Super sonic jazz
| Super sonic jazz | ||||
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| Studio album by Sun Ra | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | El Saturn, impulses! , Evidence | |||
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Format (s) |
CD, LP |
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running time |
40:24 |
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Studio (s) |
Balkan Studios, RCA Studios, Chicago |
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Super-Sonic Jazz is a jazz album by Sun Ra , which was recorded in two studios in Chicago in 1956 and was first released in March 1957 on the musician's own label El Saturn Records .
The album
Super-Sonic Jazz was released as the first album on El Saturn Records, the independent label of Sun Ra and Alton Abraham. It was one of three LPs released by Sun Ra in the 1950s. The other two albums were Jazz by Sun Ra , which was also released in early 1957 by Transition Records, and Jazz in Silhouette , which was released in May 1959 by El Saturn.
When the Impulse! Records was reissued, renamed it Super-Sonic Sounds ; the original title was used again for the CD edition on Evidence Records 1992.
Sun Ra recorded material for El Saturn around mid-1956, which appeared in March 1957. At that time El Saturn was only releasing records with an edition of only 75 copies - sometimes only 20 for concerts - for which the LPs were made by local manufacturers and often put together in Abraham's own house. The first 500 copies of Super-Sonic Jazz were pressed.
On April 13th, Sun Ra recorded the track Springtime in Chicago with his Arkestra ; The second session in the RCA Studios in Chicago followed in mid-June with almost the same line-up, where additional material was recorded for the album. The last recordings took place in September or October 1956 in the Balkan Studios. The titles Super Blonde and Soft Talk were also released as a single by El Saturn . Super Blonde was also used in the soundtrack of the short film The Cry of Jazz (1958), in which the band starred .
Review of the album
The authors Richard Cook and Brian Morton , who gave the album the second highest rating in their Penguin Guide to Jazz , emphasized that the original compositions of Super-Sonic Jazz combine conventional harmonies and orchestrations with an individual “voice”. The authors particularly highlight Julian Priester's short piece Soft Talk , the use of Wilburn Green's electric bass in Super Blonde and the closing number Medicine for a Nightmare .
The critic Ron Wynn only gave the album three stars in Allmusic . In his opinion, he blamed rather average arrangements and unambitious ensemble playing for the restriction; He considers the recorded compositions India, Sunology and Blues at Midnight to be essential . "Ras band has been significant swing quality and first-class soloists, and Ra she has lifted gradually with compositions that are not on conventional hard bop - riffs build chord changes and structures, but rather he formulated the right to a personal conception of sound and rhythm, which is far from standard thinking ”.
The album was reviewed in Jazz Journal International along with other early albums; in terms of feeling it is more advanced. Super-Sonic Jazz shows Ra's willingness to negate jazz conventions by using electric piano and bass, which was heresy for orthodox jazz tastes, the Rolling Stone Jazz and Blues Album Guide points out.
Track list
- Le Sun-Ra and his Arkistra / Le Sun Ra and his Arkestra: Super-Sonic Jazz (Saturn Z1111, Saturn H7OP0216, Saturn SR-LP 0216, Impulse AS-9271, Evidence 22015 [CD])
Side A:
- India (4:52)
- Sunology (5:43)
- Advice to Medics (2:05)
- Super Blonde (2:39)
- Soft Talk (2:45)
- Sunology, Part II (7:08)
Side B:
- Kingdom of Not (5:35)
- Portrait of the Living Sky (1:52)
- Blues at Midnight (6:34)
- El Is a Sound of Joy (4:00)
- Springtime in Chicago (3:54)
- Medicine for a Nightmare (2:25)
All compositions are by Sun Ra, except for Soft Talk , which Julian Priester wrote.
Musician
- In Springtime in Chicago , recorded April 13, 1956 at Balkan Studios, Chicago.
- Sun Ra - piano, electric piano
- Art Hoyle - trumpet, percussion
- Julian priest - trumpet
- James Scales - alto saxophone, percussion
- John Gilmore - percussion
- Pat Patrick - baritone saxophone, percussion
- Wilburn Green - electric bass
- Robert Barry - drums
- In Super Blonde, Soft Talk, Medicine for a Nightmare, and Advice to Medics , recorded at RCA Studios, possibly June 16, 1956:
- Sun Ra - Piano, E-Piano, 'Space Gong'
- Art Hoyle - Trumpet
- Julian priest - trumpet
- John Gilmore - tenor saxophone
- Pat Patrick - baritone saxophone
- Wilburn Green - electric bass
- Robert Barry - drums
- Jim Herndon - tympani , percussion
- In Kingdom of Not, Portrait of The Living Sky, Blues at Midnight, El Is A Sound of Joy, India and Sunology (both parts), probably recorded at Balkan Studios, Chicago in September or October 1956
- Sun Ra - Piano, E-Piano, 'Space Gong'
- Art Hoyle - trumpet, percussion
- Pat Patrick - alto saxophone, percussion
- John Gilmore - tenor saxophone, percussion
- Charles Davis - baritone saxophone, percussion
- Victor Sproles - bass
- William Cochran - drums
- Jim Herndon - tympani, percussion
Web links
- Robert L. Campbell: Sun Ra Discography
- Review of Ron Wynn's Super-Sonic Jazz album at Allmusic . Retrieved July 29, 2011.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Robert L. Campbell, Christopher Trent, and Robert Pruter: From Sunny Blount to Sun Ra ( Memento of the original from April 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked . Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Todd S. Jenkins Free Jazz and Free Improvisation: an encyclopedia, Volume 2 , p. 330
- ↑ Talk, Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, Campbell, 1995
- ↑ John Corbett ( Memento of the original from June 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ John F. Szwed Space is the place: the lives and times of Sun Ra 1997, p. 153
- ^ Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD . 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 , p. 1396.
- ^ Review of Ron Wynn's album Super-Sonic Jazz at Allmusic . Retrieved July 29, 2011.
- ↑ Jazz Journal International Volume 46, p. 26f.
- ^ 'Rolling Stone Jazz and Blues Album Guide' 1997, pp. 635ff.
