Posted in Shows on Oct 27th, 2008
Sun Ra, whose real name was Herman or “Sunny” Blount, grew up in Birmingham, Alabama in the 1920s and 30s, living within sight of a huge sign welcoming Birmingham visitors to “the Magic City.” It’s a prophetic sign in the Sun Ra legend, for Herman Blount—who was named by his mother after the popular vaudeville magician Black Herman– went on to become a sort of musical wizard, staging shows with dancers, wild lighting, musicians dressed in space costumes, sermons on far-ranging topics, and music that drew on hardbop, big-band, and free jazz, with chanting, electronic keyboards, shrieking saxophones, and a wide array of unusual musical effects that resulted in what he called “cosmo dramas”…
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Posted in Shows on Aug 11th, 2008
Tenor saxophonist John Gilmore, who influenced John Coltrane and helped to pioneer the challenging techniques of 1960s avant-garde saxophone, spent most of his career with Sun Ra and his Arkestra, recording outside of Sun Ra’s band on only a handful of occasions.
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Posted in Shows on Oct 22nd, 2007
Sun Ra, whose real name was Herman or “Sunny” Blount, grew up in Birmingham, Alabama in the 1920s and 30s, living within sight of a huge sign welcoming Birmingham visitors to “the Magic City.” It’s a prophetic sign in the Sun Ra legend, for Herman Blount—who was named by his mother after the popular vaudeville magician Black Herman– went on to become a sort of musical wizard, staging shows with dancers, wild lighting, musicians dressed in space costumes, sermons on far-ranging topics, and music that drew on hardbop, big-band, and free jazz, with chanting, electronic keyboards, shrieking saxophones, and a wide array of unusual musical effects that resulted in what he called “cosmo dramas”…
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Posted in Shows on Jan 6th, 2007
This program focuses on two unique early-1960s albums made by guitarist Joe Pass and pianist Elmo Hope. Pass’ 1961 Pacific Jazz LP Sounds of Synanon was his debut as a leader; although he’d begun to play professionally as a teenager in the late 1940s, stays in prison and rehabilitation centers for drug addiction had hampered his career throughout the 1950s…
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Posted in Shows on Oct 21st, 2006
Tenor saxophonist John Gilmore, who influenced John Coltrane and helped to pioneer the challenging techniques of 1960s avant-garde saxophone, spent most of his career with Sun Ra and his Arkestra, recording outside of Sun Ra’s band on only…
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