Sun Ra Arkestra - Lights On A Satellite - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Universe in Blue is a rarity. This collection of undated live club performances was issued in small-run pressings with two different LP covers on Sun Ra's Saturn tag around 1972, but has largely escaped further notice. The performances originated in the early 1970s at the rowdy Lower East Side jazz mecca Slug's Saloon, located at 242 East 3rd Street. Starting in 1966 (or possibly as late as 1968), Sunny and his band performed at Slug's almost every Monday night for several years, and took the stage sporadically for several years thereafter. They typically started around 9 00 pm and played without a break until 4 00 am. The personnel fluctuated, depending on who showed up, who was hanging around and could handle an instrument, and the bandleader's divinations. These legendary evenings were raw, unpredictable, calamitous, and not without artistic controversy. They brought Sun Ra to the greater attention of the New York press and helped cement his reputation for audacious showmanship.

The music is both avant-garde and accessible, one of the highpoints of the decade for Sun Ra

Live at Montreux, a two-CD reissue that has one of his most accessible recordings. The 20-piece Arkestra, in addition to trumpets, trombones and saxophones, includes a bassoonist, a bass clarinetist, two drummers, two bassists and Ra on piano, solar organ and moog synthesizer. Their unique sound and wide-open approach were perfectly tailored by Sun Ra to express his innovative musical ideas.