Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow (1961-62)

Recorded about a year after Sun Ra's arrival in New York City, the album Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow (released in 1965) features the Arkestra leader stretching out in all directions. Whether he was influenced by the city's surrounding musical atmosphere (which was about to explode into the free jazz phenomena) or simply feeling comfortable enough amidst the urban sprawl to finally present long-gestating avant-garde ideas, either way sessions recorded at Choreographer's Workshop during this period demonstrate a bold break from the "space bop" developed during the preceding Chicago years (although Side A of Angels and Demons at Play had certainly already started pushing boundaries).

The first 5 tracks were probably recorded in 1962 at Choreographer's Workshop, NYC. Aside from a somber reading of "Ankh", these are made up of "performance artifacts"  showcasing Sun Ra's most experimental side so far, and seem to reflect contemporaneous "cinematic" trends in European classical music (Stockhausen, Kagel, Morricone) more than groove-oriented swing or bebop. The last 3 tunes (including the 2014 bonus track "Chicago, Southside") were recorded during the 1961 sessions which produced Bad and Beautiful and have more conventional structures and rhythms, but even these seem to be on the edge of veering off into new astro-acoustic arenas during their fade-outs.

Irwin Chusid writes (on the Sun Ra Bandcamp release page):

"Cluster of Galaxies" and "Solar Drums" are modernistic percussion soundscapes, bracketing "Ankh #1," a swaggering R&B rework of a late '50s tune from the artist's Chicago years. "The Outer Heavens," sans rhythm section, echoes Third Stream chamber jazz, while "Infinity of the Universe" offsets a percussion battalion with thunderous low-register piano. "Lights on a Satellite" and "Kosmos in Blue," both recorded at an earlier Choreographer's session, ground the set on terra firma with some stylish hard bop. "Lights" remained a staple in Sunny's concert repertoire for the rest of his life. 

Personnel:

Sun Ra: Piano, Sun Harp, Spiral Percussion Gong, Dragon Drum
John Gilmore: Tenor Sax, Bass Clarinet, Percussion
Marshall Allen: Alto Sax, Bells, Percussion
Pat Patrick: Baritone Sax, Percussion, Clarinet, Thunder Drums
Ronnie Boykins: Bass

with
Ali Hassan: Trombone on "Ankh"
Manny Smith: Trumpet on "The Outer Heavens"
Clifford Thornton: Trumpet on "Infinity of the Universe"
John Ore: Second Bass on "Kosmos in Blue", "Lights On A Satellite" and "Chicago, Southside"
C. Scoby Stroman: Drums on "Ankh" and "Solar Drums"
Clifford Jarvis: Drums on "Infinity of the Universe"
Tommy Hunter: Drums, Percussion on "Cluster of Galaxies", "Lights on a Satellite" and "Kosmos in Blue", Reverb Effects

1. "Cluster of Galaxies"

This piece comes across like an aural journey through outer space, as the listener encounters various forms of stellar phenomena. It opens with Sun Ra on plucked Sun Harp and ringing Spiral Percussion Gong summoning a wordless "mating call" of some sort. This texture is then enriched by high-pitched echo-feedback, courtesy of recordist/percussionist Tommy Hunter. Low, metallic percussion then dominates the eerie proceedings, punctuated by mysterious "thumpings". After a pulsing gong interlude (evoking Buddhist monastery imagery), the Sun Harp returns with a few brief arpeggios to usher in a final, ringing flourish. Aside from Hunter, Pat Patrick also plays Thunder Drum on this track.

2. "Ankh (#1)"

This is a septet arrangement of "Ankh" (also recorded earlier in 1956 for Sound of Joy and 1961 for Bad and Beautiful), featuring Sun Ra (p), Ali Hassan (tb), Marshall Allen (as), John Gilmore (ts), Pat Patrick (bars), Ronnie Boykins (b) and C. Scoby Stroman (d). Like the version on Bad and Beautiful, it omits the 1956 introductory section and quickly goes to the swinging "jam" riff featuring swaying, low register brass. Ali Hassan soon offers up a somewhat disconsolate trombone solo, followed by Pat Patrick in a more boisterous baritone sax lead. Ronnie Boykins' elastic bass takes the final spotlight. The tune ends in a fade out as Sun Ra injects a few final "rolled" piano figures.

3. "Solar Drums"

This tune features waves of percussion textures (courtesy of Marshall Allen, John Gilmore, C. Scoby Stroman and Sun Ra) processed with reverb effects applied by Tommy Hunter. Sun Ra and Ronnie Boykins eventually add scintillating piano and murky bass shapes, but Hunter's lurching application of the reverb effect makes the aural image go in and out of view.

4. "The Outer Heavens" 

This drumless sextet (Sun Ra (p); Manny Smith (tp); Marshall Allen (as); John Gilmore (ts); Pat Patrick (clarinet!); Ronnie Boykins (b)) is structured around mischievous rising-falling figures from Boykins' bass and Sun Ra's piano, while the horns offer up free-spirited melodic lines over a nebulous harmony. At times the horns lock into sequences based on short repeated motifs, an idea which would be more fully explored many years later in Sun Ra's "Discipline" compositions. Solos from Marshall Allen and John Gilmore soon push the band into a free-jazz dynamic, after which Sun Ra's pounding piano is briefly spotlighted. The piece ends in a fade-out, possibly hinting at a much longer original performance.

5. "Infinity of the Universe"

This tune features a percussion ensemble made up of Marshall Allen, John Gilmore, Pat Patrick and Clifford Jarvis (with Tommy Hunter providing subtle reverb effects). After an opening dominated by melodic percussion, menacing piano/bass riffs (Sun Ra and Ronnie Boykins) enter to evoke a more forbidding atmosphere. Sun Ra then begins hammering out dark, unrelenting piano accents, while members of the percussion ensemble approach and recede from the borders of the aural soundscape. A drum solo (Clifford Jarvis) is spotlighted in the middle section, after which a rhythmic "rave up" ensues, this time with the addition of Clifford Thornton's trumpet and a bit of John Gilmore's bass clarinet.

6. "Lights on a Satellite"
Sun Ra (p); John Gilmore (ts); Pat Patrick (bars); Ronnie Boykins (b); John Ore (b); Tommy Hunter (d)

This take of "Lights On A Satellite" (of which an earlier version can be heard on 1965's Fate In A Pleasant Mood) opens directly into the tart, somewhat "tipsy" main theme, here led by John Gilmore's smoky tenor sax. A secondary, more accented brass figure soon appears (the "middle eight"), before a restatement of the first theme. Sun Ra then offers up a bluesy pub-style piano solo followed by a soulful tenor lead from Gilmore. The song begins to fade out just as Sun Ra begins pushing the harmony towards more mysterious coordinates...

7. "Kosmos in Blue" 
Sun Ra (p); John Gilmore (ts); Ronnie Boykins (b); John Ore (b); Tommy Hunter (d) 

Monk-like piano figures from Sun Ra are soon joined by limber bass lines from Ronnie Boykins and second bassist John Ore, leading the groove towards a light swing rhythm (although Ra's unusual comping keeps things a bit "edgey"). Tommy Hunter (on drums) soon initiates a series of exchanges with Ra's piano and Boykins' bass. Eventually, John Gilmore enters with a dry tenor sax solo (somewhat recalling his angular playing from Futuristic Sounds' "Jet Flight"), followed by a return to lead exchanges between Ra, Hunter and John Ore (replacing Boykins in this round). In the final stretch, Gilmore returns one more time to lay out a more formal theme melody before a slightly-ragged ending cadence.

8. "Chicago, Southside"
Sun Ra (p); John Gilmore (ts); John Ore (b); Tommy Hunter (d)

This 2014 Bandcamp "bonus track" is also a bar-room blues number, but is markedly more frenetic than the previous tracks. Percussive piano accents from Sun Ra soon usher in another biting, hard-bop tenor lead from John Gilmore, this time backed by John Ore's tireless walking bass. Sun Ra soon offers up a syncopated "kosmo-blues" solo, after which Ore gets his own spotlight. Floating piano slams soon lead to a second solo from Sun Ra, still in "stellar" mode. The song fades out on a stuttering Gilmore tenor figure, offering a tantalizing hint of an original longer performance, cut off whilst in the midst of mutating into something again very different.

Links
2014 Bandcamp Release 
Apple Music  
Wiki Entry 
Temple.net Entry
United Mutations Entry

Bad and Beautiful (1961)

Shortly after relocating to New York City from Chicago, Sun Ra and the remaining Arkestra members (now a sextet) began informal sessions at a new rehearsal space, Choreographers’ Workshop on West 51st Street. There, Sun Ra's old friend Tommy Hunter used some relatively low-budget gear to record their informal performances, some of which eventually appeared in 1972 on the album Bad and Beautiful. Although a relatively conventional offering (especially compared to what the Arkestra were performing live at the time of its release), it features some great, lyrical playing from a returning Pat Patrick and the always reliable John Gilmore. From a compositional standpoint, the jagged riff driving "Exotic Two" may be the album's highlight, although Gilmore's tenor solo in "Searchlight Blues" is also fascinating for the way he manipulates time. The new, looser version of "Ankh" here (also on Sound of Joy) offers a hint of how Sun Ra would continue to create new arrangements of the older Chicago tunes for more modern times.

In his 1993 article "Sun Ra - Supersonic Sounds From Saturn", Robert L. Campbell writes:

Movie themes and show tunes like “The Bad and the Beautiful” and “And this is My Beloved” were presented in a gorgeous set of arrangements, without improvisation. Countering this refinement were earthier numbers like “On the Blue Side” and a remake of “Ankh,” both featuring Patrick’s gritty baritone sax. “Exotic Two” is a Latin piece with the dry, hard, percussive piano sound that Ra began to cultivate around this time. “Search Light Blues” belongs to Gilmore. His entry is gauzy, almost Getzian, his solo filled with yearning and mystery. Even through the sonic dinge, you can hear his upper register making the practice room ring.

Personnel:

Sun Ra: Piano
John Gilmore: Tenor Sax
Marshall Allen: Alto Sax, Flute
Pat Patrick: Baritone Sax, Percussion
Ronnie Boykins: Bass
Tommy Hunter: Drums

Recorded at the Choreographer's Workshop, New York in either November or December 1961. All compositions by Sun Ra except where noted.

1. "Bad and the Beautiful" (Previn, Raksin) 

In this lush reading of the theme from the film The Bad and the Beautiful, John Gilmore's tenor sax navigates through the main melody while Marshall Allen's flute adds counterpoint figures (although Allen's flute is featured alone in the bridge section). In the final stretch of the piece, Allen and Gilmore play through the theme together in a harmonized line.

2. "Ankh"

This is a new version of the song from Sound of Joy. In this faster, "jam" version, the opening sections are omitted, and instead the lurching bridge section is used as the song's main riff. Pat Patrick's bluesy baritone sax is featured first, followed by Sun Ra's lyrical piano and then Ronnie Boykins' rubbery bass. Some percussive piano accents eventually turn the song back towards the main theme section.

3. "Just in Time" (Styne, Comden, Green)

John Gilmore plays the main melody of this lively Broadway show tune on tenor sax with a warm, rounded tone, leading into a smokey solo. Sun Ra then enters with a soulful piano solo of his own, followed by a Gilmore taking the song out on a final, somewhat more pointed solo chorus.

4. "Search Light Blues"

This is a patient, "searching" blues, opening with a juddering piano trio. John Gilmore soon offers up a solo in which he plays around with the bar line, incorporating clever accents and silences into his figures. Sun Ra eventually enters with a piano solo which similarly plays with rhythm and but also pushes outwards against the blues harmony. Gilmore soon finishes off the tune with a final solo statement.

5. "Exotic Two"

A slippery, accented bass and piano figure opens this tune, driven by uptempo ride cymbal and percussion figures. Sun Ra's ensuing piano solo veers towards classical harmonic territory, after which a percussion interlude arrives. Sun Ra eventually leads this tantalizing piece to a close with jagged piano ornaments. Despite the "foreign" nature of its main riff, this song nonetheless comes off as being quite charming.

6. "On the Blue Side"

This lively swing-blues features a sharply-articulated baritone sax solo from Pat Patrick in the opening choruses, followed by an agile piano solo from Sun Ra (containing only a hint of chromaticism). Patrick then returns in a final outro solo.

7. "And This is My Beloved" (Borodin, Wright, Forrest)

This is a romantic Broadway show tune featuring a rich Sun Ra harmonization of the main theme using horns and flute. Mostly a restrained reading, it's nonetheless interesting to listen for the subtle variations the musicians bring to the material. 

"Street of Dreams" (Victor Young, Sam Lewis)

This "lost outtake" (included on the 2014 Bandcamp digital release) opens with Sun Ra extemporizing on piano, after which bass and drums summon up a slow ballad groove. After a few choruses continuing to feature Sun Ra in "romantic mode", Pat Patrick's crisp baritone sax enters with a heartfelt solo of his own.

Links
2014 Bandcamp Release 
Apple Music  
Wiki Entry 
Temple.net Entry
United Mutations Entry