Sun Ra — The Legacy of a Strange Genius
One of the Most Prolific Forces in Jazz music
Sometime during the Twentieth century, a musician, born somewhere in Alabama as Herman Poole Blount, rounded up his outlook of the World, or more precisely the Universe, life, and music, and found in himself that he is actually Le Sony’r Ra (what became his legal name), otherwise, or more widely known as Sun Ra. From there on, he was nothing less than controversial — creating a complete philosophical/religious outlook that permeated not only his music but his life in general.
On one hand, he is often dismissed and disregarded, particularly among jazz critics, partly because of his one-time connection with the Black Panthers. On the other hand, he was revered and followed worldwide, considered a progenitor of quite a few things — from spiritual jazz and its concept to the use of electronic instruments in modern music to injecting humor and a colorful stage presence to inspiring the concept of Afrofuturism — the full aspects of his artistic influence has yet to be fully recognized.
Secret Book Readings, Classical Music, All Things Jazz, and Strippers
How many Sun Ra albums were ever recorded? Not even the most devoted biographers or even saxophonist Marshall Allen, one of the…
