Sun ra - India (first electric keyboard in jazz?)

[ShadowlawM]

US3 sampled this song for "Cantaloop."

[rippersk8er]

This album features electric bass. This album came out in 1956. The electric bass was introduced by Fender in 1951. This album is cleary made by a genius. Respect, sun ra

[MrFlyingChickens]

the drum beats are always so intersting in every song

[fosbury68]

"21st Century Edition"

Indeed!  Thank you Sun.

[snicx23]

i have almost no knowledge abou jazz...never really listened to...but this is great, AWESOME!!!

kinda "psychedelic" ;)

[whodoodit]

@snicx23

[paulpellicci]

great jazz...

[HairyMcHero]

Sun Ra! Out McStanding, Sen McSational, Un McTouchable

[fastborzoi]

recorded over 50 yrs ago, and still sounds fresh

[dutchsencee]

Read his biography 'Space is the Place', its very very hard to put down...

he was one of the very first people with a MOOG synth, would just jam out in the store before he could afford it.

[olumwandishi]

I can hear the seeds of Creator Has a Master Plan, by Pharoah Sanders in this?

[JazzmanJibilla]

Well of course it is other worldly, transcending time and space, folding the future unto itself, he wasn't from this planet in the first place so his music is so advanced it is magic to us.

[djmaheem]

rhythm, cymbals and percussions are amazing here!

[999manman]

Sun Ra is now riding on Nibiru!

[CadillacL]

I've first heard Sun Ra's music here on Youtube & I'm blown away. WAY ahead of his time. This was recorded in the 50's?? Mind blowing.

[antsorter]

never thought i'd see lee scratch perry, tom waits, van gogh, beethoven and the coltrane couple mentioned on the same sun ra video

heh

also this shit is tight. i never knew sun ra messed with electric keyboards in the 50's

[juicearibe]

There is a DNA patterns with his music and about 5 more artist.

[bodhitarulight]

OMG WHO WOULD DISLIKE THIS !! HATERZZZ!!

[shuckslbj]

How is it that Sun Ra, in half-century old recordings (five years before the first human entered outer space), always makes me feel like I'm traveling through the stars toward another planet?

[Dtchmastrkilla7]

@shuckslbj i wonder if he watched the moon landing on T.V... he would see right through a television set like a ghost

[ToraD100g]

A true genius, Amazing how he arranged this song, how it came out of his mind?

That beginning is really incredible, in a few seconds and I am already on explosive orgasm of feelings ... Sun ra is more than an artist, he is a mage!

[crazycagada]

sun ra was my dad

[sulfurousstench]

i'd like to think he really is from saturn

[mckay68]

So Good, thanks for posting-Chad Kelsey

[11181001]

Nice job, keep it up. New music from Brandon Jarod coming soon, great sounds!

[EdwardHKDC]

See my comment below from a year ago in which I mention the Storytone electric piano. I have now uploaded a piece from 1940 featuring this - search for "Earl Hines Storytone piano".

[SubRosaStructure]

Definitely ahead of its time in 2010. Where would rock music and John Coltrane be without Sun Ra. Only Alice Coltrane was beginning to understand him well!

[ptose]

@SubRosaStructure

this seems interesting, what does she said about sun ra? I'd like to read something about

[SubRosaStructure]

@ptose It' isn't something I read ptose. Its the frequency of Ra and Alice's music as I understand it.

[daddyoj]

@ptose Alice Coltrane is a Devotee and follower of SRI Sathya Sai Baba, the official national treasure of India, and she is frequently in India. The Church of St. John the Coltrane in SF also has a connection(sponsered by Carlos Santana). That is Church of Malabar out of Africa.

[daddyoj]

@ptose All these religions believe the Highest musicians are celestial saints and personages, India "Divine musicians" and at Malabar " Musician Prophets", and they are quite serious. It is religion/Divine connection.

They are holding Sun Ra to be in this category

[matsmcbeaver]

@SubRosaStructure

And where would Sun Ra be without Coltrane!? I like Coltrane more then Ra. And Alice C. Is just beautiful...

Journey in Satchidinanda!

[ptose]

@matsmcbeaver

well, actually Coltrane was very fascinated by Sun ra music, and for what i know he also took lessons by the great Jon Gilmore, the saxophonist of the arkestra (and a very underrated player). Instead i don't think Sun ra was influenced by Coltrane but this is not a matter of value. You can find in his music influences of Ellington, Ornette Coleman, Les Baxter, world music and also funk, disco and rock'n'roll

but you can't find in his music influences of Coltrane.

[Pedroleum100]

@SubRosaStructure Plus: where would be P-Funk visuals without the fancy Sun Ra?

[bmuhamad]

The Wurlitzer Model 1011 Electronic piano? The same one Ray Charles played on "What I Say"?

[09dedalus]

@obeliab, no quibbles about sun ra, mate... i love him too. but in order to get a taste of the ''hollywood eastern sound'' of the time, youtube ron goodwin old beirut. and to discover what a genius can really do with eastern musical traditions in the west, youtube john coltrane india. oh and egypt's not called a part of the middle EAST for no reason... :))

[09dedalus]

interesting in historic way,but not musically. just about everybody and their dog was making music like this at the time..... evokes stereotyped hollywood images of the east.... might as well have been called egypt, or china, or belly dancing in beirut.

[obeliab]

@09dedalus who everybody? And which dogs? and like Egypt is so East? I'll admit I'm an avid sun ra supporter, but are you trying to pull some "ohgawd anyone could have wrote Happy Birthday LAME!" stuff? I've heard some damn derivative eastern stuff and this doesn't really smell all that bad. GIVEN it's not the greatest Ra production, but I don't really understand what 50's music you're talking about. Debussy died in the 'teens

[fuckingharpsichord]

it's funny coltrane and sun ra never made something together

[markviman]

@fuckingharpsichord now that would have been wild!

[byebyebirdie2]

do you get paid alot for what you do?

lemme know cause I need a job

[DrAyaba]

Yeah...Black Matter Consciousness...A blessing that is humbling to say the least. A sad state for those who do not appreciate it or at worst despise it.

[gadget609]

alot of folks sleep on sun ra  but fail to realize his music was innovative before its time

[Manwithcam]

Riders on the storm....

[TokenRah]

Whitey's always have to take credit for something! jk

[Hooverdan]

@TokenRah

Your "Whitey" reference is that towards white people ?

[Proud2playitloud]

@Hooverdan Nope. He had a next door neighbor who was albino. He was actually a Mexican, but everybody called him Whitey.

[saxmachine985]

@Manwithcam  yes, but in 1956.

[johobo64]

@Manwithcam I hear it clearly.

[dunbladekilla]

wow. just wow.

[eskimosummer]

I would have thought this was a Tom Waits song made in the 90's. Not Sun Ra back in the 50's. Sun Ra will be revered like Van Gogh or Beethoven. Thank the Lord for Sun Ra

[ghostface411]

yeah your right

[gabridad]

@eskimosummer ...and i thought iwas listening to Lee Perry for a second :-)

[WatusiReggae]

no adds...perfection ....wow, noone else was close to this creative vision in 1956.

You hear his roots with Fletcher Henderson, and a little Persichetti and Varese, "other-world" class musician

[o09chacho]

Super!!! merci!

[micr0cosm]

Good piece.

[bmuhamad]

Add Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, James Brown,....Y'all know the drill.

[10fingersofdeath]

Just add Jim Morisson and you get...

[MCKRUSH]

Mr. Blount is still the man. Love, love, love Sun Ra. Thanks for the post.

[eproportion]

Yeah thanks man. I discovered quite a bit of cool stuff thanks to your direction...

[ptose]

thank you for the info Edward, really interesting

[EdwardHKDC]

(previous comment continued) And as early as 1940 Earl Hines recorded "Body and Soul" /"Child of a Disordered Brain" on "the Storytone piano, which relied on vacuum tubes and sounded like a fuzz-toned harpsichord" (quote from New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, article on Piano). Apparently this one weighed one-and-a-half tons! Early electronic keyboards are a fascinating subject - lots of info on the web.

[EdwardHKDC]

Not quite the first electric keyboard in jazz - Sun Ra played something called a Solovox, along with piano, and with Stuff Smith on violin, on a home recording of "Deep Purple" - available on Evidence ECD 22014, which gives the recording date 1953 or 54. However, the discography in John F Szwed's book "Space is the Place" suggests 1948 or 49.