The timeline below is extrapolated from John F. Szwed's definitive Sun Ra biography
Space Is the Place: The Lives and Times of Sun Ra (1997) with some musical observations taken from Robert L. Campbell's superlative essay "Sun Ra - Supersonic Sounds From Saturn" (first published in
Goldmine, January 22, 1993 and newly reprinted in
OMNIVERSE SUN RA, 2nd Edition, by Hartmut Geerken and Chris Trent, Art Yard 2015). Sun Ra's Chicago years are particularly well-documented at a site maintained by Robert L. Campbell, Christopher Trent, and Robert Pruter:
https://campber.people.clemson.edu/sunra.html.
Birmingham
1914: Herman ("Sonny") Poole Blount is born on May 22 in Birmingham, Alabama.
1925: At age 11, Sonny begins playing piano and writing songs.
1927: Sonny begins playing in the school orchestra under director "Fess"
Whatley at Industrial High School. He has his first professional gigs during
his senior year (1931) playing at social dances.
1932: Sonny goes on the road with the Society Troubadours (a Whatley-financed
band). In the following years he continues to play on sporadic tours with small
groups.
Sonny begins studying the music of swing bandleader Fletcher Henderson.
1934-35: The "Sonny Blount Orchestra" tours the Southeast.
1935-36: Sonny attends a year of college at Alabama A & M (Alabama State
Agricultural & Mechanical Institute for Negroes) in Huntsville, where he
studies classical music under Professor Lula Hopkins Randall.
Sonny has an alien abduction experience/vision.
After 1 year of college he
returns to Birmingham to work on music for the next several years continues to lead the 12-piece Sonny
Blount Orchestra.
1937: Sonny obtains a
Soundmirror recording device
which he uses to record touring acts and to preserve his own performances and
compositions onto paper tape.
1939/1941: Sonny begins using a
Hammond Solovox, a 3-octave monophonic electronic keyboard.
1943: Sonny spends a few months of WWII at a work camp for conscientious
objectors.
Chicago
1946: Sonny arrives in Chicago looking for musicians. He soon appears on his
first records, two singles by singer/drummer Wynonie "Mr. Blues" Harris and his band, recorded in Nashville.His piano is featured on the track "Dig This Boogie".
1947: Sonny meets Fletcher Henderson at Club DeLisa and joins his band as
pianist and arranger for a few months (although Sonny's arrangements seem "strange" to the orchestra members). After the Henderson band dissolves he
continues to create arrangements for Red Saunders and His Orchestra (through 1955). He also plays with the Dukes of Swing at
the Congo Club (and records with them the next year).
In addition to his longtime interest in history, Sonny begins studying spiritualism and
the occult.
1947-50: Sonny forms a 12-piece band for arrangements of standards and a separate trio
for originals. The bands often play in strip clubs.
1948: Sonny records "Deep Purple" with violinist Stuff Smith (the track
eventually appears on Deep Purple/Dreams Come True (1973)). He also performs on stage with Coleman Hawkins.
1951: Sonny meets 14-year-old Alton Abraham, who helps him financially and
will later run Saturn Records.
1952: Sonny soon adopts the name "Sun Ra" and forms the "Space Trio" after
recruiting drummer Robert Barry and reedist Pat Patrick, two DuSable High
School students.
1953/54: Tenor saxophonist John Gilmore and bassist Earl Demus join the Space
Trio when Pat Patrick temporarily leaves.
1954-55: Sun Ra works with and records vocal groups the Nu Sounds and the
Cosmic Rays.
1954: The first version of the Arkestra is formed when Sun Ra, Gilmore,
Patrick and Demus are joined by bassist Richard Evans, trombonist Julian
Priester, tympanist Jim Hernden, trumpet player Dave Young, electric bassist
Wilburn Green, bassist Victor Sproles, alto saxophonist Von Freeman, tenor
saxophonist Johnny Thompson, baritone saxophonist Charles Davis, alto
saxophonist James Scales, and trumpet player Art Hoyle.
Sun Ra's new Arkestra octet play at Chicago's "Birdland" (later renamed
"Budland").
1955: Sun Ra buys a Wurlitzer electric piano. Sonny Rollins briefly jams with the Arkestra.
1956: Sun Ra meets Coltrane (while the saxophonist is touring with Miles
Davis).
A quintet made up of Sun Ra, Hoyle, Gilmore, Sproles, and new trumpeter Phil
Cohran perform alternate sets with an improvisational theater group.
Sun Ra becomes a fan of Les Baxter's work.
Sun Ra and Alton Abraham start (El) Saturn Records. The Arkestra soon go to
RCA Studios in Chicago and records several singles (“Super Blonde”, “Soft Talk”, “Medicine for a
Nightmare”, "Advice to Medics", “Urnack”, “A Call for All Demons”, “Demon’s Lullaby”,
“Saturn”, “Supersonic Jazz”, ), all of which
will later reappear on the LPs Super-Sonic Jazz and
Angels and Demons at Play.
1956-58: The Arkestra records some tracks later released on Jazz by Sun Ra (1957) and
Sun Ra Visits Planet Earth
(1966).
Ed Bland begins filming the Arkestra's shows for use in his film
The Cry of Jazz.
1957: Super-Sonic Jazz (featuring earlier singles and other tracks
recorded in 1956) is released on Saturn Records.
Tom Wilson's Transition label releases Jazz by Sun Ra (recorded 1956 in
between sessions for Super-Sonic Jazz, later re-released by Delmark as
Sun Song). Additional music from the same session later surfaces on
Sound of Joy (1968).
More new Arkestra members arrive: trombonist Nate Pryor, Lucious Randolph on
trumpet, Hattie Randolph on vocals, alto saxophonist James Spaulding,
bassist Ronnie Boykins, vocalist Yochannan, and flautist/alto saxophonist
Marshall Allen.
1958/59: Sun Ra continues to work with several vocal groups who release singles.
He also records a few Arkestra tracks (one of which, "Star Time", will surface
on Lady with the Golden Stockings/The Nubians of Plutonia (1966)).
1959: Tracks for Jazz In Silhouette (1959) and
Sound Sun Pleasure!! (1965) are recorded with new trumpet player
Hobart Dotson.
Sun Ra employs Latin rhythms in some tracks for
Lady with the Golden Stockings/The Nubians of Plutonia.
The Arkestra begin wearing exotic costumes and including "space chants" in
their shows.
Trumpet player Phil Cohran joins the Arkestra for a year or two.
1960: The Arkestra records tracks for Holiday for Soul Dance (1970).
At Hall Studios on June 17, Sun Ra uses a septet (Sun Ra, Phil Cohran on
cornet and violin uke (a zither-type instrument), Nate Pryor on trombone,
drummer Jon Hardy, and Gilmore, Allen, and Boykins) to record tracks which
later appear on the albums Angels and Demons at Play (1965), Rocket Number Nine Take off for the Planet Venus
(1965, reissued as Interstellar Low Ways), We Travel the Spaceways
(1967), and Fate in a Pleasant Mood (1965).
Some Arkestra members (Dotson, Priester, Davis, Doyle, Spaulding, Randolph and
Patrick) leave. The remaining septet (Sun Ra, drummer Billy Mitchell, vocalist
Ricky Murray, trumpet player William Strickland, Ronnie Boykins, John Gilmore,
and Marshall Allen) travel to Montreal for a few shows. At the end of the
year, they relocate to New York.
New York
1961: Although Strickland and Mitchell soon go home, Pat Patrick rejoins the
remaining quintet in New York City. Drummer Tommy Hunter, an old friend of
Sunny's from Chicago, also joins the Arkestra on drums and functions as a
sound recordist.
Oct 10: In Newark, Tom Wilson has the Arkestra (now also including Detroit
euphonium/trombone player Bernard McKinney, drummer Willie Jones and conga
drummer Leah Ananda) record The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra (1962).
The Arkestra begin rehearsing/recording at Choreographers’ Workshop, a
dancers’ rehearsal space at 414 West 51st Street. There, tracks for
Bad and Beautiful (1972) and
Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow (1965) are recorded.
1962: The Arkestra begin performing at Cafe Bizarre on 3rd Street.
Secrets of the Sun (1965) is recorded (including concert staples
“Friendly Galaxy” and “Love in Outer Space”) with C. Scoby Stroman sometimes
added on drums. Art Jenkins becomes the Arkestra's new “space
vocalist”.
The Arkestra moves into a house at 48 East 3rd Street (soon dubbed "the Sun
Palace", or "Sun Studios"). Sun Ra begins grooming a young Pharoah Sanders for
the band.
1963: The Arkestra is joined by Clifford Jarvis on drums, Danny Davis on alto
saxophone and Robert Cummings on bass clarinet.
Fred Vargas begins recording the Arkestra at his studio, Variety Recording
(co-owned with Warren Smith).
Tracks are recorded for When Sun Comes Out (1963), When Angels Speak of Love (1966) and Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy (1967). Sun Ra and the
Arkestra's performances go more "out" than ever before.
1964: Other Planes of There (1966) is recorded. When John Gilmore
leaves for a stint with Art Blakey, the tenor sax role is taken up by
Pharoah Sanders. Other new Arkestra members include Black Harold (Harold
Murray, flute and hand drums) and Robert Northern (French horn).
Musically, the Arkestra begin performing longer pieces consisting of
structured solo and group improvisations ("Other Planes of There", "Sketch",
"Pleasure", "Spiral Galaxy").
On June 15th, the Arkestra perform at Bill Dixon's "October Revolution" concerts at the Cellar Cafe (a free jazz series which inspires Bernard Stollman to start the label
ESP-Disk').
1965: Tracks are recorded for The Magic City (1966),
The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. I (1965) and
The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. II (1966). The
Heliocentric records explore sparse abstract textures and structures.
Back in Chicago, Alton Abraham begins releasing Saturn records assembled from
Arkestra recordings made in the early 1960s:
Angels and Demons at Play (1965), Fate in a Pleasant Mood (1965), Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow (1965), and
Secrets of the Sun (1965).
Sun Ra plays on Walt Dickerson's Impressions of a Patch of Blue (a 1966
film score).
1966: Sun Ra and the Arkestra begin regular nights at Slug's (242 East 3rd
Street, betw. C & D), a feature spot lasting until 1972.
John Gilmore rejoins the Arkestra (Pharoah Sanders joins Coltrane's groups).
Other new members include trombonists Teddy Nance and Bernard Pettiway, as
well as reedist/percussionist James Jacson.
The Arkestra provide music for Amiri Baraka's social play A Black Mass.
Tracks are recorded for Nothing Is (a live album,
released in 1970) and Strange Strings (1967).
More archival recordings continue to come out on El Saturn Records:
Sun Ra Visits Planet Earth, Rocket Number Nine (Interstellar Low Ways), When Angels Speak of Love and We Travel the Spaceways (released
1967).
Sun Ra records solo piano albums
Monorails and Satellites, Vols. 1 (1968) and 2 (released 1974).
1967: John Sinclair books the Arkestra on a bill with the rock band the MC5.
New saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist Danny Ray Thompson joins the Arkestra.
Singer June Tyson also joins the Arkestra, as well as dancer/speaker Verta Mae
Grosvenor.
The title track to Atlantis (1969) is recorded live at the
Olatunji Center of African Culture.
1968: The Arkestra performs at Carnegie Hall. For this show, Sun Ra brings
back Lucious Randolph, Art Jenkins, and Robert Northern.
The Arkestra perform background music for Maxine Haller’s radio play “The
Stranger”.
Philadelphia
1968: Sun Ra moves the Arkestra to 5626 Morton Street in Germantown (Philadelphia). They soon
go west to do several shows in California. During this tour, Damon Choice
joins the Arkestra as its vibraphonist.
1969-70: My Brother the Wind, Vols. I & II are recorded (released
1970, 1971). Sun Ra begins using a Moog synthesizer. On Vol. I (1970)
he uses two Moogs played simultaneously. The Moog is also featured on
The Solar-Myth Approach, Vols. I and II (ESP-Disk', 1971).
1970: The Arkestra tours Europe, and is featured at the Fondation Maeght in
Saint-Paul-de-Vence.
Cellist/bassist Alan Silva briefly joins the group. On a second European tour
Eloe Omoe (Leroy Taylor), a bass clarinetist, is added.
In Germany, the Arkestra performs at the Donaueschingen Festival for New Music
and at the Berlin Jazz Days festival. Later, they also do shows in the U.K.
On Night of the Purple Moon, Sun Ra features the sounds of the
Rocksichord keyboard. Live however, the use of larger ensembles leads to more
loosely-structured (and more chaotic) group improvisations, and
vocal/declamatory episodes become longer..
1971: The Arkestra performs in New York and California. At the end of the
year, the Arkestra visits Egypt for the first time.
Sun Ra begins writing the "Discipline" series, compositions based on
variations of layered and repeated melodic figures.
Sun Ra lectures at University of California at Berkeley.
Sun Ra stars in the film Space Is The Place.
1972: Sun Ra signs a contract with Impulse Records and releases some new
material on Astro Black (1972, featuring June Tyson),
Pathways to Unknown Worlds (1975), Crystal Spears and
Cymbals (the last two not released until decades later).
1973: Ronnie Boykins, Robert Cummings and Pat Patrick depart the Arkestra.
Sun Ra soon begins reviving Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington big band
numbers for the Arkestra.
1974: The Arkestra visits Mexico. Later Sun Ra begins issuing records
independently from Abraham's Saturn Records.
1975: Two new trumpet players, Ahmed Abdullah and Michael Ray, join the
Arkestra.
1976: The Arkestra visits Nigeria and the Egypt again. New Arkestra members
include Craig Harris (trombone) and Vincent Chauncey (French horn).
1977: Live, Sun Ra begins including more solo and group blues numbers. Danny
Davis leaves the Arkestra.
1978: The Arkestra performs on SNL. Afterwards, Languidity is
recorded.
Sonny takes a quartet version of the Arkestra to Italy early in 1978 with Michael Ray, John Gilmore,
and Luqman Ali on drums. This quartet is featured on the albums
New Steps, Other Voices, Media Dreams and Disco 3000.
1979: Film director Bob Mugge begins shooting
Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise (1980).
Tracks are recorded for Omniverse, Sleeping Beauty, On Jupiter and I, Pharaoh (released 1980).
Sun Ra and the Arkestra play as the house band at the Squat Theatre on 23rd
Street.
1982: Sun Ra records the protest rap “Nuclear War”, featured on the LP
A Fireside Chat with Lucifer (1983).
1983: In Egypt, the Arkestra records
Sun Ra Meets Salah Ragab in Egypt.
1984: Sun Ra and John Cage perform on the same stage.
1986-88: Sun Ra revisits older styles on recordings for
Reflections in Blue (1987), Hours After (1989), Blue Delight (1989), and Somewhere Else (1993).
1988: The Arkestra visits Japan. Afterwards, they begin recording and
performing an album of Disney songs. A live concert from the Knitting Factory
in NYC is recorded and released as Hidden Fire 1 and 2.
1990-93: Sun Ra is briefly hospitalized in 1990. In the following years he
continues to tour with the Arkestra but his health eventually spirals
downwards and he transitions in 1993.
