JAZZ PIANIST SUN RA ATTUNED TO THE MUSIC OF THE COSMOS
By David S. Rotenstein
©1992 D.S. Rotenstein
ATLANTA DAILY NEWS
April 18, 1992
Philadelphia -- Sun Ra claims that most people just don't understand him. That's easy to believe considering that for most of his life, the avant garde jazz pianist has claimed that he's from Saturn, among other places. "They just don't really understand, 'cause I don't understand. They have to hear the music,'' he says.
Sun Ra lives in a dilapidated row house in Philadelphia's Germantown section. He's lived in Philadelphia since 1970. Before that he lived in New York and Chicago. But where he lives really isn't important because to him, anyplace on this planet is just as bad as the other. "It's just one of those things where it had to happen like that. I had no control over it,'' says the pianist after explaining that he came to Philadelphia because a friend gave him a house.
According to most jazz historians, Sun Ra was born Herman Blount in Birmingham, Ala. sometime between 1910 and 1915. Although Sun Ra says that "I don't have no birthday,'' when pushed he admits that he came into existence in 1914, but adds "I'm not documented as having been born.''
Growing up in Birmingham, he says, "was like paradise in a sense because that's where I developed musically.'' But what Sun Ra heard wasn't the same thing as other listeners. Though listening to Fats Waller, Bessie Smith, and Duke Ellington, he notes that what he heard was in his spirit.
Sure Sun Ra heard jazz, gospel, and blues just like everyone else, but within the music he heard something more. What Sun Ra heard was "the music of the cosmos,'' he recalls. The first time that he heard it was on a tape player. "Something else came out different from what had been recorded.''
After playing in the band at Alabama A & M, Sun Ra eventually found his way to Chicago where he played with Fletcher Henderson's band. "From a child, I was always interested in Fletcher Henderson's orchestra,'' says Sun Ra. After Henderson's death in 1952, Sun Ra -- then known as "Sonny'' Blount -- set out on his own forming his first Arkestra and setting the stage for the emergence of Sun Ra.
Over the years Sun Ra has been one of the most prolific jazz writers and performers. In the 1940s he pioneered the use of electronic keyboards in jazz and redefined musical tastes with unheard of chord progressions. His recordings number in the hundreds. "I did that because I always have a lot of enemies, so I went a lot of directions so they wouldn't know which direction I was going,'' he says.
About his style of music, Sun Ra says "It's about the universe. It's about creativity.'' Spencer Weston, a longtime friend of Sun Ra adds, "I don't think there's a word that's been discovered to describe his music.''
After a stroke in 1990, Sun Ra has slowed his pace somewhat. Despite all of his claims that he's not a mortal man, how does Sun Ra reconcile himself to the fact that he had a stroke? "'cause everybody's under a bad auspice on this planet. I reckon it's God's way of doing things,'' he explains.
Is Sun Ra crazy? Or is it all just an act by a brilliant artist borne of the same African-American tradition that gave rise to 1920s medicine shows and which ultimately led to much of the stage histrionics of rock and roll. It's unlikely anyone but Sun Ra will ever know the answer to that.