Details
Track Listing
1. Other Planets of There
2. Sound Spectra / Spec Sket
3. Sketch
4. Pleasure
5. Spiral Galaxy
Album Notes
Sun Ra And His Solar Arkestra: Sun Ra (piano); Marshall Allen (alto saxophone, oboe, flute); Danny Davis (alto saxophone, flute); John Gilmore (tenor saxophone); Pat Patrick (baritone saxophone); Walter Miller (trumpet); Ali Hassan, Teddy Nance (trombone); Bernard Pettaway (bass trombone); Ronnie Cummings (bass clarinet); Ronnie Boykins (bass); Roger Blank, Lex Humphries (drums).
Reissue producer: Jerry Gordon.
Recorded in New York in 1964. Includes liner notes by Neil Tesser.
OTHER PLANES OF THERE is one of the earliest full-blown expressions of Sun Ra's futuristic vision. The extraordinary extended themes and variations of the title track depict a dark, self-contained vision of life as it was, circa 1964. There is a palpable cry for freedom and consciousness in every note.
On "Other Planes Of There" Sun Ra fashions a series of stark instrumental contrasts, like little concerti for individual voices in the band; a spare procession of solos, duos and trios, usually punctuated by tribal percussion and cubist piano interludes. All this culminates in a torrential group improvisation keyed by tenor saxophone innovator John Gilmore and keyboardist Sun Ra.
This tone is echoed on the percussion discussions of "Sound Spectra/Spec Sket." The ruminative "Sketch" and "Pleasure" are more traditionally shaded ballads featuring John Gilmore and baritone master Pat Patrick. But it all comes together on the eerie "Spiral Galaxy," as a visceral rhythmic vamp and percussion ensemble provide the springboard for one screaming solo after another. For the late Herman "Sonny" Blount, OTHER PLANES OF THERE endures as a personal milestone in the development of a big band style within the free jazz movement.
Industry Reviews
3.5 Stars - Good Plus - ...sparse, atmospheric....though the textures are often dry, the band establishes the hallmark sound that defines the avant garde for the next two decades...
Down Beat (05/01/1993)
...Cryptic and bleak, Ra the prophet and intrepid explorer makes music of essential seriousness, angst-tones that hang in the unmerciful void. His work is as much a modernist milestone as Schoenberg, Beckett or Pollack...
Musician (04/01/1993)
...finds the Arkestra creating some very intense sound pictures, buoyed by some gorgeous solo performances...For traditionalists, there are some `straighter' moments here as well, many featuring the amazing Pat Patrick on baritone...
Spin (02/01/1993)
4 Stars - Excellent - ...a full-blown free-jazz session from 1964 that, for all its experimentation, has a trancelike beauty that flows irresistably from the spiritual cries of Gilmore and the Arkestra's other soloists...
Rolling Stone (03/04/1993)
...Cryptic and bleak, Ra the prophet and intrepid explorer makes music of essential seriousness, angst-tones that hang in the unmerciful void. His work is as much a modernist milestone as Schoenberg, Beckett or Pollack...
Musician (04/01/1993)
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