Sun Ra’s Own “Satellite” from 1978

Some readers may recall my delight towards the end of last month when IN+OUT Records released Lights On A Satellite. That album marked the 100th birthday of Marshall Allen, who took over leading Sun Ra’s band after his death. What I did not know at that time was that the title of this album was the same as another album that Ra himself had recorded in 1978. That album will be available on CD when it is released at the end of this week on Friday, December 6, under the full title Lights on a Satellite: Live at the Left Bank. As readers have probably come to expect, Amazon.com has already created a Web page for the two-CD release.

In many respects, this is a follow-up to Sun Ra at the Showcase: Live in Chicago, which was discussed on this site this past May. Both of these albums were produced by Zev Feldman. His co-producer was again Michael D. Anderson, who is Ra’s archivist, as well as one of the five percussionists on the new Left Bank album. Allen performs on this album as one of the two alto saxophonists, also playing flute and piccolo. I have to say that I tend to prefer these “live” releases for the spontaneity of the performers (which is sometimes vocal, rather than instrumental).

Cover of the album being discussed (from its Amazon.com Web page)

Mind you, thanks to my own experiences, I am fully aware that even the best recording techniques will not capture the rich visual qualities of “being there” in the audience. Indeed, as can be only mildly suggested by the above cover photograph, Ra’s very appearance contributed to those visual qualities. Nevertheless, one can still appreciate the games that Ra could play with such “treasured standards” as “Cocktails for Two” (where I suspect that Allen was the saxophonist who went over the top with his improvisations) and Thelonious Monk’s “’Round Midnight.” (Mind you, as I quickly learned from my visits to the Village Vanguard, Monk had his own repertoire of games to play!)

Personally, I cannot be more pleased that this year endowed me with the generous supply of reminders of how much I enjoyed my past encounters with Ra through performances and recordings.