Space Is The Place: The Lives And Times Of Sun Ra
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.84 (558 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0306808552 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 496 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-07-10 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Born Herman Poole Blount in Alabama in 1914, he reinvented himself in the 1950s as Sun Ra, the great surrealist of jazz whose free-form performances with his Arkestra amply justified the description "'jspace music." His mystical beliefs were equally avant-garde; Yale professor John Szwed sympathetically explains some fairly far-out notions as "driven by a hunger for totality that only music could express." Szwed recovers the biographical facts Sun Ra was often at pains to obscure, without losing sight of the overriding role imagination played in this visionary life.
This definitive biography reveals the life, philosophy, and musical growth of one of the twentieth century's greatest avant-garde musicians.. Herman Poole "Sonny" Blount (1914–1993), has been hailed as "one of the great big-band leaders, pianists, and surrealists of jazz" (New York Times) and as "the missing link between Duke Ellington and Public Enemy" (Rolling Stone). Sun Ra, a.k.a. Composer, keyboardist, bandleader, philosopher, poet, and self-proclaimed extraterrestrial from Saturn, Sun Ra led his "Intergalactic Arkestra" of thirty-plus musicians in a career that ranged from boogie-woogie and swing to be-bop, free jazz, fusion, and New Age music
Undoubtedly space is the place I've not had an easy year. Extreme stress, trauma, working constantly, moving back and forth across the country, and repairing several addictions. It made me put down my guitar, my synthesizer, microphones. I picked up this book out of curiosity, having listened to compilations of the Arkestra's recordings over the years and seeing time and again my favorite musicians cite Sun Ra as a major influence. I started reading through it and fell in love with music itself all over again, reconnecting with that cosmic spiritual power it has over my being. I've started writing and composing feverishly again, p. "infinite heart centered connection in the music and life of sun ra" according to Thomas M. Galla. The author of this book was most successful in conveying the feeling of inspiration which fuels the artistry in Sun Ra's music. He documented Sun Ra's life in a very multi-dimensional way. I have listened to about 8 of Sun Ra's recordings so far. This has been over about a ten year period. I am not a musician, so I don't relate to Sun Ra's music in that way. I do relate to it in terms of the spiritual inspiration and information by intuiting the sounds that arise when he transmits his vision of the cosmos. This whole book was a very delectable journey for me into the realms of my own past as Sun Ra's. A book as unique as its subject Space Is The Place is John F. Szwed's remarkably well-researched biography of Sun Ra. Speaking as a professional jazz musician, I appreciated the compelling insights into the creative processes behind Sun Ra's innovations in sound. The book also presents a thorough exposition of Sun Ra's life philosophy, one that was informed by works stretching back thousands of years. Sun Ra was so disciplined and principled, he served time and suffered contempt from the community and his family for being a conscientious objector during the Second World War. Sun Ra was truly a unique individual, and John Szwed's bo