SUN RA- “IMAGES”, “THE OTHERS IN THEIR WORLD”
Saturday, December 26th, 2009
Although he’s one of the most adventurous, innovative, iconoclastic and influential artists of the 20th century, Sun Ra is still considered in some circles to be no more than a crackpot and in others, a passing hipster novelty. but the man defies those shallow classifications- besides his musical virtuosity, he was far ahead of his time in incorporating electronics, multi-media, theater, dance, mysticism, pan-African sensibilities, etc. in his performances. yet at the heart of it all is his music -Deep and Dark and Ugly and Beautiful and Violent and Serene and Dense and… ancient and futuristic at the same time, yet strongly rooted in the traditions of African-American expression. some of it is extremely difficult to listen to. at times it demands almost too much of a listener. however, with a certain amount of patience and an open mind, one has the possibility to be taken to many new and fascinating places. contrary to the conventional wisdom that his music is no 
more than an excuse for a bunch of dudes to move their fingers over their instruments really fast and blow really loud, Sun Ra wrote many incredibly singable melodies, two of which i have written out below. “Images”, from a record called Jazz In Silhouette, which contains several other really beautiful melodies, is one of my favorites. it has a conventional AABA form with riff-like melody that moves into bridge made up of long harmonic pads and back to the original riff. i wrote out the melody along with my opinion of what the chord progression might be. i didn’t write out the shout chorus which ends the song on this version but i may do that later. the other song, “The Others In Their World” is, plainly and simply, a gorgeous and hauntingly beautiful melody. it can be heard on the record Fate In A Pleasant Mood, which also has a great version of the song, “Lights Of A Satellite”. “Others” starts with the melody over a minor vamp and a sparse swing rhythm with a backbeat. the feel more or less remains the same through the bridge and the last A section. check them both out below… (for more information on his life and music, check out Space Is The Place, The Lives And Times Of Sun Ra, by John Szwed.)
SUN RA- IMAGES (mp3)
SCORE OF “IMAGES” (pdf)
SUN RA- THE OTHERS IN THEIR WORLD (mp3)
SCORE OF “THE OTHERS IN THEIR WORLD” (pdf)
