New York, NY (Top40 Charts) A stunning live Sun Ra event, recorded at the Inter-Media Arts Center in New York, April 20, 1991 will be available on Record Store Day's
Black Friday event on November 25th. This concert was just two years before Ra's "earthly departure" - and his keyboard work was amazingly strident and vibrant here.
Modern Harmonic presents the tracks for the first time, they are previously unreleased! The Arkestra was in perfect form; this special night also showcased the Arkestra's vocal magnificence with selections and sections powerfully performed by June Tyson, Michael Ray, T.C. Carney,
James Jacson, and John Gilmore. Rarely will you hear the Arkestra with such clarity! Many Sun Ra releases were derived from live performances, but seldom did they have the quality or sonic-punch of this recording. The venerable NYC radio station WNYC were present to record, perfectly capturing the stellar performances.
Check out some music here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLKoSyqmgc8
Modern Harmonic is celebrating this magical evening by releasing the complete performance across three premium RTI LP pressings - or on two compact discs - with both configurations packaged in stunning, tri-fold chipboard jackets. The limited edition release also features extensive liners by noted jazz writer
Howard Mandel, and is wrapped in a gorgeous design by legendary album-art icon, Jim Flora.
Triple LP pressed on HQ RTI vinyl and double CD, both with extensive liners.
The body and the spirit are not always one. While Herman "Sonny" Blount's body was born on May 22, 1914, in Birmingham, Alabama, his spirit originated on Saturn a few years later. Around the age of twenty-two, Blount had a transformative experience during a deep religious meditation: "My whole body changed into something else. And I went up... I wasn't in human form. I landed on a planet that I identified as Saturn. They teleported me and I was down on stage with them. I would speak [through music], and the world would listen. That's what they told me." Blount emerged from this encounter determined to fulfill their prophecy. Rechristening himself Le Sony'r Ra, he began a decades-long quest to write and play ever-more adventurous music. Blending elements of bebop, modal jazz, free improvisation, and unclassifiable, otherworldly sounds, Sun Ra built one of the most challenging and innovative recorded catalogs in music history.
Modern Harmonic Records: www.modernharmonic.com
