Celebrating anew the dearly departed whose impact on jazz remains hale and hearty.
Name: Sun Ra
Claim to fame: Aggressive weirdness backed by genuine talent. Ra’s audacious compositions, stellar keyboard work and alleged intergalactic provenance ensured ’60s and ’70s-era jazz appeared every bit as subversive as rock to mainstream ears. Ra’s innovations with organs and synth and barn-burning gigs with his sprawling Arkestra cemented his rep as the most gifted kook in the galaxy.
Star sign: Gemini, of course, which explains the polarities of his personality: A bona fide genius who undermined his credibility by clinging tight to the outer-space-via-ancient-Egypt personal mythology he parroted his whole life.
Why he’s still relevant: Avant-garde before it was cool, Ra’s prolific output still sounds cutting edge and without easy frame of reference.
Own it: Space is the Place (1972, GRP).
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