Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra – I Roam The Cosmos / Art Yard LP2021. – Limited Edition 180 gram vinyl release.
SIDE A: I Roam the Cosmos Astro Black / Discipline 27-‐II – Running Time: 25.31
SIDE B: I Roam the Cosmos/Discipline 27-‐II – Running Time: 25.51
PERSONNEL:
Sun Ra: keyboards, vocal
June Tyson: vocal
Marshall Allen: alto sax, flute, piccolo
Danny Davis: alto sax or clarinet
John Gilmore: tenor sax
Akh Tal Ebah: trumpet
Kwame Hadi: trumpet
Eloe Omoe: bass clarinet
Danny Ray: Thompson: baritone sax
James Jacson: oboe
Ronnie Boykins: bass
Tommy Hunter, Harry Richards, Robert Underwood, and /or Lex Humphries: drums
Atakatune, Alzo Wright, Odun: percussion
All titles composed by Sun Ra © Enterplanetary Koncepts (BMI). Recorded at Slug’s Saloon, New York, July 1972
I visit a Planet now and then My visits are so seldom that sometimes The people on the Planet forget who I am Whenever that happens, I have no choice But to make them remember.
And since so many men have roamed this Planet Saying so many things that never proved of worth To the Planet I will have to do what I don’t want to do I will have to impress upon Every man, woman, and child upon this Planet Who I am So that they will NEVER forget who I am.
All the people are asleep There is no one to give me the glory I deserve See the splendours of my Universe I made it with my very own hands.
You think because my Universe is so big that you are of no importance to me? You thought I had forsaken you If I did, why am I here now?
The Sun is your very best friend Greets you every morning, “Hello, my friends” Bids you goodbye every night “Goodbye, my friends, see you in the morning.”
The Sun is your very best servant Serving you day and night The Sun never sleeps The Sun never sleeps.
The Universe sent me to converse with you But how can I talk to every man, woman, and child At the same time?
I, because of the majesty upon Planet Earth, Must ask the volcanoes of Earth to speak of my glory I must ask the winds of Earth to speak of my glory I must ask the Earth itself to quake and tremble.
At my presence upon the Earth must ask the Earth to change its orbits And its journey among the Stars So that it can change the destiny of every person Upon this Planet.
I must nullify astrology I must nullify all prophecies I must create a different kind of World That is more suitable for me That I might visit this Planet, and feel at home.
Mastered from the original master tapes, Digital audio restoration by Michael D Anderson and Irwin Chusid. Mastered for vinyl by Peter Beckmann at Technology Works. Transferred from reel tape by Michael D. Anderson. Liner notes by Knoel Scott and Irwin Chusid.
Front cover illustration by Veronika Pražanová, Design by Art Yard. Layout by Jill Tipping
All Rights reserved Art Yard Ltd © 2016
This 51 minute performance gives us a wonderful example from the plethora of moods, images, ideas and allusions found in the multi-layered messages of Sun Ra to planet Earth.
Coded in word, sound, and symbolism these messages serve his purpose of what I will refer to (in his vocabulary) as……….Enlightenment.
ENLIGHTENMENT
The sound of thought, is Enlightenment…………the space vibe truth ..is Enlightenment.
..Space fire, sometimes its music….strange mathematics….rhythmic equations………
This song is sound……………….of Enlightenment…………………………………………..SUN RA
Enlightenment……….. of his musicians, his people and in an ever growing capacity…..the entire planet .The fruition of this grand and glorious effort still appears imminent despite Sun Ra’s earthly departure in 1993. Indeed his message is continually spiralling round the globe, as his prophesies , pronouncements and declarations encapsulated by his revolutionary musical approach are continually validated by the time and tide of world and outer worldly events, especially during this age where information becomes almost instantly accessible to the general public).
Underlying Sun Ra’s great vision is always an unceasing acknowledgement and homage of the CREATOR. Sun Ra mirrored the techniques and equations of the Ancient Egyptians, whereas all disciplines served to intertwine with the laws of nature to testify to the existence of divine order and design…………… so the music, words and equations of Sun Ra were designed to acknowledge and bear witness to the Creator and his works…….manifest in all things of heaven and earth.
So every morning…….I give the Creator…… a Song………………………………….Sun Ra
Like the Ancient Egyptians…………Sun Ra envisioned the SUN as a manifestation of the Creators consciousness begetting itself in the phenomenon’s of nature, music, sound, colour, vibration, motion and more.
Himself enlightened by the equations of the Ancient Egyptians… Sun Ra used his training as an educator‘ to sculpt his mission of enlightenment though the revelation and adoption of the Cosmology of the Old Ones…………….the secrets of the Pharaohs……who were the guardians of this forbidden knowledge. Forbidden knowledge?. Forbidden to who?…
Forbidden….. to the descendent of the true gods of planet earth who were captured, sold into slavery and systematically stripped of all but the barest remembrance of their true greatness; JAZZ i.e. Music of the African –American Tradition
Opening with the Arkestra playing Discipline 27B (one of over 100 Disciplines that Sun Ra wrote for the Arkestra). This previously unheard version seems to of been recorded shortly after one of the Arkestras trips to Egypt and soothes the listeners consciousness with an i inspired intensity and groove one would imagine resulting from such a venture.
The melody is passionately articulated by John Gilmores tenor saxophone accompanied by the contrapuntal harmonic riffs of the reeds (saxophones) and brass (Trumpets and trombones)
…The ‘bridge’ features the trumpet of Kwame Hadi taking over the melody….then John re-enters for the recapitulation of the opening section. The song is crafted in ‘sonata allegro format …AABA sestablished by Mozart becoming ………the most widely used western song form after the Blues.
June Tyson……..(Sun Ra’s spiritual Nefertiti) completes this introduction to Sun Ra’s entrance (did you notice there is no piano or keyboard being played?) with a superimposition of his lyric ASTRO BLACK chanted over the Egyptian/Space vibe groove of the Arkestra.
This is sparkled with the obbligatoes of Kwame Hadi,a then young favoured musician of Sun Ra , who wrote Discipline 27 as a feature for Kwames trumpet)
The recitation of Astro –Black is a prime example of the ilk which established Sun Ra as the Father of so-called Afro-futurism. Astro Black and Cosmo Dark ………. is an implied declaration that the western conceived spectre of Darkness is instead and indeed an attempt to deny and erase what is actually a Divine and celestial origins source of inter-relationship between people of colour and the universe .
This statement is confirmed by the entrance of Sun Ra as vocalist, orator and messenger from the Inter-galactic regions of outer space
‘The universe sent me to speak to you…………………….Sun Ra
At this point.i cn truly serve no greater purpose that to bid tht you sit back listen to the wrods of Sun Ra. Words so true……………..
I ROAM THE COSMOS………………………..
As i the truths he states are quite clear, to do any more than just bid you to listen Sun Ra speak would be but a mere act of vanity.
The beautiful exhortation for you to do the impossible reveals Sun Ra’s deep deep love for all humanity
His castigation of this planet for its sins is more than justified…….but this is the admonishment of an elder brother/father who sees you on the wrong path……..a path of spiritual and physical destruction.
A loving elder who calls out to you to warn you, to beseech you.to change………… for your betterment and the betterment of all around you on earth and in the heavens.
Who encourages you to save yourself and save this planet.
‘it’s a motherfucker don’t you know.
if you push that button, .your ass gotta GO
Sun Ra
A desire to see the beautiful potential of the people of this planet come to reality.
That is the driving force behind the genius of Sun Ra.
CHANGE YOUR DESTINY……..Sun Ra
Liner notes by Knoel Scott. March 10, 2015 London, England.
The composition “I Roam The Cosmos” has never before appeared on a commercial release. (It should not be confused with “We Roam The Cosmos,” an entirely different Sun Ra title which has been issued.) The massive Campbell / Trent Sun Ra discography contains only two references to this title: a Voice of America monophonic tape of a 1973 performance at Carnegie Hall; and an audience tape of a 1974 performance at Hunter College. This recording is neither it’s clearly a soundboard recording and it’s in extreme stereo. The cosmo-‐drama begins with June Tyson reciting the lyrics to “Astro Black” over the dirge-‐like “Discipline 27-‐II” groove; it then segues into call-‐and-‐response declamations between Sun Ra and June Tyson as the Arkestra sustains the languid “D27-‐II” rhythm for close to an hour, punctuated by choruses of horns. Seemingly switching identities—all in the first person—Ra intones cosmic philosophy, conjures enlightenment, proffers myths, and delivers dire forecasts, with June Tyson echoing and dramatizing each invocation. Based on tape box markings, the performance took place in July 1972 at the Lower East Side jazz mecca Slug’s Saloon, located on East 3rd Street, where from the late 1960s to the early ’70s Ra and the Arkestra frequently performed all-‐night sets. The personnel fluctuated, depending on who showed up, who could play (or capably fake) an instrument, and the bandleader’s divinations. These legendary evenings were raw and unpredictable, often calamitous, and not without artistic controversy. They brought Sun Ra to the greater attention of New York jazz habitués and advanced his reputation for audacious showmanship. The 1972 album Universe in Blue contained performances recorded there, and many Slug’s tapes survive in the Sun Ra Music Archive collection. The audio fidelity, room tone, channel separation, and mic artifacts on “I Roam The Cosmos” are very similar to those on Universe. These recordings are not hi-‐tech; they were reportedly captured with a pair of microphones placed on or near opposite sides of the stage. Considering this primitive set-‐up, the fidelity is quite good, and the raw cosmic soul of this Sunny-‐June duet is undeniable.
Liner notes by Irwin Chusid
Sun Ra – I Roam The Cosmos / Art Yard LP2021.
Distributed by Forced Exposure in the United States: Forced Exposure,
All Rights Reserved 2017 © Art Yard Ltd All / Rights Reserved 2017 © Sun Ra LLC. Published by Enterplanetary Koncepts BMI.
Special Thanks to Sun Ra, John Gilmore, June Tyson, Charles Davis, Marshall Allen, Pat Patrick, Michael Ray, Danny Ray Thompson, Knoel Scott, Elson Nascimento and The Sun Ra Alter Destiny 21st Century Epic Myth Science Cosmic Dream Arkestra band members, Thomas Jenkins Jr (Managing Director, Sun Ra LLC), Michael D. Anderson (Sun Ra Music Archives), Irwin Chusid (administrator, Sun Ra LLC), Quinton Scott at Strut, John Corbett, Paul Griffiths, Chris Trent, Hartmut Geerken, Cornelia Mueller, Val Wilmer, Francis Gooding, Siofra McComb, Edwin Pouncey, Jill Tipping, John Sinclair, Antal, Olf and Cris at Rush Hour, Leni Sinclair, Rick Steiger, Carey Hamblett, Jimmy Johnson at Forced Exposure, Chris Cutler, Dave Pelts at RER Megacorp.
You Can Follow Art Yard on Face Book – FB and listen to some audio previews on – Soundcloud.
More from The Sun Ra Arkestra: http://www.sunraarkestra.com