Sun Ra - Celestial Love (1984) (Reissue, 2020)

Artist: Sun Ra
Title Of Album Celestial Love
Year Of Release: 1984/2020
Label (Catalog#) : Modern Harmonic [MHCD-218]
Country: USA
Genre: Jazz / Hard Bop, Big Band, Free Jazz
Quality: FLAC (tracks + cue,log,covers)
Bitrate: Lossless
Total Time: 00:48:13
Total Size: 278Mb

True studio albums of Ra with the Arkestra are rare on this planet or beyond. This studio saucer is an interplanetary interpreter, here to convert even the faintest of heart to the sounds of Sun Ra. Recorded with Arkestra veterans at the same NY studio that hosted countless Sun Ra sessions since the late 60s, this first ever reissue of Celestial Love contains the only known recordings of the titular track and “Blue Intensity,” plus a cut not on the original Saturn LP!

The music here is mostly "inside Ra." In fact, it's one of the most accessible albums in the Ra canon. One of Ra's early heroes, Duke Ellington, is represented twice with "Sophisticated Lady" and "Drop Me Off In Harlem," and two other standards ("Smile" and "Sometimes I'm Happy," both sung by June Tyson) are given snappy Ra arrangements.

Though Sun Ra was renowned for outrageous music and performances, Celestial Love is a reminder that he was a man of many moods, with a deep respect for jazz history. His embrace of Futurism never implied a rejection of the past. Even rocket ships were constructed with raw materials discovered eons ago.

Tracks:
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1. Celestial Love - 5:31
2. Sometimes I'm Happy [Composed By – Grey, Caesar, Youmans] - 4:28
3. Interstellarism - 6:15
4. Blue Intensity 5:16
5. Sophisticated Lady [Composed By – Ellington, Mills, Parish] - 7:30
6. Nameless One No. 2 - 4:01
7. Nameless One No. 3 - 5:43
8. Smile [Composed By – Chaplin, Parsons, Phillips] - 4:23
9. Drop Me Off In Harlem [Composed By – Ellington, Kenny] - 5:06

Personnel:
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Sun Ra – Piano, Synthesizer, Organ
Marshall Allen – Alto Saxophone, Flute
Danny Ray Thompson – Baritone Saxophone, Flute
Hayes Burnett – Bass
John Ore (possibly) – Bass
James Jacson – Bassoon, Infinity Drum
Samarai Celestial (Eric Walker) – Drums
Vincent Chancey – French Horn
Atakatune (Stanley Morgan) – Percussion
John Gilmore – Tenor Saxophone
Tyrone Hill – Trombone
Walter Miller – Trumpet
June Tyson – Vocals (Tracks 2 & 8)

Recorded at Variety Recording Studios, New York, 1982.