Atavistic/UMS 265
Arkestrological excavations continue unabated thanks to the fine folks at Atavistic. This late ’07 release couples sessions by two very different incarnations of the band. Despite the contradictory directive of the title cerulean hues abound. The first seven tracks come from a Philly date in the fall of ’77. Ra leads a nonet augmented by bassist Richard “Radu” Williams on the title cut, but otherwise bass-free. Other than the opener and an untitled tempest, it’s standards all the way. John Gilmore steps to the solo plate repeatedly, spooling out soulful improvisations that suggest he’s slightly zonked on space dust, mind wide open to the pleasures of the ancient-to-the-future jazz continuum. The attention paid his tenor in the pecking order is definitely something to savor, particularly on a 10-minute reading of “My Favorite Things” that echoes his epochal Horo turn on the tune.
Ra, too, gets in some good licks, fingering a stride-dappled statement on “I’ll Get By” that’s ripe with his requisite sense of temporal dissonance. Same drill for “Tenderly” in a prefatory rhapsody that primes the pump for more passionate Gilmore tenor. His preference is for piano though slivers of tinkling electronics do crop up on occasion. Trumpeter Akh Tal Ebah chips in the third major solo voice, moving from open horn to mute and waxing some of the finest solos in his all too finite discography. James Jacson’s bassoon and Eloe Omoe’s bass clarinet mostly contribute background color, but the flutes of Marshall Allen and Danny Davis edge in on the foreground action during “Nature Boy” and the aforementioned “Favorite Things”, prompting oblique comparisons to Dolphy and Trane. Atakatune’s congas percolate through the kit-cobbled rhythms of Luqman Ali and together the pair shores up the rhythmic needs such that a bass isn’t missed.
Sound quality carries the precarious pitch levels typical Saturn sessions, but the commensurate murk is nothing seasoned Ra listeners will object to. Fidelity improves on two alternate rehearsal takes of “I’ll Get By” taped in Philly in ’73 that close out the program and find either Gilmore or Ebah as the sole horn backed only by Ra’s organ and Ronnie Boykins bass. Both takes contain plenty of room for the soloists to limber up and extemporize with Gilmore again taking particular advantage of the whittled down setting. Boykins is miked closely and sounds unusually sharp, though the ghost of an earlier recording on the source tape haunts the Ebah version in the form of a phantom drum track.
As of this writing, Ra’s been traveling the spaceways in noncorporeal form for nearly fifteen earth years. The sound archive he left behind is finite one, but its exact magnitude is still being mapped and ascertained. The upshot is that listeners will likely be privy to releases like this one on a consistent basis for some time to come.
~ Derek Taylor
Posted by derek on February 5, 2008 12:58 PMnice review Derek. i read and enjoy many of your reviews on this site. i've had a funny time with this record - liking it more at times and less at others - and today was the first time i've looked up any reviews of it. i read Jason's first and then yours which are very different and I do respect both of your opinions even if it doesn't always seem so on a certain movie thread. I like Ra's MFT quite a lot even if it does seem to get a little lost in the middle (flute solo iirc - going on memory here). I've responded to Some Blues differently at different times but overall my view is closer to yours than Jason's in his Dusted review. I agree too that Ebah is an interesting voice and completely new to me. Some Blues is no Cosmic Tones but I'm glad I bought it nonetheless.
Posted by: john williams at April 29, 2008 10:29 PMThanks, John. I respect Jason’s take too & think his point about the relative ratio of dazzle to dross in the Ra fakebook is spot-on. The Sun Ra-slagger over at Jazz.com (what’s his name again?) could take a few pointers from Professor Bivins on how to criticize cogently and without malice.
There are definitely some rough edges on this one (as with so many others), but that’s part of what I like about it. The small scale setting and decent recording quality are plusses too. As you say, no Cosmic Tones, but that’s probably at the top of the Heliocentric pyramid for me.
Speaking again of bottoms, I ran into an aesthetic roadblock with the recent Media Dreams reissue. Fully expected to like it, but found myself bored by the predominance of cheesy keyboard noodling. The drum machine parts are too much. What’s weird is that I don’t have the same problem with its predecessor Disco 3000, which also features a heavy helping of vintage synths.
And I’m just as guilty (if not moreso) on that JC film thread, so please accept my apology.
Posted by: derek at April 30, 2008 11:25 AMCool, apologies back. I too could take a few pointers from Jason and it's posters like yourself that remind me of that and keep me in check. Ta.
I know nothing about Media Dreams. I did have a copy of the Great Lost Sun Ra Albums 2 CD set and disliked the synths/keyboards on that. I'm not a big fan of the moog sound. I heard Atlantis for the first time quite recently and was very disappointed with the title track but it's a record that's often held in high regard. It was kind of interesting but not something I'll return to in a hurry. However, my Sun Ra collection is quite small and I like more than I dislike. When Angels Speak of Love and Cosmic Tones are probably my two favorites.
Posted by: john williams at April 30, 2008 4:43 PMIsn't "When Angels Speak Of Love" also a bell hooks anthology? I'm willing to bet Sunny came first...
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