SUN RA AND HIS ARKESTRA - IN THE ORBIT OF RA

• sun ra: in the orbit of ra
      (2014, 2cd, ger, strut records strut109cd)

September 2008, the Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen played a series of concerts in Tilburg, The Netherland, as part of the ZXZW festival.

Monday, Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday, the Arkestra performed at the Paradox club.

On Friday, the Clazz Orchestra (students from the Tilburg Conservatory) played a Sun Ra tribute.

Saturday scheduled a Sun Ra documentary / movie, a lecture and a concert at Paradox. The concert got broadcast on dutch national radio and got released on CD as "Live At The Paradox".

Sunday afternoon, the whole event got wrapped up by an outdoor (and free) concert at De Muzetuin.

Somewhere during the Monday concert, Marshall Allen told the audience that the Paradox concert series would be a voyage through the musical world of Sun Ra. They would be starting with some big band music from the 1950's on Monday and they would end with the more experimental material on Friday.
It was the perfect way to get acquinted with the music of Sun Ra.

Looking back at it, this was the event that turned me into a Saturnian.
I didn't go to the movie and to the lecture on Saturday, but I did catch all the concerts.
It opened my eyes and my ears.I was already familiar with some of Sun Ra's albums, but after September 2008 I decided that I wanted to hear every record that the man had ever made.

The latest addition to the Sun Ra discography is entitled "In The Orbit Of Ra" and it presents recordings by the Arkestra, as collected by Marshall Allen.

So, yes, this is some sort of compilation album, but it's a superb one.

Mastered from the original tapes and including some previously unreleased bonus tracks, "In The Orbit Of Ra" can serve both as an introduction as well as a perfect sounding compilation.

If you're still wondering how to get a taste of the music of Sun Ra, you've got two options. Go to a series of concerts, or listen to "In The Orbit Of Ra".
Out on the Strut Records label, both on vinyl and on CD.
The 2LP set includes the CDs as a bonus.