Sun Ra & His Arkestra: Live at Montreux (Inner City)
Bought from Chris Koenigsberg before he left Pittsburgh to attend graduate school at Mills College
Convergences.
Do you remember not just the song or recording, but the setting of when you heard an important recording to you? I'm sure that's true.
Circa 1982-3. I'm lying tired on my girlfriend's apartment floor (we're now married for nearly forty years). I had on WYEP, the WYEP that some people will remember from back in the day. Not the Adult Alternative playlist-based garbage they play now, but each person on air played what was passionate to them.
Peter Fadde was on the air. Peter had great taste in jazz, playing excellent-quality straight forward recordings, but also something like the Anthony Braxton/Joseph Jarman duet LP.
And this. He announced that this was Sun Ra and his Arkestra playing "Take the A Train." I knew a little about Sun Ra, and not necessarily favorable: I saw him play on Saturday Night Live in the 70s, in a highly condensed performance. I've seen it since, and it's not especially good.
But this time....his solo piano rings out. Sunny was always a bit of clunky pianist, but this was as good a performance I've heard from him. Fluid, interesting. He sets up "A Train", and wow. It's scorchingly fast. So fast that not everyone in the band can keep up. Sloppy? Maybe. Intriguing, exciting? Hell yeah. The band and bandleader are pushing themselves. I was, to use a cliche, blown away.
It's the third side of this double LP.
My old friend, percussionist and synthesist Gino Robair, recalled a similar story. In his case, he was on his college radio show, came across the same version, and being amazed when he played it on air. As he put it, "it was '1234 GO' and they were off!" Great minds, etc.
I am currently in rehearsals playing the big band music fo Sam Rivers. Sam's archive (extensive) was donated to the University of Pittsburgh collection, which was a large factor that led to that ensemble. There are guest soloists and conductors rehearsing the band, the first of which came today: trombonist Craig Harris. Craig, on one of his first professional gigs, was the sole trombonist in this group.
I often site this as my favorite Sun Ra album. Maybe it is, I have so many it's difficult to choose. But it's more indicative of his overall output than any other single release I know. Some (relatively) straight forward jazz, some space chants, a few Ra favorites ("El is the Sound of Joy", "Lights on a Satellite"), lots of improvisation, and a Moog/organ solo on side one abrasive enough to put most industrial noise records to shame.
I told Craig what an important record this was to me, but of course he didn't remember it specifically. We talked a little about Marshall Allen, who turned 100 a few months ago. He said he was close to Marshall, staying with him when initially joining the Arkestra. He said his nickname for Marshall was Deputy, as in Deputy Marshall.
I saw Marshall and the current Arkestra play at the Hollywood Theatre in Portland, OR the summer before last. The show was great, certainly the best I've seen the Arkestra since Sun Ra's death, and even possibly before. I've just read that the group will be returning this November for three consecutive nights. The timing isn't good for me, but I haven't 100% ruled out traveling to see them.
And to top it all off, my acquaintance Chris Hemingway played with the Arkestra last time, and is likely to be with them this time.
When I saw the Arkestra in Portland in 2022, I was looking at the second alto player and thought, is that Chris Hemingway? Chris comes from Pittsburgh (a Duquesne grad I think), and had sat in Thoth Trio just four weeks earlier. I kept looking, "Is that Chris?" then he played a solo and I said, "THAT'S CHRIS."
The ensemble left the hall chanting and playing along the aisle. Chris was no more than three feet away from me. I pulled my facemask back and said aloud, "CHRIS HEMINGWAY." No reaction.
Later I looked him up on Facebook to see that he had been gigging with the Arkestra. I DMed him to say, "I think I just saw you play at the Hollywood Theatre in Portland." He responded: "That WAS you!" Yeah, no kidding. I guess he couldn't handle someone he knew from Pittsburgh being in that venue.
Here I am, having talked to Craig Harris about this album, talking about Marshall Allen, knowing a current member of the ensemble. Six degrees of...? Not even. But I guess that's our world. Thoth Trio opened for Marshall Allen and Henry Grimes years ago, and I had a short interaction with Marshall, friendly I'm happy to say.
Convergences.
The record rocks, by the way. Sun Ra's boldest and most original works might have been in the 1960s, but my favorites are from the 1970s. This is on the latter end of his most creative period, in my opinion.
I think the complete concert of this album is now posted to Youtube as videos. The venue seems smaller than I imagined. This band sounds huge.
So I don't know, in this age where you can find pretty much anything on Youtube or some other streaming site, this is one to check out. Buy a physical copy given the opportunity.
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