Sun Ra, His Myth Science Arkestra

An eccentric, psychedelic jazz star who declared he was from Saturn and would live forever, Sun Ra created weird avant-garde sonic chaos with huge orchestras and boundless ideas. A musical prodigy from Birmingham, Alabama, Herman Blount cut his teeth playing with Chicago big bands in the 1940s before making his name with the landmark album Jazz In Silhouette (1959). His incarnation as Sun Ra And The Myth Science Arkestra in 1959 saw the emergence of his outlandish ideas as his musical style shifted from big band music to free-form psychedelic experiments on albums The Nubians Of Plutonia (1959) and Interstellar Low Waves (1960). Released through his own label El Saturn Records, he pioneered the use of keyboards, synths and special effects on Fate In Pleasant Mood (1960), Bad And Beautiful (1961) and When Sun Comes Out (1963); and his mix of occult references, sci-fi fantasy, African roots and "avant-psychedelia" later became known as Afro-futurism. Unbelievably prolific and renowned for ruling his Arkestra with an iron fist, musicians John Gilmore (tenor sax), Julian Priester (trombone) and Pat Patrick (baritone sax) were the key members who helped create Ra's sound and they stayed with him as he went on to perform and record under various different guises in the 1960s, '70s, '80s and '90s. Ra died in 1993 aged 79, but remains one of music's great cult figures and a huge influence on the likes of George Clinton, Fela Kuti, Afrika Bambaataa, Aphex Twin, Spiritualized and Janelle Monae. © ©Copyright Music Story 2020