SUN RA “Supersonic Jazz”

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ARTIST

Sun Ra

ALBUM TITLE

“Supersonic Jazz”

LABEL

Cosmic Myth

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Let us say it – perhaps with a fair dose of hyperbole – but let us say it nonetheless: there may well be more Sun Ra records in circulation than the fragments that make up Saturn’s rings. Between reissues and previously unreleased material, it is virtually impossible to establish a precise selection or to keep track of every release, with albums sometimes available in multiple formats, sometimes only in one. Certain publications, however, deserve closer attention, as is the case with this generous reissue of “Supersonic Jazz”, which includes no fewer than eighteen additional tracks compared both to the original Saturn release and to the Evidence reissue from thirty-five years ago. What matters most here is not so much the added material as the return to circulation of a record – the first to be issued on Saturn after a couple of 45s – that takes us back to the very origins of the Arkestra, when the leader still signed himself Le Sun Ra and his interest in unusual sonorities and unorthodox instrumentation in jazz was already beginning to surface, alongside a compositional voice marked by striking originality.

We are at the starting point of that inimitable cosmic adventure, which makes this album – contemporary to “Jazz by Sun Ra” (a handful of the added tracks stem from those sessions) – a historical document, but also, and above all, a collection of remarkably fine music, beginning with “India”, which sets the proceedings in motion. Unfolding along a graceful motif developed on electric piano (a Wurlitzer model) and rhythmically underpinned by dark-hued timpani, illuminated by a brief solo from Hoyle, the piece seems truly to venture into unknown territory, suspended between the exotica then in vogue and the vastness of outer space. The original twelve-track sequence offered further delights, starting with “Advice to Medics”, a small gem for electric piano and, in effect, the sketch from which the more elaborate “Friendly Galaxy” would take shape a decade later on “Secrets of the Sun”. Equally compelling are the driving “Kingdom of Not” and “Blues at Midnight”, both enlivened by tenor solos from Gilmore and Hoyle. “Springtime in Chicago” reveals a solidly constructed framework, enhanced by a rather disorienting Wurlitzer interlude, while “Medicine for a Nightmare” evokes an atmosphere fit for a hard-boiled narrative, once again punctuated by a destabilising electric piano passage from the bandleader.

Dispensing generous doses of blues, hard bop in abundance, and forceful returns to the big band sound of the golden years – those of his youth – Sun Ra devised a compelling synthesis of jazz already infused with hints of music yet to come. An approach reaffirmed in the substantial body of previously unreleased material included in this Expanded Edition. There is almost an embarrassment of riches, beginning with the two instrumental versions of “Somebody Else’s Idea”, featuring alternating acoustic and electric piano as well as the presence of electric bass, for a piece that would later acquire a “space” lyric and become one of June Tyson’s signature numbers. John Szwed notes that Sun Ra introduced it to her as “a space cha-cha-cha” – a definition that is difficult to dispute.

A similar instrumentation underpins “Space Aura”, another piece that already seems to belong more to Saturn than to Earth. There is also a shorter version of “Medicine for a Nightmare”, this time marked by the intrusion of acoustic piano.

Finally, at the end of the second disc, we find a live recording made at Budland in Chicago – the effervescent “Big City Blues”, which brings what is unquestionably the definitive edition of “Supersonic Jazz” to a fireworks-laden close.

Gennaro Fucile

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