Customer Reviews

Sun Ra - A Joyful Noise

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

 

 

This video gets four stars not for its execution (frankly, in spots it makes Blair Witch Project look like Citizen Kane) but for its subject, the mysterious Sun Ra and his Arkestra. The movie basically consists of Sun Ra talking about his philosophies, interspersed with interviews with members of the Arkestra and film of the Arkestra rehearsing and performing. However, the sound quality of this film leaves a lot to be desired; I haven't seen the newer version of this video/DVD and I hope they remaster the sound, because there are some dynamic moments here with the Arkestra.

Those of us who were too young to have experienced Sun Ra in person will appreciate this documentary for the wealth of information it provides about the Arkestra and the exciting shots of Sun Ra and the Arkestra in concert. Unfortunately, the makers of the film never let the band play one song all the way through, so we never quite get to see Sun Ra and the Arkestra at full blast. However, the segment in the middle of the film where Sun Ra is sitting at his piano composing and then does a version of "Round Midnight" is utterly priceless. It's an all too brief glimpse of the way this compositional giant worked. The rehearsal and performance footage is equally invaluable, because it shows how Sun Ra conveyed his musical ideas to the band, and how the individual personalities fleshed out his music to create the astonishing "cosmo sound" of Sun Ra and his Arkestra.

There are several problems with this film. The photography is grainy; the film looks like a PBS documentary filmed by college students in the late 70s, and the sound is terrible. They never identify which of Mr. Ra's compositions the band is playing in the concert segments (although "Astro Black" and "We Travel The Spaceways" are excerpted at the beginning and end of the film). These technical flaws are offset by the fact that it's one of the few documents of this underappreciated American composer that we have.

Sun Ra was an amazing and interesting man, and if you are a fan of Sun Ra, the performances by the Arkestra and the interviews with the band and Mr. Ra far outweigh the film's considerable technical shortcomings. For newcomers to the omniverse of the self-proclaimed Man from Saturn, this film may only be completely mystifying, but then again, I have the feeling that Sun Ra wouldn't have minded that either. Four stars for content, two stars for execution.

An amazing video about some of the aspects of creativity, philosophy and a way of life of one of the greatest American/world/universe jazz musicians. Sun Ra's excerpts from his "intergalactic" philosophy. Lots of excellent music. Sun Ra Archestra members' opinions on their boss and music. Inside look at the way the Sun Ra community lived and created. Worth seeing not only for those who know and like Sun Ra, but also for all jazz fans.

if you are a sun ra fan then this is a must. if you want an introduction to sun ra you couldnt ask for much better. great live performances and classic quotes from the master of the one liner. " with all the school and hospitals you got, your supposed to have a better world than this" and" you cant have a whitehouse if you dont have a blackhouse, in fact you cant have anything without its opposite" and the timeless " space is the place." some of the music on this dvd is simply awesome. horns echoing ancient egypt, synthesizers making modern musicians look pathetic, an ancient infinity drum and a moog synthesizer. sun ra, tho he would deny he is of our species, is the man.

forget the bull about everyone putting Sun Ra in novelty basket (because he may be one of the first to use a electric keyboard or he wore funny costumes,) i will stand up and claim he is a true genius (what ever that means) Sun Ra has fully restored my faith in the power and fredom that exsists in music 40 odd years after this music breaks through the commercial hundrums and destroys the pretence of all these modern hazz players Ra creates the blue print for future music. He never bows down to coporate tyes or holds back from truely exploring sound. Ra makes spirtual music for the next century. This film is not only beautiful check out the opening shots on the roof (absolutly amazing) but increadibly powerful although check out the latter free jams of ra sweating over his moog in great colourcomical at times this adds to the mystery of mr mystery, the way he comands his band and releases his vision is awe-inspiring powerfully nosy, beautiful and brilliant. Not many films capture such an amazing revolutionary group in vivid colour and sound as this dvd does, althose pop band from the sixties are ridculus compared to the universialy tuned in Mr Ra. this is a must for all real music cosmologist

Sun Ra, the man, the myth, the arkestra. One of the best documentaries on Sun-Ra going. Great performances and interviews all filmed at the time not respectively using footage. If you like Sun Ra, weird music, great characters then this is a great watch.

Mugge's documentary is simply excellent--probably the best brief introduction to the world of Sun Ra out there. It's a shame that this is apparently out of print. In 60 minutes, you get a nice overview of both Ra's music, philosophy, and the dynamics of the "Arkestra". Most of this is done via interspersing interview footage with live performance, so there are no "talking heads". The approach makes for a lively story, though some of the people who've done some serious research (most notably John Szwed, whose Sun Ra bio Space is the Place is a must) would've made fine contributions to the discussion, although I don't think Szwed's book was out at the time the documentary was originally made.

The performance footage comes from primarily 2 sources: one done for the Left Bank Jazz Society in Baltimore, and one filmed on a rooftop in Philly. I'm not sure if the date of the Baltimore gig, but I'd guess 1980s: Ra is much younger than he is in the rooftop scenes. The music from both is fairly accessible. The downside is that neither performance captures some of the farther out Arkestra shows, which were incredible experiences: often lasting for hours, sometimes with elaborate lights and video. On the other hand, that sort of organized chaos would be difficult to fit into a documentary of this length and might not make much sense in isolation. Much of the interview footage of Ra was done in the Philadelphia Museum of Art's Egyptian collection, and Ra's ruminations on that are extremely interesting and give some clues to his thought process.

Very much worth getting if you can locate a used copy at a reasonable price. The DVD doesn't have too many extras, so this is one thing where you really don't miss out on too much with the VHS copy (assuming you still have a VCR to play it...), especially considering how much cheaper used tapes are as of this writing.

Robert Mugge's "A Joyful Noise" is a great film that anyone who is interested in Sun Ra should buy immediately. It captures the Arkestra in a variety of environments, including at their communal home in Philadelphia, in concert at various locations, and even on a rooftop. The film also features excellent interviews with many members of the group, including the legendary John Gilmore, Danny Thompson, and, of course, the genius Mr. Ra himself. What is particularly wonderful about this film is that it provides various examples of their music and the philosophical context in which the group operated. This video is absolutely essential. This is also a good film to show to the small children in your family, because it will allow their ears to become accustomed to the puissant possibilities of sound.

With the film in mind, let's get a couple things straight about Sun Ra. First, his tendency to embark on long orations that invoked ancient Egypt and outer space were extremely sincere. It was not a joke or a ploy to attract attention. Secondly, Sun Ra and his associates gave their entire lives to create music that was truly revolutionary in its ability to radically reform the sonic conventions with which most of us are familiar. His desire to essentially choose a life of near poverty in order to create innovative jazz music is something that, in my opinion, illustrates how deadly serious he was about his music.

If there is any problem with the film, it is that most of the music segments are short and incomplete. Of course, the director clearly was trying to assemble a documentary, not a concert film, so this is understandable.

i gave this dvd 3 stars for its eccentricity--which in some circles may be viewed as creativity. otherwise i think the whole thing swings between charlatanry and a few artistic sparks.

earlier on, sun ra might have done some things associable with creativity, but has not shown he knows music from noise/cacophony. as far as liberating creativity is concerned, i'd stay with ornette coleman...