American Free-Jazz composer, pianist and band leader.
Widely recognized as music innovator, pioneer of free improvisation and modal jazz, and early user of electronic keyboards and synthesizers.
Born as Herman Poole Blount, he legally changed his name into Le Sony'r Ra on October 20, 1952.
Born: May 22, 1914 in Birmingham, Alabama
Died: May 30, 1993 in Birmingham, Alabama
Born and raised in Alabama, Herman Blount, nicknamed “Sonny” by his family, proved to be a skilled pianist since a young age. He was able to sight-read and compose music by the age of 11 and performed semi-professionally as a solo pianist or member of local Jazz and R&B bands as a teenager. His first full-time musical job was proposed in 1934 by Ethel Harper, his biology teacher from high school, who had organized a band to pursue a career as a singer. When Ms. Harper moved to New York, he took the lead of the band, renaming it Sonny Blount Orchestra. The band disbanded shortly after, but Blount continued to work steadily as a musician in Birmingham.
Between 1936 and 1937 he left college, which he attended for only one year, after a visionary experience which greatly influenced his life: during a deep meditation state, he claimed to have been transported to the planet Saturn by beings from outer space who entrusted him with the mission to preach peace through music, in a world that was going into chaos.
In the following years, Blount transformed the first floor of his family's house into a conservatory-workshop where musicians could come and go at any time and he could discuss religious and esoteric concepts with whoever was interested.
In 1945, he moved to Chicago where he was influenced by the African-American political activist fervor in the city. He soon abandoned his birth name, taking the name Le Sony'r Ra, shortened to Sun Ra (after Ra, the Egyptian god of the Sun).
Musically, he worked and performed for Wynonie Harris, Lil Green, Fletcher Henderson, Coleman Hawkins and Stuff Smith.
In 1952, Sun Ra ensembled and led a trio with the drummer Tommy Hunter and saxophonist Pat Patrick, forming the first nucleus of what will shortly become The Sun Ra Arkestra.
When Patrick moved to Florida (he will continue to get in and out of the Arkestra for decades to come), saxophonists John Gilmore and Marshall Allen join the group. In the same years, Sun Ra met Alton Abraham a precociously intelligent teenager that quickly became his closest friend and, practically, his business manager. Together, in the mid '50s, they founded the independent label called El Saturn Records, initially focused on 45 rpm singles by Sun Ra and artists related to him. However, Sun Ra's first album was released in 1957 by the producer Tom Wilson with another independent label, Transition.
In the late 1950s, Sun Ra and his band began to wear outlandish, Egyptian-styled or science fiction-themed costumes and headdresses. This style, which can be defined in retrospect as “Afrofuturistic”, will become the trademark that will make the Arkestra recognizable even on stage.
In the Fall of 1961, the group moved to New York City where Sun Ra and his band members lived communally to save money.
In the mid '60s, the Arkestra used to perform regularly at Slug's Saloon. At this point, Sun Ra's popularity started to increase among followers of the beat generation and early psychedelia, also receiving much praise from music critics and major names of the New York jazz scene.
In 1968, when the New York building they were renting was put up for sale, Sun Ra and the Arkestra relocated to the Germantown section of Philadelphia. Hereafter, the Sun Ra house on Morton Street became the Arkestra's base of operations, until his death. That same year, they made their first tour of the US West Coast and, a few months later, Sun Ra was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, introducing him to the national public. In 1970, the Arkestra began to tour internationally with concerts in France, Germany and the United Kingdom .
For the next three decades, the band's touring and recording activity would not stop, becoming a point of reference for the musical avant-gardes.
Sun Ra kept composing, performing, and leading the Arkestra, even after he had a stroke in 1990.
In late 1992, Sun Ra returned to his birth city of Birmingham to live with his older sister, Mary Jenkins, who (along with various Blount cousins) became his caretaker until his death, which occurred on May 30, 1993.
Sun Ra Arkestra
Anita's Theatre, Thirroul, New South Wales, Australia
Sun Ra Arkestra | SECOND SHOW ADDED
The Night Cat, Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia
Sun Ra Arkestra | SOLD OUT
The Night Cat, Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia
Yo La Tengo & Sun Ra Arkestra - One Cosmic Night
Howard Theatre, Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States Of America
2024
Musica Jazz
CD, Comp
2024
Corbett vs. Dempsey
CD, Album
2024
2024
2024
2024
2024
2024
2023
Recital (2)
LP, Album, Ltd
2023
Geero
Box, Dlx, Ltd, Num, S/Edition + 10", Mono, RM, dub
2023
2021
2020
Strut
LP, RE
2020
2020
2019
Modern Harmonic
7", RSD, Single, Cle + DVD-V
2019
Old Heaven Books, ESP-Disk'
Box, Comp, Ltd + 5xCass, Album, RE
2019
2019
2019
2019
2018
2018
2018
2018
2017
Gearbox Records
7", EP
2017
Duke University Press
Flexi, 5½", Shape, S/Sided, Ltd, 5.5
2017
Jambalaya Records And Tapes
LP, Comp, Ltd
2017
DOL
Box, Comp + CD, Comp, RE + CD, Album, RE + CD, Alb
2017
Mississippi Records
Cass
2017
2017
2017
2017
2017
2016
ZYX Music
2xCD, Comp
2016
Modern Harmonic
10", EP, Mono, Promo, Red
2016
Phono (4)
2xCD, Comp, RM
2016
2016
2016
2016
2015
Squatty Roo Records
CDr, Album
2015
Black Rooster
2xLP, Comp, Ltd, 140
2014
Black Saint, Soul Note
CD, Album, RE, RM + CD, Album, RE, RM + CD, Album,
2014
WERGO
CD, Album
2014
2014
2014
2014
2013
All City Records (3)
12"
2013
2013
2013
2012
All City Records (3)
12"
2012
Solar Records (4)
CD, Comp
2012
One-Handed Music
File, MP3, Mixed
2012
2012
2011
Transparency
DVD-V, NTSC
2011
All City Records (3)
12"
2011
Transparency
14xCD, Comp + Box
2011
Real Gone
2xCD, Comp, RM
2011
Jazz Magazine (2)
CD, Comp, Promo
2011
2011
2011
2011
2010
Transparency
CD, Album
2010
Jazzman
3x7", Comp, Ltd, Num, Cle
2010
2010
2010
2010
2009
Mode Avant
CD, Album
2009
Norton Records (2)
7"
2009
Transparency
2xCD, Album
2009
2009
2009
2008
Transparency
6xCD, Album + Box
2008
Transparency
CD, Album
2008
Transparency
CD
2008
2007
Transparency
2xCD, Album
2007
Transparency
2xCD, Album
2007
Transparency
2xCD, Album
2007
Transparency
CD, Album
2007
FiveFour
CD, Comp
2006
Sun Ra Research
CD, Comp
2006
ESP-Disk', ESP-Disk', ESP-Disk', ESP-Disk', ESP-Disk', Abraxas (2), Abraxas (2), Abraxas (2), Abraxas (2), Abraxas (2)
CD, Album, RE + CD, Album, RE + CD, Album, RE + CD
2005
Dejavu
12"
2005
ESP-Disk'
CD, RM
2005
Stop Smiling
7", Single, Ltd
2005
Transparency
DVD-V, NTSC
2005
2004
Sun Ra Research
CD, Comp
2003
Mo'Smog Records
12"
2003
Atavistic
CD, Comp
2003
Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra Arkestra
Anita's Theatre, Thirroul, New South Wales, Australia
Sun Ra Arkestra | SECOND SHOW ADDED
The Night Cat, Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia
Sun Ra Arkestra | SOLD OUT
The Night Cat, Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia
Yo La Tengo & Sun Ra Arkestra - One Cosmic Night
Howard Theatre, Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States Of America