Journey To Saturn", "Blues On Planet Mars", "The Bridge", "Rocket #9", "The Perfect Man", "Outer Space Plateau", "Extensions", "Orbitration In Blue", "A Blue One", "Big City Blue", "I'm Gonna Unmask The Batman", "Saturn Moon", "Disco 2021", "Sometimes I'm Happy", "I Am The Instrument", "Cosmic Drama", "Nuclear War", "Hell #1", and "Cosmo-Extensions" – plus the tracks "Tell Her To Come On Home" and "I'm Making Believe" by Little Mack. LP, Vinyl record album

Masterpiece records from Philly soul maestro Dexter Wansel – stepping out here in a beautiful blend of jazz and soul! Life On Mars is a fantastic bit of space age funk, easily the best album that Wansel ever recorded – and a sublime blend of Wansel's Philly grooving sensibility with some of the more keyboard-oriented funk that was coming out of the Herbie Hancock camp during the mid 70s. The result is a tight batch of crossover tracks that work well both as jazz funk groovers, and as smoother modern soul tracks. Includes the version of "Theme From the Planets" with the much sampled breakbeat at the beginning – plus lots of other nice ones, including "Life On Mars", "Rings Of Saturn", and "Stargazer". What The World Is Coming To moves the focus back to soul a bit more than Life On Mars – but also keeps in plenty of jazzy touches! Dexter's groove here is similar to the best work he did with other Philly vocalists in the same time – and the set features guest vocals from Jean Carn and Terri Wells, sliding into a warmly soulful realm on the mellower tracks, and stepping out with a fully jazzed up groove on the more upbeat numbers. Titles include "What The World Is Coming To", "Dreams Of Tomorrow", "Holdin On", "Dance With Me Tonight", "Disco Lights", and "Prelude #1". 1978's Voyager is a bit like Dexter's space jazz classic Life On Mars – and with those fat, thumping bass lines, elastic lead guitar, atmospheric soul vocals and loads and loads of keys – spatial work on Rhodes, Moogs and ARPs! It's all done in a funky style not always heard on Philly – plus Dexter arranged and produced just about everything! Tracks include "Solutions", "Voyager", "I'm In Love", "Latin Love", and "I Just Want To Love You". 1979's Time Is Slipping Away is a straighter Philly soul outing than some of Wansel's earlier work – a nice batch from a talent that was responsible for crafting some of the best smooth modern numbers at the end of the 70s! It features the killer cut "The Sweetest Pain" – a smooth stepper with some subtle keyboard grooving behind warm female vocals by Terri Well – plus "Funk Attack", "New Beginning", "One For the Road", "It's Been Cool", and "I'll Never Forget (My Favorite Disco)". CD

A sweet little double CD – one that had some folks saying that Stevie should have stayed away from the "2LP syndrome", but for us a real treasure with lots of hidden gems. Besides the hits "Isn't She Lovely" and "Sir Duke", which were more than enough to carry the set in the record shops, the album's got lots of other nice cuts, including many that have that complicated jazzy feel of Stevie's work on the Inner Visions album. Titles include "Ngiculela – Esa Una Historia", "Ordinary Pain", "Black Man", "Village Ghetto Land", and "Love's In Need Of Love Today". Plus, the CD features the 4 bonus tracks off the original 7" single that accompanied the 2LP set – "Saturn", "Ebony Eyes", "All Day Sucker", and "Easy Goin' Evening (My Mama's Call)". CD

One of the greatest recordings ever made by John Coltrane in his later years – a record that has him stepping off into really new territory that would have really been something, had he stayed on the planet long enough to make more recordings like this! The vibe is very experimental – almost predating loft jazz work to come in the 70s – as Coltrane works here just alongside the drums of Rashied Ali – a fantastic match for his mighty talents, as the pair work together with a whole new extrapolation of the spiritual territory that had been unlocked on more famous records of the time. The material didn't come out until years after Coltrane's death – at a time when others were already recording this way – but the set maybe blows away some of the best material of this nature from the 70s. Titles include "Mars", "Venus", "Jupiter", and "Saturn". CD

One of the greatest recordings ever made by John Coltrane in his later years – a record that has him stepping off into really new territory that would have really been something, had he stayed on the planet long enough to make more recordings like this! The vibe is very experimental – almost predating loft jazz work to come in the 70s – as Coltrane works here just alongside the drums of Rashied Ali – a fantastic match for his mighty talents, as the pair work together with a whole new extrapolation of the spiritual territory that had been unlocked on more famous records of the time. The material didn't come out until years after Coltrane's death – at a time when others were already recording this way – but the set maybe blows away some of the best material of this nature from the 70s. Titles include "Mars", "Venus", "Jupiter", and "Saturn". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most striking records so far from the mighty Rob Mazurek – a set that makes us more than glad we've been following his musical journey for the past two decades! The set's got a nicely compressed feel – one that takes some of the looser energy that's been bubbling up in recent Mazurek records, and delivers it in a tight quartet format – with Rob's sparkling cornet in the lead, amidst great piano from Angelica Sanchez, bass from Matt Lux, and drums from John Herndon! Given the wide resumes of all players, there's a really shifting sense of sound here – one that's bold one minute, introspective the next – and never falls into too-familiar jazz phrasing modes. Yet Mazurek's also really matured as a player, too – working here with a sensitivity we never would have expected years ago – captured with great clarity in the recording. Titles include "Magic Saturn", "Twister Uranus", "Spanish Venus", "Folk Song Neptune", "Primitvie Jupiter" and "Spiral Mercury". LP, Vinyl record album

The one and only album that Sun Ra ever cut for the Savoy label – a beautifully understated session that mixes more conventional jazz with some particularly Ra-like touches! The group on the set is extremely tight – especially the horn work of John Gilmore, Marshall Allen, and Pat Patrick – who glide together along with some of the best mainstream modernists of the 50s, but break out with earthier tones and phrases that clearly mark their playing as different from the norm. Ra plays relatively straight piano for the album, but there's more than enough Arkestra touches from other players on bells and assorted percussion – emphasizing the rhythmic qualities of the tunes, and really living up to the promise of titles that include "Bassism", "China Gates", "Of Sounds And Something Else", "Tapestry From An Asteroid", "Jet Flight", "Space Jazz Reverie", and "Where Is Tomorrow?". Next up is the first album on Saturn! Despite the futurism that the title of the set might imply, the material on this LP is actually some of Sun Ra's earliest, and dates back to the years when the Arkestra was first beginning to make itself heard in Chicago. That doesn't stop the material from being amazing, though, as these prime early tracks really show how strong Ra's vision was, even when it was being applied to material that might look more simple on the surface. Titles include "El Is A Sound Of Joy", "Medicine For A Nightmare", "Sunology", "Advice To Medics", and "Portrait Of The Living Sky". CD

It's hard to conceive of the idea of a "greatest hits" for Sun Ra – as none of his records even cracked the charts – but this set is a much-needed one that offers a strong sampling of Ra's rich body of work, summed up nicely by 18 tracks that over a keen picture of his unique vision. The set's also valuable in that it keeps things nice and lean, with most tracks only running for 4 or 5 minutes, not slipping into the longer drawn-out versions that are usually the province of more serious Ra listeners. Titles include "Saturn", "King Of Not", "Pleasure", "The Order Of The Pharonic Jesters", "The Perfect Man", "We Travel The Spaceways", "I Loves You, Porgy", and "Velvet". CD

An amazing album from Sun Ra – a set that's got some of the same soulful focus as Space Is The Place, and a really surprising sense of groove on many moments! The record's actually a bit funky – if you can believe it – and was recorded with electric keyboards, bass, and guitar (played by the mysterious Disco Kid) – at the studios of Bob Blank, at a time when he was really able to capture the many strands of music that would come together in a performance, then find just the right way to put them over on record! The album was originally dismissed by many Sun Ra fans for being a funk sell-out album – but over the years, it's become a prized album for its cosmic sense of soul and great focus of the group's more far-reaching ideas – and at some level, it's probably the sound that most people imagine the Arkestra to have when they're first starting out, rather than the more avant material that dominates most of their catalog. The whole thing is wonderful – and titles include "That's How I Feel", "Where Pathways Meet", "Twin Stars of Thence", and "There Are Other Worlds (They Have Not Told You Of)". Fantastic 2CD version – which includes both the commercial release, and the other mix of the record that Ra issued on Saturn – plus a great booklet of notes. CD

A classic Sun Ra set from the late 60s – recorded in New York in 1968, and featuring a lineup that includes Kwami Hadi on trumpet, Marshall Allen and Danny Davis on alto and flute, John Gilmore on tenor and drums, and Pat Patrick on baritone and flute – all classic players who are the height of their most expressive powers here! The sound is quite "out" overall – really jamming in an almost free jazz sort of way at times – showing the growing boldness and confidence of the Arkestra, as they keep ahead of the pack of all the younger artists they've inspired by this point in their career. Titles include "Saturn", "Song of the Sparer", "Spontaneous Simplicity", and "Outerspaceways Incorporated". CD also features the previously unissued "Intergalactic Motion". CD

Really unique material from Sun Ra – a pair of recordings that were initially circulated much more strongly than some of his Saturn Records material, thanks to the power of the BYG/Actuel label in the early 70s – but tracks that actually come from a variety of different sessions that Ra himself did with the Arkestra in the late 60s! Tracks are shortish, but very inventive – a well-chosen snapshot of all the new ideas that the group were cooking up during the end of the 60s in New York, with an increased mission to explore the outer reaches of space, and use more electronics than ever before! Ra plays some killer keyboards – moog, spacemaster, and acoustic piano – often with these really eerie tones – and other players include Kwame Hadi on trumpet, Akh Tal Ebah on space dimension mellophone, Ali Hassan on trombone, Marshal Allen and Danny Davis on alto and flute, John Gilmore on tenor, and Pat Patrick on baritone – and the whole group vocalizes at points, joined by other singers who include June Tyson and Art Jenkins. There's also some great use of "strange strings" on the sessions, not to mention a bit of reverb – and tracks titles include "Spectrum", "The Satellites Are Spinning", "Seen III Took 4", "Adventures Of Bugs Hunter", "Legend", "The Realm Of Lightning", "The Utter Nots", "Outer Spaceways Inc", "Scene 1 Take 1", "Strange Worlds", "Ancient Ethiopia", "Pyramids", and "Interpretation". CD

Peter Schickele – aka PDQ Bach – did the soundtrack for this creepy early 70s space thriller, and it's a lot different than most of the work he did under his more famous pseudonym. Most tracks are spare and spooky – with some off-kilter strings that give a bit of a spacey feel, mixed with more traditional dramatic scoring to emphasize the overall dark nature of the story. Joan Baez sings three folk numbers – oddly in stark contrast to Schickele's work – and titles include "Rejoice In The Sun", "Saturn", "Getting Ready", "The Space Fleet", and "The Dying Forest". LP, Vinyl record album

Five years of amazing sounds from Dexter Wansel – a keyboardist who could be as far out as his fiercest fusion contemporaries of the 70s, yet also groove with enough soulful styles to be a key part of the Philadelphia International explosion of the 70s! This massive collection really gets at all that made Wansel so great back in the day – his incredible ear for inventive arrangements, spacey way of spinning out a soul tune, and great sense of balance that never made his music sound overdone – always an effortless blend of jazz, soul, and funk – in ways that few of his contemporaries could ever hope to touch! Many of these tunes have vocals, but they also have plenty of keyboard solos too – kind of like CTI hitting a Philly groove, but one that was definitely reserved for the hipper spaces of the clubs – or the hipper clubs out there in outer space. 2CD set features great notes, sublime sound, and a killer batch of 32 tracks that includes "Life On Mars", "Disco Lights", "Let Me Rock You", "I'll Never Forget My Favorite Disco (12" version)", "The Sweetest Pain", "Holdin On", "One Million Miles From The Ground", "Rings Of Saturn", "Theme From The Planets", "Funk Attack", "Stargazer", "Ode Infinitum", "Latin Love", "Let Me Rock You", "Holdin On", "Prelude 1", "New Beginning", "Time Is The Teacher", "A Prophet Named KG", "I Just Want To Love You", "All Night Long", "It's Been Cool", "Voyager", and "Time Is Slipping Away". CD

A really fantastic issue of this wonderful jazz magazine – and one that features great articles on two legendary record labels – 70s spiritual powerhouse Black Jazz Records, and the legendary South African imprint As-Shams! There's plenty more greatness too – a fond farewell to Pharoah Sanders, a look at the really compelling Nyege Nyege Festival, another chapter on jazz joints in Tokyo, the art of Saturn Records, genius of trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith – and more on Carl Stone, Alina Bzhezhinska, Gyedu-Blay Ambolley, and Thomas Nordmark too. As always, the presentation is fantastic – heavy, book-style, and with beautiful images throughout – 128 pages, and worth every penny! Magazine

A sweet little double CD – one that had some folks saying that Stevie should have stayed away from the "2LP syndrome", but for us a real treasure with lots of hidden gems. Besides the hits "Isn't She Lovely" and "Sir Duke", which were more than enough to carry the set in the record shops, the album's got lots of other nice cuts, including many that have that complicated jazzy feel of Stevie's work on the Inner Visions album. Titles include "Ngiculela – Esa Una Historia", "Ordinary Pain", "Black Man", "Village Ghetto Land", and "Love's In Need Of Love Today". Plus, the CD features the 4 bonus tracks off the original 7" single that accompanied the 2LP set – "Saturn", "Ebony Eyes", "All Day Sucker", and "Easy Goin' Evening (My Mama's Call)". CD

A collection of work from the short-lived Gherkin Records – a late 80s Chicago house label that wasn't nearly as well-known as Trax or DJ International, but who produced some great work nonetheless! One of the strongest suits in Gherkin's favor was Larry Heard, who wrote, produced, and mixed some of the best work for the label – and like Heard's own work, a lot of the stuff here has a soulful undercurrent that's a nice change from the colder edges of some of the Trax years. Titles include "We're Gonna Work It Out" and "O Ban 1 (inst rmx)" by North/Clybourn, "Set Your Mind To It" and "Don't Walk Out On Love (Frankie Knuckles rmx)" by Gallifre, "Saturn V" and "Tar-Disc" by Gherkin Jerks, and "I See Visions" by Riley Evans with Sonya Grant. LP, Vinyl record album

Some of the funkiest punk ever recorded! A Certain Ratio were an incredible band – coming out of the Manchester scene that spawned Joy Division and other Factory Records bands – working in a dark-tinged mode that was every bit the bleakness of late 70s England. But they also were tremendously rhythmic musicians, able to groove in a way that none of their contemporaries ever seemed to match – so that even when they were scratching out some tinny guitar parts, or singing in a flat nasally tone, they also managed to kick in some monster work on the bass, drums, and percussion! This album's a much-needed overview of some of their best work from the early days – hard, dark, and funky tunes with a lot of punk rock energy in the mix – and as with all titles on the Soul Jazz label, it's beautifully packaged! Titles include "Do The Du", "Flight", "Waterline", "Life's A Scream", "Knife Slits Water", "Sounds Like Something Dirty", "Gum", "Touch", "Saturn", "Blown Away", "Fox", and their perennial favorite, a cover of Banbarra's great funky 45, "Shack Up"! Plus, the CD version also includes a bonus disc with 11 rare tracks – pulled from early singles and John Peel Sessions – and it also comes with a short film called Tribeca, showing the group in New York in 1980! CD

Revolutionary work from one of the most important talents you never heard of – 2 jazz/world classics from the amazing Ahmed Abdul-Malik! The CD begins with The Music Of Ahmed Abdul Malik from 1961 – a record that has the bassist working in a very sophisticated cross-cultural mode – pulling together many different strands of jazz and Eastern music, forging them into a very unique sound. Unlike some of Malik's other records, which featured a style that was very heavy on Middle Eastern instrumentation, this one's got a very even blend of jazz – and features excellent work by Tommy Turrentine on trumpet, Calo Scott on cello, Eric Dixon on tenor, and Andrew Cyrille on drums. Malik himself plays bass and oud, and the record's got a snaking mix of jazz and exoticism that's roughly similar to Yusef Lateef's work on Savoy, or some of Sun Ra's work from the time. Titles include "Nights On Saturn", "La Ibkey", "The Hustlers", and "Oud Blues". Sounds Of Africa is one of Malik's greatest – a combination of both his modern and experimental sides, a mixture of off-key hardbop and odd instrumentation that includes cello, oud, and lots of extra percussion. The fantastic Tommy Turrentine plays trumpet on one cut, Richard Williams plays on all others – and the percussionists include Chief Bey, Montego Joe, and Andrew Cyrille! Titles include "The African Bossa Nova", "Wakida Hena", "Communication", "Suffering", and "Nadusilma". CD

Pure genius from America – the kind of record that forever transformed the sound of the mainstream in the 70s! There's a balance here that's completely sublime, right from the start – a summation of all that went before in popular music, wrapped up into a whole new sound that's light years ahead of most music of its generation! The group use acoustic instrumentation and warm harmonies – yet never in a way that's folksy at all – often more jazzy in their phrasing, yet not jazz either – really just a sound that we can only sum up as "America-like" – and maybe add the word "perfect" too. Titles include the classic "Ventura Highway" – plus "Moon Song", "Only In Your Heart", "Till The Sun Comes Up Again", "Saturn Nights", and "California Revisited". LP, Vinyl record album

A totally essential book for any Sun Ra collector – redone in a smashing 2nd edition that's about 3 times as big as the first one! The first pressing of Earthly Recordings sold out almost immediately when it came out in the mid 90s, and we've treasured our copy for years as the only way to really navigate the hundreds and hundreds of obscure recordings issued by Sun Ra. Most of Ra's material came out in many different forms, often with sketchy packaging, and the book's helped us a lot over the years to figure out what we have, when it's from, who's on it, and where to place the music in Ra's history. This time around, Campbell's outdone himself – not just correcting a few errors from the first edition, but also adding in loads and loads of extra material, like details on other artists who recorded for Saturn, and a more complete listing of Ra's earlier work. Plus, this version's broken down year by year – so that you can trace the evolution of Ra & The Arkestra not only with recording data, but also with the large amount of text that's written about the circumstances of the recording sessions and the band's status. The book's a perfect complement to John Zwed's bio of Ra – and it's fascinating reading, a lot more so than any other discography we've encountered! Book

An amazing package – a pair of rare avant jazz albums, presented here together! The first album is Peace In The World – maybe the only album issued under the name of Michael Cosmic – but a set that's part of a key legacy with his brother, reedman Phill Musra! The set has Cosmic in very heady territory – sounds that come from his young tenure in the AACM, his brief time with Cecil Taylor, and his budding reputation on the 70s Boston scene – where the set was recorded, and almost stands as a precursor to the rich legacy of improvisational jazz that would emerge on the New England scene for decades to come! Tracks are long and very free, but have spiritual currents too – and Cosmic is mostly on piano, with Musra on soprano sax and tenor, Leonard Brown on soprano and tenor, John Jamyll Jones on bass, Huseyin Ertunc on drums, and Eric Jackson on percussion. Titles include "We Love You Malcolm X", "Peace In The World", "Sapce On Space", and "Arabia". Next is the related album Creator Spaces, by Phill Musra – recorded at the time when he was part of the very underground Boston avant scene – a world that had a slightly different vibe than music coming from Chicago, Detroit, or New York! The album's got a spiritual avant bent – soulful at the core, with lots of references to outer space as well – and an approach that feels a lot like a classic Saturn Records session by Sun Ra, both in sound and spirit! Musra plays reeds, chimes, and percussion – and the group features some incredible sax work by Michael Cosmic, who also plays a bit of organ, again in a tripped-out, Ra-type way. Huseyin Ertunc plays percussion – very free and loose, in ways that are a great balance to the more angular lines of the reeds – and tracks include "The Creator Is So Far Out", "The Creator Spaces", "Egypt", and "Arabia". Also features unreleased tracks "The Creator Is So Far Out (unreleased version)" and "Phyllis". Added to the set is a really special bonus third CD – an unreleased long live performance of "The Prayer" by Worlds Experience Orchestra – a group from the same scene at the time – with Shaddu Jones on piano, Stan Strickland on tenor and soprano, Frank Peterson on alto, John Jamyll Jones on bass, Robert Ruff on cello, Larry Lerner on drums, and John Klein on amplified violin. CD

This is sort of a Prince Jammy riff on the format of the popular Junjo Lawes-produced Scientist dub series. Nonetheless, he steps up to bat, and indeed defeats the evil planet munchers, with the able help of the Roots Radics rhytnm section. Recorded at Channel One and mixed at Tubby's – and how can you argue with that!? Fat, heavy rhythms dubbed into deep, deep outer space by the heir to the throne! 8 tracks in all, including "Conspiracy On Neptune", "Saturn Bombardment", "Attack on Ganymede", "Martian Encounter", "The Great Red Spot", "Life On Uranus", "Final Destruction" and "War In The Asteroid Belt". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the darkest Sun Ra albums of the early 70s – and a set that's also a bit unusual in his catalog as well! The album was issued during Ra's run with Impulse Records – a period that mostly saw the label reissue previous records from the Saturn catalog – save for a rare few like this one, which was an unusual all-new batch of material for Impulse! Because of that, it's been a bit overlooked in later years – maybe missed as less authentic, but actually some of the most striking sounds that Ra created at the time! There's a very strong tension here between electric and acoustic elements – not in the usual fusion-based way, but instead with this vibe that often has the electric instruments providing darker areas of sound, while the woodwinds and percussion have a way of humanizing the proceedings. June Tyson's also at her moodiest on the title track, "Astro Black" – and other titles include "Hidden Spheres", "Discipline 99", and the long improvisation "Cosmo Fire". CD

One of the darkest Sun Ra albums of the early 70s – and a set that's also a bit unusual in his catalog as well! The album was issued during Ra's run with Impulse Records – a period that mostly saw the label reissue previous records from the Saturn catalog – save for a rare few like this one, which was an unusual all-new batch of material for Impulse! Because of that, it's been a bit overlooked in later years – maybe missed as less authentic, but actually some of the most striking sounds that Ra created at the time! There's a very strong tension here between electric and acoustic elements – not in the usual fusion-based way, but instead with this vibe that often has the electric instruments providing darker areas of sound, while the woodwinds and percussion have a way of humanizing the proceedings. June Tyson's also at her moodiest on the title track, "Astro Black" – and other titles include "Hidden Spheres", "Discipline 99", and the long improvisation "Cosmo Fire". LP, Vinyl record album

A seminal set from Sun Ra – even if it's one of his few 60s albums not on the Saturn label! The set was done for ESP during the glory days of that avant powerhouse – a perfect match, given the Arkestra's relocation to New York, and the label's ability to reach out to big new audiences for exciting music – a fact that certainly made this album one of the most widely-circulated Ra albums for many years to come. The group here works in formation that holds up strongly with the Saturn sides – John Gilmore on tenor, Marshall Allen on alto, Teddy Nance on trombone, Chris Capers on trumpet, Danny Davis on flute and alto, and Ra on piano, bass marimba, and some especially nice electronic celeste! Things get quite out at points – freer almost than other Arkestra sides of the time – and titles include "Outer Nothingness", "Other Worlds", "Nebulae", "Dancing In the Sun", "The Cosmos", and "Of Heavenly Things". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the key non-Saturn Sun Ra albums of the 70s – and like his records for Blue Thumb and Impulse, a set that really helped awaken the world to his talents! This album may well be one of the most bracing of the bunch – as it features live material recorded by Ra and the Arkestra at two different German jazz festivals in 1970 – performances that really have the group at the height of their righteous power, stretching out with a sound that's even more avant than just a few years before! The reed solos are all quite strong – and include work by Pat Patrick, John Gilmore, Danny Davis, Danny Thompson, and Marshall Allen – plus some other oboe, bass clarinet, and bassoon players too – and the lovely June Tyson provides some righteous words in a few spots, while Ra plays a range of keyboards – from clavinet, to farfisa, Hohner electra, mini-moog, Spacemaster, and rocksichord! Titles include "Black Forest Myth", "Strange Dreams – Strange World – Black Myth", and "Myth Versus Reality (The Myth Science Approach)". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the best non-Saturn Sun Ra albums of the 60s – material recorded live on a tour of New York colleges in 1966, and very much in a spirit that captures the Arkestra at their best! Longer tracks are juxtaposed nicely with shorter ones – in a way that has the group running very outside one minute, yet stepping soulfully back to the center the next – never schizophrenicly, but in a mode that really displays the full range of energy pulsing in the group. Interesting instrumentation on the set includes Ra on clavoline, plus Carl Nimrod on the beautiful-sounding "sun horn" – and other players include Marshall Allen on alto, John Gilmore on tenor, Pat Patrick on baritone, and James Jacson on log drum and flute. Titles include "Dancing Shadows", "Next Stop Mars", "Outerspaceways", "Shadow World", and "Sun Ra and His Band From Outer Space". LP, Vinyl record album

A classic Sun Ra set from the late 60s – recorded in New York in 1968, and featuring a lineup that includes Kwami Hadi on trumpet, Marshall Allen and Danny Davis on alto and flute, John Gilmore on tenor and drums, and Pat Patrick on baritone and flute – all classic players who are the height of their most expressive powers here! The sound is quite "out" overall – really jamming in an almost free jazz sort of way at times – showing the growing boldness and confidence of the Arkestra, as they keep ahead of the pack of all the younger artists they've inspired by this point in their career. Titles include "Saturn", "Song of the Sparer", "Spontaneous Simplicity", and "Outerspaceways Incorporated". LP, Vinyl record album

A later classic from Sun Ra – a record that brought his music to a much wider audience in the 80s, and which bears one of his most beautiful cover shots ever! The record's got a wonderfully tight feel – a sound that's often not as out as Saturn sides, and which shows Ra's ability to lead a larger ensemble with a very complex sound – drawing on Ellingtonish roots, but inflecting them with his own space-tuned sensibilities! Players include Tyrone Hill on trombone, Pat Patrick on alto and clarinet, Marshall Allen on alto and flute, John Gilmore on tenor and clarinet, and James Jacson on bassoon and african drums – and Ra himself plays synth as well as piano. Titles include "Yesterdays", "Say It Isn't So", and the originals "State Street Chicago" and "Reflections In Blue". CD

Really unique material from Sun Ra – a pair of recordings that were initially circulated much more strongly than some of his Saturn Records material, thanks to the power of the BYG/Actuel label in the early 70s – but tracks that actually come from a variety of different sessions that Ra himself did with the Arkestra in the late 60s! Tracks are shortish, but very inventive – a well-chosen snapshot of all the new ideas that the group were cooking up during the end of the 60s in New York, with an increased mission to explore the outer reaches of space, and use more electronics than ever before! Ra plays some killer keyboards – moog, spacemaster, and acoustic piano – often with these really eerie tones – and other players include Kwame Hadi on trumpet, Akh Tal Ebah on space dimension mellophone, Ali Hassan on trombone, Marshal Allen and Danny Davis on alto and flute, John Gilmore on tenor, and Pat Patrick on baritone – and the whole group vocalizes at points, joined by other singers who include June Tyson and Art Jenkins. There's also some great use of "strange strings" on the sessions, not to mention a bit of reverb – and tracks on this first volume include "Spectrum", "The Satellites Are Spinning", "Seen III Took 4", "Adventures Of Bugs Hunter", "Legend", and "The Realm Of Lightning". LP, Vinyl record album

Something of a "lost" album from Sun Ra – material initially intended as his second album for Transition records in the 50s, but not issued until a decade later when Delmark Records was first putting the Chicago underground on the map! The sound here steps out nicely from the first Transition session – and Ra is already a bit bolder, not just in his structure of the songs, but in the way he handles his piano – with some darker notes and tones, more exotic phrasing, and even some very early use of electric piano – already with the haunting qualities that would show up more strongly in the Saturn years. Every member of the group is wonderful too – each with their own voice, spoken strongly and freely – in a lineup that includes Art Hoyle and Dave Young on trumpets, Julian Priester on trombone, Pat Patrick on alto and baritone sax, John Gilmore on tenor, Charles Davis on baritone, Victor Sproles on bass, William Cochran on drums, and Jim Herndon on tympani and timbali. Titles include "El Is A Sound Of Joy", "Overtones Of China", "Ankh", "Two Tones", "Saturn", "Reflections In Blue", and "Planet Earth". LP, Vinyl record album

A landmark event – rare recordings from Sun Ra, recorded back in the Arkestra's glory days in Chicago! The CD brings to light some fantastic tracks that rival the quality of Ra's best Saturn Records material from the time – sessions recorded at the Wonder Inn and Majestic Hall, done in that wonderfully otherwordly style that was the Arkestra's strength at the time. The style is both exotic and straight – with haunting versions of a few standards, plus Ra originals that include "Angels & Demons At Play", "Space Aura", "Ankhnaton", "Majestic", and "Spontaneous Simplicity". John Gilmore is especially wonderful on tenor – and the moody recording style of the tracks seems to bring out even more in his horn! CD

Never-heard music from the legendary Sun Ra Arkestra – pulled from four different sessions recorded at the group's Philadelphia home in 1969 – and every bit as impressive as the Saturn Records material from the time! The recording quality is great – these aren't random snippets of sounds caught on a cassette – and Ra's really trying out some new ideas with the Arkestra – sometimes working in highly percussive modes that feel like a late 60s update of the exoticism of the group in their final Chicago years – sometimes bringing in more electric elements, as Ra himself plays both Farfisa and a Hohner clavinet – no piano at all! Other players include the mighty John Gilmore on tenor, Doug Williams on trumpet and "space dimension mellophone", Marshall Allen and Danny Davis on altos and flutes, Danny Ray Thompson on alto, James Jacson on percussion – and all other members of the group play percussion too – which makes for plenty of percussive moments! Notes are by Robert Campbell – the Sun Ra expert – and titles include "The Others From Another World", "Discipline Of The Pharoahs", "Latent Friends", "Moon Over Saturn", "Principles Of The Pharoahs", "Calling Out To Saturn", "Exotic Forest", "Do The Intergalactic Thing", and "Saturn Moon". LP, Vinyl record album

Holy Saturn! This is an incredibly rare album that has Ra & The Arkestra shilling for bucks by playing jazzy versions of cartoony themes – wrapped up in a "Batman & Robin" package designed to cash in on the popularity of the mid 60s TV show! Ra plays Hammond B-3 on a number of cuts, and other players include Jimmy Owens, Tom McIntosh, and members of the Blues Porject. The session was put together by Ed Bland – director of the Cry Of Jazz, who later went onto arrange and produce a lot of weird funky records in New York. Wild – and with a great cover! LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic bit of space age funk – and maybe one of the greatest moments ever from Philly Soul maestro Dexter Wansel! The album goes way beyond any of Wansel's other work – and blends his warm soulful styles with some of the more keyboard-oriented funk that was coming out of the Herbie Hancock camp during the mid 70s – a vibe that's every bit as electric and spacey as you'd guess from the cover! Some cuts have a bit more of a soul focus, but others have loads of jazzy keyboards from Dexter – driven on by some great drums at points too. Titles include Wansel's legendary version of "Theme From the Planets" with the much sampled breakbeat at the beginning – plus the funky "Life On Mars", and the tracks "One Million Miles From The Ground", "You Can Be What You Wanna Be", "Prophet Named KG", "Rings Of Saturn", and "Stargazer". LP, Vinyl record album

One of Sun Ra's best non-Saturn live sets of the 70s – a nice little record that shows the group mixing it up with equal parts avant garde and straight ahead jazz, all handled in that ever-growing large group style that made them a real force to be reckoned with in a concert setting! The album was recorded during the 1976 Montreux Jazz Festival, and has a bit more focus and polish than some of the other Arkestra live material from the time – a mature, coherent sound that almost points the way towards some of their work to come in the 80s – when Ra and the group were finally reaching the wider audience they deserved. The set's a double-length one, and features players who include John Gilmore on tenor, Marshall Allen and Danny Davis on alto and flute, Pat Patrick on baritone, Ahmed Abdullah on trumpet, Craig Harris on trombone, and James Jackson on Ancient Egyptian Infinity drum – which is always a treat. Ra plays solar organ and moog, as well as piano – and titles include "Of The Other Tomorrow", "On Sound Infinity Spheres", "El Is The Sound Of Joy", "Gods Of The Thunder Realm", "Gods Of A Thunder Realm", "The House Of Eternal Being", and "Lights On a Satellite". LP, Vinyl record album

An obscure later album by Jimmy Smith – but one that continues the trend of tighter jazz funk that he began in the 70s! The album's a tight studio session with Jimmy on the "Wersi Saturn W3T" organ, plus guitar by Howard Roberts and Dennis Budimir, piano by Ronnie Foster, trumpet by Oscar Brashear, and percussion by Paulinho Da Costa. The tracks run from straighter soul jazz organ numbers to more pumped-up ones that feel like 70s soundtrack work by Lalo Schifrin – no surprise, since Schifrin contributed 5 tracks to the set. Titles include "Wersi Time", "Free Ride", "The Big Brawl", and "The Cat Strikes Again". LP, Vinyl record album

A sweet little double CD – one that had some folks saying that Stevie should have stayed away from the "2LP syndrome", but for us a real treasure with lots of hidden gems. Besides the hits "Isn't She Lovely" and "Sir Duke", which were more than enough to carry the set in the record shops, the album's got lots of other nice cuts, including many that have that complicated jazzy feel of Stevie's work on the Inner Visions album. Titles include "Ngiculela – Esa Una Historia", "Ordinary Pain", "Black Man", "Village Ghetto Land", and "Love's In Need Of Love Today". Plus, the CD features the 4 bonus tracks off the original 7" single that accompanied the 2LP set – "Saturn", "Ebony Eyes", "All Day Sucker", and "Easy Goin' Evening (My Mama's Call)". CD