Sun Ra & His Solar Arkestra Wake Up Angels / Live At The Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival 1972-73-74
Sun Ra & His Arkestra enjoyed more than 40 years of glorious musical fruition, and for every minute of Its elongated existence-from Its formation as the Herman Blount Octet In the early 1950s until the leader’s earthly demise In the early ‘90s-the Arkestra blazed a trail across the musical firmament unlike anything that’s ever been heard. Organized by the pianist as a means of realizing his Idiosyncratic compositions and nurtured In Chicago In the second half of the ’50s, the Arkestra developed around a solid core formed by key members bassist Ronnie Boykins and saxophonists John Gilmore. Marshall Allen, and Pat Patrick. After five or six very productive years in the Windy City, during which the Arkestra’s ever more innovative music was carefully documented In performance by Sun Ra and his visionary business partner, Alton Abraham, Ra and the band resettled In New York City In the winter of 1960-61 and soon began to playa leading role In the burgeoning Jazz avant-garde, Sun Ra’s startling orchestral music and otherworldly space philosophy were Introduced to the Jazz world by a pair of obscure albums for Transition (1958) and Savoy Records (1960) which were Issued almost without notice. Ra met a slightly wider audience with the appearance of three mld-’60s LPs for ESP-Disk. Including the magnificent Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra. At the same time Ra and Alton Abraham set Into moron their own record label, EL Saturn, and began to issue a steady stream of Sun Ra releases drawn from the Arkestra’s archives which revealed the origins of the composer’s musical genius and traced its Incredible growth and ever-broadening scope from the off-center bebop “little big band” charts of the early- and mld-’50s through his earliest space-Jazz arrangements and their flowering Into full-fledged explorations of previously unmapped musical horizons. Abraham and Ra had been documenting the composer’s music in performance by the Arkestra almost since Its Inception, and the hard-to-get. bizarrely-packaged Saturn albums with titles like Super-Sonic Jazz, We Travel the Spaceways, Interstellar low Ways, and Angels & Demons At Play soon began to attract the attention of adventurous listeners all over the world. By the early 1970s Sun Ra & the Arkestra-now working under a variety of titles utilized by Ra to help define the specific function he had in mind for each musical permutation were Introduced to enthusiastic European audiences, although the U.S. Jazz establishment seemed forever to regard Ra & the Arkestra-under whatever guise-as some sort of freakish oddity unworthy of serious consideration. During their decade In New York City-which ended when the Arkestra moved en masse to Philadelphia around 1972- Chicago veterans John Gilmore, Marshall Allen, and Pat Patrick were joined by a wild assortment of adventurous players and a vocal ensemble, the Space Ethnic Voices, led by the Incredible June Tyson. Seasoned by dally rehearsals and regular performances at places like Slug’s Saloon on the lower east side, the Arkestra was now fully skilled at bringing the composer’s revolutionary musical concepts to vivid life before the public.
LIFE IS SPLENDID
By the fall of 1972 Sun Ra & the Arkestra were operating at full strength. Now Ra was able to reveal the full extent of his compositional genius and utilize the Arkestra to unveil the cosmic philosophical underpinnings of his music, presented In a swirl of brightly colored costumes, leaping dancers, exotic percussion choirs and space vocal chorales, daring instrumental excursions and precisely executed ensemble passages. The best of the Arkestra’s performances during this period unfolded into one continuous multi-media exposition of the music and space philosophy of Its leader, moving seamlessly from beginning to end under Ra’s direction to create a splendorous tapestry of sound and sight the likes of which had never been seen or heard before. this Is the ensemble that met what was Its largest American audience to date on Friday, September 8, 1972, the opening night of the first Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz festival. Here Sun Ra & His Solar-Myth Arkestra took the stage following stellar performances by the Seigel-Schwall Blues Band, Detroit’s Contemporary Jazz Quintet. Junior Walker & The All Stars, and the great Howiln’ Wolf to close out the evening with a spectacular offering that thrilled the ecstatic crowd of some 12,000 music lovers. Here at Otis Spann Memorial Field In Ann Arbor Ra unveiled his latest creation, the sensational Space Is The Place suite which may now be heard-almost in Its entirety-on this album. {The opening sections are not available because a proper mix could not be achieved until several minutes into the performance} The music unfolds with seamless clarity and brilliant logic from beginning to end, modulating from theme to theme and mood to mood without a moment’s lapse of focus and moving the crowd to respond with unprecedented enthusiasm, so much so that we can hear a vast chorus of people chanting the composer’s name In glee for several minutes after the performance had ended. This wholly unanticipated display of mass acclaim for the heretofore obscure band leader and his wildly unorthodox Arkestra provided one of the highest points of my experience as a concert producer. The greatness of Sun Ra and his potential for reaching a greatly expanded audience of popular music lovers had been demonstrated beyond contradiction, and the visionary composer was well on his way to establishing his ensemble, In the words of my friend Mark Steuve as the Ellington Orchestra of the second half of the 20th Century. The 1972 Ann Arbor Blues &I Jazz Festival was recorded in Its entirety by Jimmie Douglass for Atlantic Records and co-produced by Douglass, Michael Cuscuna, and Tunc Erim under the supervision of Mark Meyerson. The original 16- track masters are presumed to have been destroyed in a warehouse fire, although several segments of the Arkestra’s performance were mixed and edited by Alton Abraham and myself to produce a track titled Life Is Splendid” for release on the Atlantic double-LP compilation of music from the 1972 Festival released in 1973.
The music on this compact disc was digitally transferred and re-mastered from the 2-track stereo masters recorded simultaneously with the 16-track masters as reference tones. These: tapes have been precariously preserved and lugged by the producer from residence to residence for more than a quarter of a century. Now they are finally finding the light of day again through the release of this two-CD set from Art Yard Records, and it gives me extreme pleasure beyond belief to present the astral music of Sun Ra & His Solar-Myth Arkestra In concert at the Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz festival on that lovely Friday night In September 1972. Tighten up your Gravity belts end hold on tight–you’re about to take a musical trip through the galaxies to worlds beyond, where Life Is Splendid and Space Is The Place Indeed.
OUTER SPACEWAYS EMPLOYMENT AGENCY
Sun Ra was one of the biggest hits of the 1972 Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz festival. The Solar Myth Arkestra appeared on opening night and completely wowed the crowd with Its spectacular presentation of space-age Improvisational music and brilliant costumes Sun Ra & His Arkestra would have been considered an unlikely audience pleaser In Ann Arbor and the Detroit area were It not for the band’s historic performances with the MC-5 during 1967-69, including shared bills at Community Arts Auditorium, the Grande Ballroom, Ann Arbor Armory, and the first Detroit Rock & Roll Revival festival at the Michigan State fairgrounds In June 1969. Ra was a particular favourite of the MC-5, who adapted his wild space-Jazz style and his poem ‘There ls” Into their tour-de-force number called “Starship,” and the band’s enthusiasm was quickly picked up by Its legions of followers In the area. The Arkestra’s appearance at the 1972 Blues & Jazz festival marked Its return to the area after a three-year absence and became widely regarded as a must-see event Just over a month after Its triumphant 1972 appearance in Ann Arbor, the Arkestra made Its first major label recording, a magnificent opus titled Space Is The Place Issued by Bob Krasnow’s Blue Thumb Records. His reception in Ann Arbor and widespread positive critical response to the new album served to thrust Sun Ra much further Into the consciousness of muslc-lovlng Americans than ever before, beginning a 20 year period of steadily Increasing performance opportunities and international acclaim. When we began programming the 1973 Ann Arbor Blues e Jazz festival, the closing show on Sunday night was set aside to showcase the most popular artists from the previous year’s festivities: the great Luther Allison, the Irrepressible Hound Dog Taylor & the Houserockers. the mighty Sun Ra and his Intergalactic Discipline Arkestra, plus a star-studded Chicago Blues Revue featuring Otis Rush, Homesick James, Eddie Taylor, Carey Bell, and Lucille Spann, all backed by the Mighty Joe Young Blues Band. Sun Ra’s 1973 appearance was even more highly anticipated than ever before. The Arkestra-16 members strong-was at the peak of its powers, with an array of brilliant soloists like John Gilmore, Marshall Allen, Eloe Omoe, Ahk Tal Ebah, and Kwame Hadi continually swirling forth from Ra’s inexhaustible font of music and color, fired by three sets of drums and an equal number of hand percussionists end topped by Sun Ra’s Inter-galactic keyboards and the space voice and interpretive dancing of the magnificent June Tyson. As e bandleader, Sun Ra had always Insisted on a high level of musical and orchestral discipline as a means to unprecedented freedom of expression. These goals had been achieved through long hours of dally rehearsals over e 20- year period, augmented by the leader’s endless lectures on every topic under the sun. Now he was Incorporating his philosophical disquisitions Into the stage show Itself, casting his views Into verse end presenting them via a three-pert vocal chorale to stunning effect. A new suite based on the previous year’s smash success, Space Is The Place, had been prepared to Introduce Ra’s concept of an “Outer Space Employment Agency” which would put the Idled workers of post-industrial America back Into a productive mode outside the tired orbit of Earth. By 1973 Sun Ra had maintained his Arkestra continuously for 20 years, rising from obscure Chicago origlns to the heights of International acclaim as the premiere avant-garde big band In Jazz. Like Duke Elllington, Sun Ra had developed the Arkestra as a means of realizing his unique compositional concepts and created works built around the musical personalities of life members like John Gilmore, Pat Patrick and Marshall Allen. The Arkestra operated under several banners-the Solar Arkestra, Space Arkestra, Solar-Myth Arkestra, Astro-Inflnlty Arkestra, Intergalactic Discipline Arkestra-accordlng to the particular muslco-phillosophical goals Ra had established for each discrete series of performances or recordings to be undertaken. later in the ’70s and ’80s, after he had Incorporated a great deal of historical material by Jelly Roll Morton, fletcher Henderson and other classical Jazz composers Into the Arkestra’s repertoire, Ra would bill the band as the Omniverse Arkestra and, when they started touring regularly, the Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra. These traditional musical elements were eventually woven into the Arkestra’s seamless five-hour presentations along with Ra’s space anthems, wild solo and stoup Improvisations, throbbing massed percussion, and June Tyson’s other-worldly vocals. Almost invariably, at some point In the performance, the entire Arkestra would leave the stage to chant and snake-dance through the audience. Born Herman Blount around 1914 and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Sun Ra began to emerge as a musical force shortly after World War II. He worked with Fletcher Henderson’s orchestra at Chicago’s Club Delisa during 1946-47, graduated to house pianist and musical director at several prominent Windy City show bars, and organised his Arkestra around 1952 to perform his idiosyncratic Jazz compositions and arrangements. At this point the pianist began his long association with Chicago philosopher/businessman Alton Abraham, took the name ‘Le Sun Ra” and began to reveal his cosmic visions through his compositions, song titles, poetry, elaborate costumery, and, beginning In 1956, a series of iconoclastic LPs under his own Saturn Records Imprint Sun Ra’s avant-garde works utilized elements like a “space key”, where the players were: Instructed to Improvise without regard for conventional tonal centers; superimposition of one chord over another; modal pieces with no fixed harmonic structure; and songs played in multiple keys. His works wove a musical tapestry of unusual rhythms and colors, swinging like crazy at will or moving entirely out of regular time to project a musical environment evocative: of outer space. Sun Ra also Introduced severe! daring instrumental concepts during the mld-l950s, including early use of electric piano, Solovox, Claviollne, Hammond organ, Farflsa organ, and electric bass; creating an acoustic and electric bass team; utllizlising two drummers and exotic miscellaneous percussion to create unprecedented polyrhythms; crafting features for two baritone saxophones and other unusual combinations of Instruments; and Insisting that the reed section double on flute, oboe, bassoon, and bass clarinet Historically, Sun Ra’s writing and arranging followed the advances made by Tadd Dameron and Jimmy Mundy In the 1940s and were contemporaneous with the experimental writing of Charles Mingus and George Russell. His musical concepts and extra-musical concerns deeply Influenced jazz giants like John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, and Cecil Taylor, as well as an entire generation of Chicago musicians who became active In the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (MCM). Sun Ra also had a deep and lasting effect on the self-determination movement in Jazz. With long-time partner and mentor Alton Abraham, he operated his own label, Saturn Records; his own music publishing company, enterplanetary koncepts: and his own production company, Infinity Inc. While Sun Ra recorded for and leased masters to a variety of labels, Including Transition, Savoy, ESP-Disk. Blue Thumb, and ABC/Impulse. Ra continued to Issue albums on Saturn Records so that as much of his music as possible could be documented and made available to his small but fanatical public. Sun Ra was a thoroughly unique individual whose provocative persona generated endless myth and controversy. To hear him expound his philosophical equations and his views on the future of Interplanetary humanity was always a delightful experience. And to witness his outlook In action as interpreted by the Arkestra- under whatever guise-provided aesthetic thrills beyond measure. There was nothing like seeing and hearing Sun Ra &: his fabulous Arkestra In the full flight of performance, and no better place to witness the magic of Ra than standing in Otis Spann Memorial Field next to Huron High School on the outskirts of Ann Arbor In the early ’70s when the Arkestra took the stage that had been absolutely leveled by Junior Walker &: The All Stars or Hound Dog Taylor &: the Houserockers and then lifted It off Into space and took the audience of 15,000 unsuspecting music lovers along with It.
That’ll be where you’re going, too, right now, as soon as you slip this disk into your turntable and tum it on. Bon voyage, dear friends, happy landings, and many, many happy returns.
IT IS FORBIDDEN
The people at the Rainbow Multi-Media Corporation, producers of the 1972 and 1973 Ann Arbor Blues &: Jazz festivals, were feeling their collective oats as 1974 came over the horizon. The 1973 festival had been a smashing success; the two-LP Atlantic set of music from the 1972 Festival was in release and receiving rave reviews; and virtually all the music played at the 1973 Festival had been recorded and videotaped by Rainbow’s own production team, who were now auditioning the tapes and assembling a series of albums from the audio masters. Rainbow Multi-Media, a Michigan non-profit corporation headed by Peter Andre\llS, David Sinclair and this writer, was going great guns with Its other endeavours as well: There was the 16-track mobile recording unit the concert-size professional sound system, the artists’ management division with Its several bands, the concert production arm specializing In blues, jazz and rock shows In all kinds of venues, the talent coordination wing that supervised the bookings for various clubs and concert halls. And there were the Rainbow Press and the Rainbow Agency to provide printing, advertising and promotional support for all these activities and more. Beyond the Rainbow Multi-Media Corporation and its productive divisions there was the Rainbow People’s Party, a left-wing commune of 35 dope-crazed hippies and rock & roll beatniks who had once been known as the White Panther Party. The Rainbow people lived in two big adjacent houses on Hill Street, In the heart of Fraternity Row, and provided much of the leadership and staff of the Rainbow Multi-Media Corporation. Party members were everywhere in Rainbow Multi-Media: running the print shop like Sam Smith, managing the sound system like Craig Blazier, buying and selling ads like Anne Hoover and Kathy Kelly, art directing and making flyers and posters like Gary Grimshaw, managing bands and supervising event productions like David Sinclair and myself. The RPP also published a weekly newspaper, the Ann Arbor Sun, headed by Party members David Fenton and Linda Ross; several more members made up the band called the Up and its road crew. The Rainbow People’s Party was also active as one of the three equally-sized factions of liberals, radicals and revolutionaries that made up the more than 300 registered members of the Human Rights Party, a left-wing electoral party that competed with the Republicans and Democrats to control seats on the local City Council. Two Human Rights Party members had been elected to the Ann Arbor City Council in 1972, denying either established party a majority In the seven-member governing body and forcing them to approve legislation like the $5.00 fine for possession of marijuana In exchange for providing enough votes to pass the Democrats’ operating budgets and other measures. So there was no way to know in the spring of 1974 that all would be in disarray by the end of the year: Rainbow Multi-Media would go out of business, the RPP would disband and the Ann Arbor Blues &: Jazz festival would disappear for almost 20 years. There was a terrible split in the Human Rights Party, precipitated by the mass walkout of the RPP faction, and an early alarm was sounded when the City Council dragged Its heels on the routine matter of issuing a permit to Rainbow Multi-Media for that year’s Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz festival. Confident that the permit would be forthcoming, RMM went ahead with its ambitious plans for the 1974 festival, confirming bookings with B.B. King, Cecil Taylor, John Lee Hooker, the Gil Evans Orchestra, Sunnyland Slim, the Persuasions, perennial favourites Sun Ra & His Arkestra, and The Amazing Mr. Please. Please. Please – The Hardest Working Man in Show Business – The Godfather of Soul … Mr. James Brown! But the City Council finally issued judgment In July: With less than two months left before the festival’s scheduled September 6th opening, the City of Ann Arbor denied Rainbow Multi-Media’s application for a permit to hold the Internationally-recognized musical extravaganza In Its place of birth, citing RMM’s failure to clean up the site Immediately following the 1973 festival as reason enough to cancel the event The clean-up problem was troubling. The festival had hired scores of young people from the community to prepare the site, an empty field next to Huron High School which we had dubbed -Otis Spann Memorial field,” to staff the festival grounds during the three-day event and to clean up the site after the festivities had concluded. These workers effectively went on strike after the Festival ended without any of them getting paid and they refused to do any more work, thus postponing the clean-up until enough volunteers could be organized to remove the debris. Two decades later It would come to light that the man RMM had contracted to supervise the Festival’s field operations had Invested the payroll money advanced to him for the crew-something like $20,000- into a multi-ton marijuana deal that, unhappily for all. failed to come off. The supervisor vanished, and the crew’ began a protracted muttering campaign against Rainbow Multi-Media that resulted eventually in the cancellation of the next year’s event ‘lt Is forbidden,” the City of Ann Arbor ruled In July. and pandemonium reigned for several days until the festival organizers were Invited to bring the banned event across the Detroit River and into the lovely outdoor amphitheater at St Clair College In Windsor. Ontario … Canada. Local radio powerhouse CKLW-AM agreed to serve as sponsor of the event, pledging lots of free ad spots, and the Canadians waxed enthusiastic in their professions of support for the orphaned music festival. Thus preparations for the Festival went ahead with even greater zeal. With six weeks to go until opening night, RMM set Itself upon the daunting task of convincing American music lovers to cross a fiercely-guarded international border with the insane hope of enjoying themselves en masse as they had In the liberated zone of OtIs Spann Memorial Field. where the producers had felt free to guarantee festival attendees -A Rainbow of Music … A Real Good Time.” There would be a rainbow of music, as promised. but the Windsor gendarmes and their big brothers In the Royal Canadian Mounted Police would do everything within their considerable power to keep people from having the ‘reel good time- they were seeking at the Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz festival In exile. Advance ticket sales were light, with people seeming to take a wait-and-see attitude toward the thorny issue of crossing the Canadian border. and their worst fears were realized when Canadian border authorities turned back legions of would-be festival-goers on any grounds they could dredge up. At the festival site, a sparse crowd was harassed by local authorities who flooded the backstage area and trooped down Into the amphitheater itself to snatch up marijuana offenders and other undesirables. The musicians were getting nervous themselves as they looked out at the slim audience and visualized their paychecks floating off Into the darkening gloom. To make matters even worse, this writer-Creatlve Director and Co-Producer of the festival-was singled out and deported back to Detroit while trying to shepherd Sun Ra and his Arkestra through Canadian customs. The Arkestra went ahead. but I was turned back on the basis of a marijuana conviction 10 years earlier and never got to witness first-hand the debacle that ensued in Windsornor the implementation of my Dream Show of All TIme when Sun Ra & His Arkestra were followed onstage Friday night by James Brown and his fabulous revue. I went back to my room In the Shelby Hotel Friday afternoon and watched myself talk to a television news reporter who had covered the impromptu deportation proceedings. As I witnessed the farthest-out group of characters I had ever seen In America being allowed entry Into Canada while I was turned back as “too far out,” I was struck hard with the realization that my public persona as dope fiend. ex-convict and virulent revolutionary agitator had now cut me off from participating in the most Important event in my career as a music promoter. this marked a major turning point In my life. Watching myself sputter at the reporter on-screen, I muttered out loud: “You’ve gone too far. It’s time to tum back now: That Fall I retired from political activism and artist management to take up less grueling pursuits, working as an alternative Journalist and editor for a couple of years and then opening a small arts consulting business focused on providing program development and grant-writing services to indigenous jazz artists and community arts organizations. Meanwhile, In Windsor. Sun Ra & the Arkestra took the stage at the Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival in exile following an Introduction by Bobby Bass of WJZZ-FM and-as the evidence on this disc Indicates-turned the place upside down. A long passage of introductory music improvised by Ra and the ensemble is followed by a seamless program of some of the Arkestra’s greatest hits – -Discipline 27″ and -27-11: ‘Love In Outer Space,” -The Shadow World: -Space Is The Place.- “Second Stop Jupiter: “What Planet Is This: “lmages,” “Watusi- and the closing “Sun Ra and His Band From Outer Space”-plus one number which is thought to have previously been unrecorded, the daring anthem titled ‘It Is Forbidden: The ranks of the Arkestra Included Ra’s greatest reed section ever, with Marshall Allen, John Gilmore, Elo Omoe, Danny Davis, James Jacson and Danny ‘Pekoe” Thompson. plus Kwame Hadi and Akh Tal Ebah on trumpets, Dale Williams on electric guitar, Detroit’s own Reginald –“Shoo-Bee-Doo” Fields on bass. Clifford Jarvis at the drums and Stanley “Atakatune” Morgan on congas. June Tyson and the Space Ethnic Voices, Judith Holton and Cheryl Banks, strutted and crooned out in front of the band, framing the mind-boggling keyboard improvisations and fierce chanted philosophy of their undisputed leader, the great Sun Ra. The multi-track master tapes of the Arkestra’s performance were quite reasonably withheld by recordist Chuck Buchanan when it became clear that he could not be paid for his work. and they’ve never been seen again. What remains is the cassette tape recorded from the board mix during the performance, now transferred Into the digital realm and available again on this two-disc set from Art Yard.
There was only one Sun Ra. and we lost one of the most colorful and beloved figures in 20th-century creative music when the celebrated pianist, composer, and bandleader left Planet Earth on Sunday. May 30, 1993. almost 20 years following the remarkable Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz festival performances captured on this album.
– John Sinclair, 2011
CD DISK 1 – 1972
o1: Enlightenment
o2: Space Is The Place
o3: Untitled Improvisation
o4: Discipline 27-II
o5: What Planet Is This
o6: Life Is Splendid
o7: Immeasurable
o8: Outer Spaceways Incorporated
1973
o9: Untitled Improvisation
10: Discipline 99
11: Love In Outer Space
12: Watusi
13: Discipline 27-II
14: At First There Was Nothing
15: he Universe Has More To Offer You
16: Wake Up Angels
17: The Universe Sent Me To Converse With You
18: Outer Space Employment Agency
DISK 2 – 1974
01: Untitled Improvisation
02: Discipline 27
03: Love In Outer Space
04: The Shadow World
05: Space Is The Place
06: Second Stop Jupiter
07: Discipline 27-II / What Planet Is This
08: Images
09: It Is Forbidden
10: Watusi
11: Sun Ra And His Band From Outer Space…
Sun Ra & HIs Solar-Myth Arkestra Live at the 1972 Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival.
Sun Ra, piano, space organ, keyboards, lead vocals. Ahk-Tal Ebah: trumpet, flugelhorn, vocals. Lamont McClamb: trumpet. Marshall Allen, Danny Davis: alto saxophone & flute. Larry Worthington: alto saxophone. John Gilmore: tenor saxophone, percussions. Pat Patrick: baritone saxophone. Danny Thompson: baritone saxophone & flute. Leroy Taylor: bass clarinet. Lex Humphries, Alzo Wright: drums. Stanley Morgan, Russell Branch: percussions. Robert Underwood, Harry Richards: space drums. June Tyson: lead vocals. Space Ethnic Voices. Judith Holton, Cheryl Bank, Ruth Wright: vocals.
Recorded In performance at Otis Spann Memorial Field, Ann Arbor, Michigan, Friday, September 8, 1972.
Sun Ra & His Solar Arkestra appeared at the 1972 Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz festival by arrangement with Alton Abraham & Saturn Research, Inc.
Festival produced by John Sinclair ” Peter Andrews for the Rainbow Multi Media Corporation. Recording engineered by Jimmy Douglass and produced by Jimmy Douglass. Mlchael Cuscuna &I Tunc Erlm under the: supervision of Mark Meyerson and with the assistance of John Sinclair & John Ryan for Rainbow Productions. Digitally transferred from original 7″ stereo master reference tapes & edited by Patrick Bolsell for Alive Total Energy Records.
Sun Ra & His Intergalactic Discipline Arkestra Live at the 1973 Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival.
Sun Ra, Farfisa organ. Mini-Moog. & vocals; Kwame Hadi: trumpet. Ahk-Tal Ebah, trumpet, mellophone & vocals. Marshail Allen, Danny Davis: alto saxophones & flute. John Gilmore: tenor saxophone, percussion. Eloe Omoe: bass clarinet & flute. Danny Thompson: baritone saxophone & flute. Ronnie Boykins: bass. Tommy Hunter, Lex Humphries, Vic Morrison: drums; Alzo Wright: percussions. Atakatune, Odun: congas. June Tyson: space vocals.
Recorded In performance at Otis Spann Memorial Field, Ann Arbor, Michigan, Sunday. September 9. 1973. Sun Ra & His Intergalactic Discipline Arkestra appeared at the 1973 Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz festival by arrangement with Alton Abraham & Saturn Research, Inc.
Festival produced by John Sinclair ” Peter Andrews for the Rainbow Multi Media Corporation. Recordings produced by John Ryan for the Rainbow Multi Media Corporation and recorded on the Butterfly Mobile Recording Studio by Jeff Jones. Director of Recording end Chief Engineer, with Karl Shojdahl, Robert Fries. Al Jacquez, and Dave “Ball” Bartlebaugh. Special thanks to Steve Gebhardt & Robert Fries. Digitally transferred from original 7″ stereo master reference tapes & edited and mastered by Keith Keller & John Sinclair at Chez Flames Studio. New Orleans. the producer would like to extent special thanks to Alton Abraham, David Sinclair, Peter Andrews, Darlene Pond, Gary Grimshaw, Frank and Peggy Bach, Rolland Young, John “Chinner” Mitchell, Keith Keller, Greg Eveline, Bill Lynn, R. Curry Miller, Cella Sinclair, Elsle Sinclair, Chonita Robinson, and to my wife Penny for her understanding and support. The producer would also like to express his appreciation and gratitude to Jerry Brock & Barry Smith at Louisiana Music Factory, New Orleans for extraordinary assistance & support during the course of this project.
Sun Ra & His Intergalactic Arkestra Live at the 1974 Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival in Exile
Sun Ra. piano, organ, synthesizer, lead vocals. Kwame Hadi: trumpet. Ahk-Tal Ebah: trumpet, mellophone, vocal. unidentified trumpet. Marshall Allen, Danny Davis: alto saxophone, flute. percussion. John Gilmore: tenor saxophone, percussion. Danny Ray Thompson: baritone saxophone. flute. libflecto. percussion. James Jacson: bassoon. Infinity drum, vocal; Elo Omoe: bass clarinet. Dale Williams: electric guitar; Reginald “Shoo-Be-Doo” Fields: bass; Clifford Jarvis: drums; Atakatune [Stanley Morgan]: conga. June Tyson: lead vocals; Space Ethnic Voices. Judith Holton. Cheryl Banks: vocals.
Recorded in performance at St Clair College Amphitheatre, Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Friday. September 6, 1974. Festival in Exile produced by Peter Andrews. Darlene Pond & John Sinclair for the Rainbow Multi Media Corporation. Recorded by Chuck Buchanan for Metro Audio. Recording supervised by John Ryan for the Rainbow Multi Media Corporation. Special thanks to Chris Trent for his assistance with Arkestra personnel and track listings.
Digitally transferred from the original cassette master reference tapes, edited end assembled by John Sinclair and Big Chief Productions, New Orleans. Mastered by Patrick Boissel et Alive records, Los Angeles. The Producer would like to offer special thanks to Peter M. Andrews. David Sinclair, Robert Boss, Darlene Pond, Frank and Peggy Bach, Gary Grimshaw, Jey Ross. John “Chinner” Mitchell Chuck Buchanan, John Ryan, Cy Fruchter, Sun Ra & His Arkestra the late Alton Abraham, my departed mother Elsle Sindclair, my daughters Celia. Sunny end Chonlta, Patrick Bolssel and Suzy Shaw, Jerry Brock & Barry Smith at the Louisiana Music Factory, Pete Gershon at Signal To Noise. Chris Trent, and to my wife Penny for patience and understanding.
This 2CD set was Produced for Art Yard by John Sinclair.
Mastered by Peter Beckmann at Technology Works.
Front Cover design by Nana Makawl, layout and design by Sonny Kay.
All compositions Published by Enterplanetary Koncepts.
All rights reserved © 2017 Art Yard Ltd.
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, Leni Sinclair, Rick Steiger, Carey Hamblett, Chris Cutler, Dave Pelts at RER Megacorp.
Distributed by ReR MEGACORP 79 Beulah Rd. Thornton Heath Surrey. CR7 8JG. UK
www.rermegacorp.com/ : RER UK
Distributed In USA by ReR USA
www.rerusa.com
Originally released on CD by Total Energy Records
Life Is Splendid (NER3026)
Outer Space Employment Agency (NER3021)
It is Forbidden (NER3029)