Space is the Place - The Lives and Times of Sun Ra (Paperback, Main)

The late jazz musician Sun Ra, who claimed to be from Saturn, is vividly and respectfully portrayed and defended against those who thought this self-described jester of the creator was a crackpot. Sun Ra, born Henry Poole Blount in 1914, always elicited a strong response with his music and ideas. Norman Mailer claimed the strangely horrible music cured him of a cold. One jazz critic seeing a show in 1967 wrote, "There is no pigeon-hole for it. It is ugly and beautiful and terribly interesting." Sun Ra's music was well grounded in traditional jazz, but his wild sensibilities could drive the music into extreme breakdowns of noise - not to be purposefully obtuse or avant-garde, but because Sun Ra was on an all-consuming quest for truth in his music, which he once called a cosmic newspaper. He rehearsed his band endlessly and discouraged drinking, drug use, and womanizing. This rigor was a surprising backdrop to what often seemed like "love generation" sensibilities. The band wore wild hats, old opera costumes or African clothes, danced in the aisles, and played with improvisational abandon. As elucidated by Szwed (Anthropology, Afro-American Studies, Music, and American Studies/Yale) Sun Ra's seemingly outlandish ideas make a certain sense. For instance, the musician's claim to be Sun Ra from Saturn is placed in the cultural context of "ritual renaming" among African-Americans, from Malcolm X to Duke Ellington. Much space is also devoted to explaining Egyptology and other important ideas that led Sun Ra to fertile areas of thought and creativity. Readers will find some of Sun Ra's ideas hard to swallow. Listeners to his music will find some passages difficult or unlistenable. But Szwed also makes a strong case for Sun Ra as creative genius. (Kirkus Reviews)

This ground-breaking biography is as much about Sun Ra's music as it is about his passionate, often wildly unorthodox views on the galaxy, black people and spiritual matters. With the various incarnations of his inimitable Arkestra, his repertoire ranged from boogie-woogie to swing to be-bop to fusion to New Age, and his influence extended throughout the jazz and rock worlds. While Sun Ra made a lifelong effort to obscure many of the facts of his early years, he did acknowledge that he was born on the planet Saturn. John Szwed has succeeded brilliantly in delving into and evoking the life and work of this extraordinary artist.

General

Imprint:	Canongate Books Ltd
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	October 2000
Authors:	John Szwed
Dimensions:	198 x 129 x 30mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback - B-format
Pages:	512
Edition:	Main
ISBN-13:	978-1-84195-055-6
Categories:	Books > Language & Literature > Biography & autobiography > Film, television, music, theatre Books > Arts & Architecture > Music > Contemporary popular music > Jazz Books > Arts & Architecture > Music > Contemporary popular music > Rock & pop > General Books > Biography > Film, television, music, theatre Books > Music > Contemporary popular music > Jazz Books > Music > Contemporary popular music > Rock & pop > General Promotions
LSN:	1-84195-055-6
Barcode:	9781841950556

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