Customer Reviews

The Earthly Recordings of Sun Ra (2nd edition)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is essential for anyone who is interested in having an extensive collection of Sun Ra's music. For those of you who do not know, this is a discography that details approximately 800 records and concerts by Mr. Ra. This massive tome helps me to understand his recording legacy every time I have a question about his obscure recordings, concert set lists, or Arkestra personnel. It is the "road map" to understanding his career (or at least a start).

However, if you are not obsessed with Mr. Ra's music, there is no need to purchase this book. There is little biographical information (and that has already been covered thoroughly by John Szwed), so the book is really only directed to the collectors of his music.

The only reason I have given the book 4 stars instead of 5 is due to the poor quality of the book itself. Cadence Jazz Books (the publisher) should be ashamed. For a book of this price, there should have been a much better binding. The book is a paperback! Clocking in at over 800 pages, if you actually plan to use this book frequently as a resource, it will be only a matter of days before the spine cracks and pages start falling out. And, no, this book is not available in either a hardback or library bound format. The poor quality of the book will unfortunately lead some individuals who are moderate fans of Sun Ra to view its cost as potentially excessive.