Customer Reviews

Traveling The Spaceways

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Materializing before him in a dream in 1998, Sun Ra asked his former trumpet player Ahmed Abdullah to continue to play his music. The incident left a strong impression on Abdullah and he set forth on assembling an All-Star tribute group to shed some light on some of Ra's more obscure tunes. This studio session re-uniting Sun Ra alumni both old and new is equal parts joyous memorial and discographical revelation. There are a number of previously unrecorded Sun Ra penned tunes featured on this disc, and for this fact alone the album is a keeper.

The obscure pieces Abdullah unearthed are as engaging as any of Sun Ra's better known compositions. "Dancing Shadows" and "East of Uz" are swinging freebop masterpieces that are as accessible as they are invigorating. And yet it is the contributions of the assembled soloists that help make this material as refreshing as it is. "21 st Century Part 1" features an absolutely stunning Billy Bang violin solo and Masujaa delivers a smoldering electric guitar solo on the closing "They Plan." There are numerous highpoints along the way, Alex Harding's gruff baritone work, Salim Washington's fervent tenor, even Craig Harris shows up to blow some buoyant trombone, not to mention Abdullah's own searing trumpet work.

Although over half of the tunes feature both vocals and short poetry recitations, they never dominate in a way that distracts from the albums primary focus: Sun Ra, as songwriter. Part of the pervading joy of this album actually comes in the occasional vocal exhortations. The "singing" is so intense and overly dramatic at points, that one can't help but feel caught up in the interstellar high jinks. I'm not sure if it's Miles Griffith or Ahmed Abdullah who is responsible for this raspy vocal excess, but either way, it's a bewildering treat. There have been albums before dedicated to the compositions of Sun Ra, but none so in-tune with the masters ideology.