Cassette Tape / 2017 reissue - Limited edition / Ferric tape (Normal) with Dolby

ESP-Disk' Cassette Collection - Officially licensed from ESP-DISK' 2017

Recorded by Richard L. Alderson at RLA Sound Studios, New York City, April 20, 1965 

1965-USA

Release notes :

The astonishing session that went light years beyond "free jazz" improvisation to create music of deeply felt, explosive and gentle gestures made from sound itself without reference to previous notions of melody or harmony. This set of tracks finds Sun Ra breaking ground by using synthesizers and having the Arkestra musicians double on percussion. Come with Sun Ra's original self-created jacket art.

Personnel: Pat Patrick: baritone sax, percussion; John Gilmore: tenor sax, timpani; Marshall Allen: piccolo, alto sax, bells, spiral cymbal; Ronnie Boykins: bass; Teddy Nance: trombone; Jimhmi Johnson: percussion; Robert Cummings: bass clarinet, wood blocks; Chris Capers: trumpet; Bernard Pettaway: bass trombone; Danny Davis: flute, alto sax; Sun Ra: bass marimba, electronic celeste, piano, tympani. 

Tracklisting :

Side A) 1. Heliocentric (4:17) 2. Outer Nothingness (7:38) 3. Other Worlds (4:35) Side B) 1. The Cosmos (7:30) 2. Of Heavenly Things (5:44) 3. Nebulae (3:19) 4. Dancing in the Sun (1:56) 

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Cassette Tape / 2018 reissue - Limited edition / Ferric tape (Normal) with Dolby

ESP-Disk' Cassette Collection - Officially licensed from ESP-DISK' 2018

Recorded by Richard L. Alderson at RLA Sound Studios, New York City, November 16, 1965.

1966-USA

Release notes :

More explorations of outer space by the spokesman for the space age. When Walt Whitman wrote, "I am vast; I contain multitudes," he could have been channeling Sun Ra. The man born Herman Blount in Alabama, who claimed he was from Saturn, was equally at home reviving Fletcher Henderson compositions based on their original arrangements or unleashing totally free-form, athematic group improvisation - and many styles in between. It was practically a given that a New York-based (as he was in the '60s) avant-jazz performer as colorful and eccentric as Sun Ra would end up on ESP-Disk'.

The 1965 sessions that produced the two volumes of Heliocentric Worlds came during the most extremely free-form period of Ra's career, contemporaneous with The Magic City (Saturn Records). Volume 1, recorded in April with an 11-member band, consisted of seven relatively short tracks (none over eight minutes); recorded in November with an octet, Volume 2, in contrast, was much freer and featured the side-long "The Sun Myth" (over 17 minutes in length) and "Cosmic Chaos" (14+). The horn players and bassist Ronnie Boykins have plenty of room to stretch out and take full advantage. "A House of Beauty" offers five minutes of relatively lyrical respite between the other tracks.

Personnel: Walter Miller (tp) Robert Cummings (bcl) Marshall Allen (as, fl, picc) John Gilmore (ts) Pat Patrick (bars, fl) Sun Ra (clavioline, p, tuned bgo) Ronnie Boykins (b) Roger Blank (d, per) 

Tracklisting :

Side A) A1. The Sun Myth Side B) B1. House Of Beauty B2. Cosmic Chaos 

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