VOTD 3/25/2023

 Sun Ra and his Astro Infinity Arkestra: My Brother the Wind (Saturn bootleg/Rhino Records pressing?)

Can't recall where I bought this.

Continuing with Sun Ra! I've been using this blog as a way for writing some of the anecdotes and stories about artists and recordings I know, and this one brings together several.

The first being, supposedly Vol. II of My Brother the Wind was released before Vol. I. Very Sun Ra. 

It's my understanding that the title itself is a reference to the Minimoog that Sun Ra used. The "wind" is the noise generator that's part of the instrument. The Minimoog was the first instrument to be called a "synthesizer" to be sold in music stores. Everything prior was done on custom, mail order. The model that made the stores was version D. Sun Ra was lent a model C. He played it for years, made excellent use of it. When the instrument finally gave out, he shipped it back to the Moog company!

I saw a copy of this record for $600 at Double Decker Records in Allentown, mint condition if not sealed. That seems cheap considering how some original Sun Ra Saturns have sold at Fungus Books and Records for up to $2000. 

The only address is the old Chicago Saturn Records PO box, indicating to me this is possibly a bootleg. But then, I don't know for certain. I mean, this is an issue long after Sun Ra's passing and Saturn Records operating out of Chicago. The question of the Sun Ra estate was a problem, considering he had no heirs nor a will. Maybe those things have been worked out since?

This is one of Sun Ra's freer sessions, with him clearly at times conducting the ensemble. It's just him and three of his closest associates: John Gilmore, Marshall Allen, and Danny Davis. John is listed as a featured player on percussion, plus his native tenor saxophone. Marshall is credited as playing oboe, piccolo, and flute, but he clearly plays alto saxophone some of the time. There's a dense alto sax-off in "Intergalactic II" that must be both Danny and Marshall. Danny's playing sometimes is similar to Marshall's in its intensity.

I think there's a pretty serious question of credit on group improvisations such as we find on this album. I think there's some cueing involved on Sun Ra's part; the way that some players suddenly enter or stop indicates to me some sort of leader's sign was given. And yet, this was also a group effort. Sun Ra's keyboards might be at the center of the sound, but he's not the only person contributing to the events.

A similar issue came up with Karlheinz Stockhausen's intuitive works. Karlheinz wouldn't call them improvisations, but that's unquestionably what are. Guided improvisations, improvisations that begin with a predetermined principle. But how does one interpret a text such as, "play single sounds/with such dedication/until you feel the warmth/that radiates from you"? Do the interpreters of such pieces deserve co-credit? 

Vinko Globokar was an interpreter of the intuitive works, and he believed the players deserved co-credit. It caused a rift between them.*

I'm uncertain where I come down. Stockhausen at a granular level was the composer, and set into motion things that wouldn't have happened without his direction. And yet, with such open and ambiguous directives, the players possibly deserve more credit than, say, a string quartet when they play Haydn.

With Sun Ra's group improvisation recordings, the weight is even greater on co- or equal- credit.

I wonder what the circumstances of this recording were. Why put John Gilmore, one of the greatest tenor saxophonists in the history of the instrument, largely on drums? Or was that possibly the point, to put him in a less comfortable situation? I mean, were there no drummers in the house or on call that day?

The sound quality is reasonably good, though it's possible this was recorded in something like a living room space. There's no information given, location or date. There is a sustained feedback that happens during the side-long "The Code of Interdependence" that holds long enough that I wonder if it was intentionally not cut off.**

As a Chicago-era Saturn album, and a companion to Vol. II, this must be considered a more essential album that some of the later posthumous issues. It is a small picture of who Sun Ra was working with at the time, what they were doing. A little more information please?

* My friend Victor Grauer received a grant to go to Germany and study with Stockhausen some time in the late 60s or early 70s. It was during the period of the Stockhausen intuitive works. he heard both European and American ensembles. His opinion was that the European groups were more stiff.

** Is anyone more reliable than Sun Ra for great song/composition/improvisation titles? "A Fireside Chat With Lucifer", "God Is More Than Love Can Ever Be", "Monorails and Satellites", "Pathways to Unknown Worlds", love it.