Bright sounding and energetic, Sun Ra & His Arkestra transcended the damaging effects of the 1980s on jazz by simply doing what they always did: making joyous, cosmos-sweeping music in the self-established tradition of a free big band. The recording captures the band sympathetically, managing to keep the chaos under control through a crisp and deep mix. Though featuring mainstay
Arkestra vocalist
June Tyson on a number of tracks (including the elegiac "I Wait for You"), the highlights here are the band's sweet takes on shorter charts, such as
Ra's swinging "Can You Take It?,"
Duke Ellington's classic "Prelude to a Kiss," and
Jerome Kern's tender "Why I Was Born." Also of note is a gently lurching take on "Astro Black," one of
Ra's most enduring melodies. Containing manageable bits of many of
the Arkestra's foci, this disc provides a good introduction to
Sun Ra's work. ~ Jesse Jarnow