Sun Ra: The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra

In 1961, Sun Ra (born Herman Poole Blount in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1914) moved his core band from Chicago to New York. The first album he recorded there, The Futuristic Sounds reveals a slim eight-piece Arkestra bridging swing and bop and Sonny’s emerging vision of freer forms, offbeat structures, and more open, if not yet vastly cosmic, spaces. His acoustic piano playing is delightful, his rhythm section of bassist Ronnie Boykins, drummer Willie Jones, and conga player Leah Ananda is firmly grounded, and his horn section—Bernard McKinney (trombone, euphonium), Marshall Allen (alto sax, flute, and modified shakuhachi), John Gilmore (tenor sax, bass clarinet), and Pat Patrick (baritone sax)—shows signs of moving from Ellingtonian/Don Redman-esque tightness toward more excited expressiveness. Ricky Murray’s vocal on Victor Young’s “China Gates” and accents and jams on bells, chimes, wood blocks, and claves set the stage for later expansion of Ra’s sonic palette. Packaged with producer Tom Wilson’s original liner notes, new essays by Ben Young and Irwin Chusid, and Harvey’s trippy cover art, the binaurally recorded music is not only accessible as slightly edgy mainstream jazz, but in this 180-gram vinyl form, with analog remastering by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, is presented with sumptuous clarity.