SUN RA — Space Is the Place (review)

SUN RA — Space Is the Place album cover Album · 1973 · Progressive Big Band Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
siLLy puPPy
Donning a tripped out headpiece and looking like a crazed cult leader flagging down the next comet to ride to another world, SUN RA takes his Astro Intergalactic Infinity Arkestra to strange musical places on this one-of-a-kind journey of excess called SPACE IS THE PLACE. Despite the name this is no space jazz or ambient album. This is some unusually unorthodox big band music here. First flight takes us to the 21 minute plus title track which sees the entire Arkestra taking turns gleefully shouting out the mantra “SPACE IS THE PLACE!” It is a fun and playful salute to the outer and inner galaxies that takes us on a parade through a minimalist rotisserie of strange variations throughout its entire run.

After that party is over we are suddenly plunged back to what sounds like a piano bar on the second track “Images.” It's a nice mellow track that is followed by another slightly more upbeat track called “Discipline.” Together these Earthly tracks bely the strangeness that is to come. Although they sound like more traditional jazz pieces, SUN RA is a master of mixing different styles of jazz with African drumming patterns which creates a totally unique and bizarre effect.

Time to head to space again with the avant-jazz sounds of “Sea Of Sounds.” This frenetic freaky piece is really out there and vaguely reminds me of the spastic horn solos of John Zorn, only this full Arkestra succeeds in weaving a spacey tripped-out tapestry of strange riffs that sound completely random but after close inspection patterns can be discerned as the instruments take turns emphasizing them. The next tripped-out musical outburst is the closer “Rocket Number Nine.” Here we get some strange keyboard solos that truly must have been channeled by aliens.

I have only heard a handful of SUN RA albums and this one is my favorite so far. Clearly this album shows me that this strange masterful musician is one of the great under-the-radar musical geniuses in musical history. His prolific output is daunting but after hearing masterpieces like this, it only makes me want to dive right in and see what other cosmic craziness awaits discovery.
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