1. And Otherness – (5.10)
2. Thither and Yon – (4.01)
3. Adventure-Equation – (8.26)
Side B:
1. Moon Dance – (6.34)
2. Voice of Space – (7.42)
Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy is an album by the American Jazz musician Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra. Recorded in 1963 but not released until 1967 on Sun Ra’s own Saturn label, the record has become one of the most discussed of Ra’s New York recordings
Originally released in a sleeve with a Sun Ra doodle, the better known cover, designed by Richard Pedreguera, was in place by 1969.
The album has increasingly been discussed within the context of anticipating psychedelia or pointing towards the funk of George Clinton;
Clinton’s astral ritual seems as inspired by the Nation of Islam as it is by Sun Ra, and when asked about the Ra in 1979, Clinton said:
“This boy was definitely out to lunch – the same place I eat at.”
Touted as the most controversial film since The Birth of a Nation, The Cry of Jazz–a 1959 film essay on the spiritual status of blacks in America read through the structure of jazz music–was framed as a response to the consequences of racial division and oppression made clear in D.W. Griffith’s Klan-centered portrayal of post-bellum America.
Directed by composer Ed Bland, the highly stylized Cry of Jazz features a very early Sun Ra (then known as Le Sun Ra) with his Arkestra demonstrating the film’s argument: that rhythmic form and harmony in jazz are emanations of the restraint and the futureless future suffered by blacks in America, while melodic improvisation and rhythmic conflict are the joyful freedom and liberating deification of the present, which cry out despite the conditions of constraint.
The film, as you can watch in four parts below, famously ends with the controversial claim that jazz, like the ‘negro’ in America, is dead. Filmed at the cusp of post-bop, the film’s conclusion cannot account for the explosion of post-bop, modal jazz and free jazz (not to mention the funk, soul, samba, etc. of the coming decades). And it is worth noting that John Gilmore, saxophonologist for the Arkestra, was giving Coltrane informal lessons around the time of the filming, in the late 50s. And in addition to this, around the time this film was made, Sunny Ra pulled his ‘going electric,’ recording “India” on the album Super-Sonic Jazz–introducing the electric keyboard (a Wurlitzer) to jazz music. Perhaps every faithful congregation needs an occasional theothanatosy to remind them whose job it is to keep the heavenly creature alive.
Debuting April 3-9, 1959, in Chicago, the film is being screened April 9, 2010, at the Orphan Film Symposium put on by the Tisch School of Arts in New York City. Register now, their website warns, Seating Is Limited!
Whether you buy into the larger argument or not (that is: repeated concatenating chord sequences like the chains of enslavement, with bursts of improvisation a kind of cry from the field), the foreground of the vivid present, the image of man peculiarly sensitive to that present, and the liberating energy of the polymetric conflict between the strength and length of musical stresses in response to that sensitivity, are observations relevant to any outlook on creativity in today’s world, especially (it seems to me) to the poet’s.
Coming across some rare records in various places, we bump into a good friend of us… Who also collects and trades vinyl. One of the record covers was in bad condition the cover is signed by ROY, but! never the less the vinyl was in mint condition. The record by the late ROY PORTER call “In A Groove”, I’ve Google this record and cannot find it, I’ve also came across it once on Ebay with out a cover at $250. Is been about a month since I got it, and today I will listen to it… Sometimes it takes a “minute” (a long time) for us to Listen (ironically) something we got for the collection. ROY PORTER “In A Groove” LP (obo: $20)
The other record (7″) is by the mystic man himself Mr Sunny Ray Aka SUN RA. I’ve taken a pic of the details in an artistic way, so hope you can get some info from it. This records was obtained on Ebay. SUN RA “I am Strange / I am an Instrument” ($5.50 + shipping)
This is an original MONO pressing of an Arabic Eastern Jazz LP
Cleopatra was synonymous with all things exotic since the memory of red blooded man was first recorded. Her famed beauty and charm are legendary. In this album of oriental music, we have recreated the musical atmosphere that surrounded the fabulous Cleopatra where ever she went.
The aura of lush living is confirmed via the sensuous sound created by native musicians playing the authentic instruments of the time of Cleopatra.
Dancing girls with mysterious motions, stir gentle breezes with their perfumed veils as they sway to the strains of this, the most exotic music of all time.
Imagine yourself bedecked in golden finery, attended by gleaming Nubians whose only mission is to cater to your every whim, and you will have completed the picture of “The Music of Cleopatra on the Nile”.
Listen Recovery 