John Gilmore Interview - The Wire July 1985

Val Wilmer, whose photographs have appeared in several Sun Ra releases, interviewed John Gilmore for the July 1985 issue of The Wire.  Some time later, the Hinds brothers printed and bound it for their Sun Ra Research project.

Images

Space Is The Place 40th Anniversary Edition

 

A lot has happened since I last posted - New Re-Leases, Re-Releases, and Re-Issues.  Among the most exciting is the Space Is The Place Reissue Project currently underway at Pledgemusic.com.  Though pledging has ended, there is still about a week left to pre-order a package and have it arrive for the holidays.  Currently, the film and soundtrack can only be ordered through the website though it should hit stores in early 2015.  

Check out their site - it includes several never before seen pictures from the movie and of the filming and even a couple of streaming audio snippets found while putting together the soundtrack.

We're Living in the Space Age

2014 is the 40th anniversary of the release of the film SPACE IS THE PLACE.  To celebrate it, David Katznelson's record label is releasing a book/DVD/CD around the film.  The book will be a coffee-table sized hardcover book featuring dozens and dozens of never before seen photographs taken by outerspaceways member and the film's producer Jim Newman.  Also included will be essays by Director John Coney, Assistant Director Tom Bullock, Cinematographer Seth Hill, with an intro by Wayne Coyne (of the Flaming Lips) not to mention a great interview with the Cosmic Overseer himself, Ray Johnson.  

The DVD will feature BOTH  versions of the film that have already been released.  The original VHS "edited" version (a recently found the original transfers so the quality will be the best ever available) as well as the uncut version with a bonus commentary by Jim Newman.

The CD (and LP!) will be a newly mastered version of the soundtrack.

It will all be contained within the hardcovers of the book and limited to a pressing of 3000.

To see and hear more about it:

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/sitp

2nd Chance: Sun Ra - Disco 3000 (1978) CD & LP

The quartet of Sun Ra, John Gilmore, Michael Ray and Luqman Ali performed at Teatro Cilak in Milan on January 23, 1978, apparently at the very end of their extended stay in Italy. While their exact movements are poorly documented during this period, they were certainly back in the states on or before January 29, where the Arkestra appeared at the Famous Ballroom in Baltimore (see Campbell & Trent pp.247-250). The Teatro Cilak concert was recorded and portions were released later in the year as Disco 3000 (Saturn LP CMIJ78) and reissued by Art Yard in 2009. Prior to this, though, Art Yard released the entire Milan performance on two compact discs as The Complete Disco 3000 Concert (CD 001) in 2007. As with Media Dreams, these welcome reissues not only make available some of the rarest of all Saturn LPs, but also provide additional material that puts these weird and wonderful recordings into a wider context.

The concert opens with “Disco 3000” and, right away, you can tell the small band has really started to gel after several weeks working together. While Media Dreams is dominated by Ra’s electronica (wonderful as it is), Disco 3000 is much more of a cohesive group effort. There’s still plenty of mad-scientist keyboard extravaganzas, with the Crumar Mainman organ and cheesy rhythm box establishing an uneasy, mutant disco vamp—but here, Ali locks in comfortably with the beat and the horns are given plenty of space across its epic twenty-six minutes. About five minutes in, they suddenly launch into “Space is the Place,” but, curiously, not in the re-arrangement found on Media Dreams. After a couple of minutes of chanting, things take off again, with some absolutely killer tenor saxophone from Gilmore and hypnotic, quasi-ambient keyboard effects from Ra. It’s tempting to just say “Disco 3000” is the crowning achievement of the quartet’s brief existence and leave it at that. A classic Sun Ra track.

Not that there isn’t more great music on these discs! After a short drum solo, “Sun of the Cosmos” continues in the guided improvisation vein, including more crazed keyboard work from Sonny and another outrageous tenor solo from Gilmore, where he explores the entire range of extended techniques from altissimo screams to impossible split-tone multiphonics. Whew! Ra then moves to the piano for “Echos [sic] of the World,” a pretty ballad with Gilmore in the lead. “Geminiology” picks up the tempo with some jaunty swing and a riff-based head arrangement but Ra takes it way out: thunderous low-register tone clusters and furious parallel runs, just a total assault on the piano. Then it’s suddenly back to the cheery jazz feel for Ray’s extended solo on warm-toned trumpet. “Sky Blues” is exactly as the title suggests, a swinging blues riff, with Gilmore delivering the sermon. Lord have mercy! This is another incredible Gilmore solo, a blues history lesson: from honking, hokey gutbucket to dizzying post-bop harmonic labyrinths to the most out-there avant garde wailing—all without losing the thread of tradition and ending with an emphatic flourish. Dammmnnn.

Disc one concludes with six minutes of “Friendly Galaxy,” given an angular and dissonant rearrangement, fading out on Ray’s muted trumpet solo. Disc two then fades up some time later (the reel flip evidenced by the increased wow-and-flutter at the beginning of the track) and, after about a minute of noodling on “Friendly Galaxy,” Ra signals “Third Planet.” The two horns sound super-tight and Gilmore once again plays a mind-bendingly great tenor solo, this time accompanied only by the drums. Ali is uncharacteristically aggressive here, swinging like a mo-fo while Gilmore blows the doors down. No wonder Sonny picked this track for release on the original Disco 3000 LP! “Dance of the Cosmo Aliens” was also included on the original LP and it’s another spaced-out electronica-fest, with Gilmore and Ray putting down the horns and picking up percussion instruments. Even so, the expanded rhythm section struggles a bit trying to follow along with the crude electric drum box. Even so, Ra’s keyboard playing is otherworldly and the crowd eats it up, bursting into rapturous applause at the end.

“Spontaneous Simplicity” is given an electrified rearrangement with lots of wild keyboard effects and some blasting trumpet work from Ray, but is perhaps overlong at fourteen-some minutes. This segues into “Images,” which is given a tighter reading than on Media Dreams. While Gilmore’s solo is probably not the equal of “Twigs at Twlight,” it’s still pretty freaking awesome. Although the packaging says this includes “Over the Rainbow,” it actually appears on the following track, “When There Is No Sun,” which is given a gentle, gospelized feel, with Gilmore and Ray sweetly singing and Ra accompanying the on churchy organ. Then Sonny erupts into another electronic frenzy before slipping over to the piano for a brief sketch of “Over the Rainbow.” Finally, the concert ends with a reprise of “Space is the Place,” with Ra vamping on piano for a while before joining in on the chant. Interestingly, this rendition shares the quickened phrasing of the unique rearrangement heard on Media Dreams, but lacks the horn parts and countermelodies.
(continue reading at NuVoid's Sun Ra Sunday)

Although The Complete Disco 3000 Concert (recorded at The Teatro Cilak in Milan, Italy) contains all of the music found on the original LP, Art Yard also released Disco 3000 (CD 101) as a straight reissue (with alternative artwork) in 2009. I’m glad they did because it is a classic—and very strange—Sun Ra album that deserves to be heard in its original form. Moreover, listening to the entire two-hour concert is a considerable time commitment, which, in some ways, dilutes the impact of the original Disco 3000 LP in my opinion.

The first side consists of the twenty-six minute title track while side two contains “Third Planet,” “Friendly Galaxy” and “Dance of the Cosmo Aliens.” While you can my descriptions on my review of The Complete Disco 3000 Concert, what is interesting to me is how much more effective “Dance of the Cosmo Aliens” is when it is shorn from its original context, the twisted electronica bookending the album with “Disco 3000.” Or maybe my ears got tired by the time it was played, over an hour into the original concert. Hardcore fans will want both, but Disco 3000 is essential.

In typically Saturnal fashion, Michael Ray’s liner notes (penned in 2007 and contained on both Art Yard CDs) are both enlightening and confusing. “It was here,” he says, “that most of my early dues were paid.”

Sun Ra would tell me “You playing your horn alright but try my way, unless you have some sort of mental block.” “Play that apple. Remember it is round so think of 360 degrees of sound and color. It’s red which means its energy deals with the first chakra, you have to be able to play the vibration.” We rehearsed like this from early in the morning to late at night for days. It was like having someone erase your mainframe and reboot your hard drive! Sunny always said expect the unexpected. “We might have a gig on Mars one day so you got to be swinging on your horn, because they don’t party like earthlings”

(continue reading at NuVoid's Sun Ra Sunday)

263. [216]  Sun Ra and his Arkestra

Disco 3000

Sun Ra (Crumar Mainman, keyb, p, voc); Michael Ray (tp, voc); John Gilmore (ts, timb, voc); Luqman Ali (d, voc).

Teatro Ciak, Milano, January 23, 1978

Disco 3000
(incl Space Is the Place) (Ra) [JG voc]
unidentified title (Ra) [p; balladic ts; p; tp; theme]
Sky Blues (Ra)
Friendly Galaxy (Ra)
Dance of the Cosmo-Aliens
(incl. Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child) (Ra)
Spontaneous Simplicity (Ra)

There is an 88-minute audience tape from this concert.  Date and location from Hartmut Geerken.  Tunes identified by ct.

The concert tape picks up at 9:20 into the issued version of "Disco 3000" and continues for another 26:12.  It includes material (Ra, Crumar Mainman; Gilmore, outside ts; Ray, tp; concluding applause) past the end of the drum solo that concluded the issued version.  There is a performance of "Friendly Galaxy" that runs 7:50 on the audience tape only; the 1:13 reprise was, however, included on the LP just as it appeared during the concert.  But the applause between the reprise and "Dance of the Cosmo-Aliens" was edited out of the LP release.

The unidentified title resembles "An Unbeknowneth Love" (from Media Dream) but is not the same performance, according to ct.

The title track (with the ending edited out), "Third Planet," the reprise of "Friendly Galaxy," and "Dance of the Cosmo-Aliens" were released in 1978 on Saturn CMIJ 78, Disco 3000.  This LP also circulated in the early 1980s as Saturn Gemini CMIJ 78.

"Disco 3000" was also edited much further down to 2 1/2 minutes (just Ra and Ali, no horns or vocals) by Richard Wilkinson and retitled "Disco 2100."  (However, according to Terry Adams, some copies of the single still gave the title as "Disco 3000").  It was released in this form in 1978 as Side A of a 45-rpm single, Saturn 2100 (information from Wilkinson and Peter Roberts); the matrix number was DISCO 2100-A.  (The single version was reissued in September 1996 on The Singles, Evidence 22164 [2 CDs]).

"Sky Blues" (which is the first 2:35 of a 9-minute-plus concert performance by the quartet) appeared on Side B of a 45-rpm single, Saturn 2100, released in 1978 (the matrix number was DISCO 2100-B).  On some copies, the B side is untitled.  Information on this single from Richard Wilkinson and Peter Roberts.  This track was reissued in September 1996 as part of the two-CD Saturn singles collection, Evidence 22164, simply titled The Singles.

In the first edition of this discography, "Disco 3000" was taken to be from a studio session -- one rumor had Ra recording in a Rome hotel room.  The rest of Disco 3000 was attributed to miscellaneous live concerts in Italy, and so was "Sky Blues."  The same incorrect information was included in the Evidence singles set.  ct has now established that all of Disco 3000 came from this one live concert.  The surviving audience tape (not complete!) contains nothing from The Sound Mirror or Media Dream.

from Campbell / Trent  The Earthly Recordings 2nd ed.

Disco 3000 Complete Milan Concert 1978
Artyard stereo CD 001 (2007)

Disc 1
01. Disco 3000   26:16
02. Sun of The Cosmos   10:23
03. Echos of The World   6:00
04. Geminiology   7:41
05. Sky Blues   10:39
06. Friendly Galaxy   6:07

Disc 2
01. Third Planet incl, Friendly Galaxy   8:44
02. Dance of The Cosmo Aliens   11:07
03. Spontaneous Simplicity   14:09
04. Images incl, Over The Rainbow   8:35
05. When There is no Sun   13:25
06. We Travel The Spaceways   6:37

Disco 3000
Artyard stereo CD 101 (2009)

1. Disco 3000   26:19
2. Third Planet   6:24
3. Friendly Galaxy   1:17
4. Dance Of The Cosmo-Aliens   11:05

Disco 3000
Artyard Kindred Spirits LP KSAY-1 (2009)

1. Disco 3000   26:09
2. Third Planet   7:24
3. Friendly Galaxy   1:00
4. Dance Of The Cosmo-Aliens   11:05

2nd Chance: Sun Ra - Dance of Innocent Passion (1981)

Dance of Innocent Passion was recorded at the Squat Theater in New York in 1980. The title cut is another one of those gloriously uplifting tunes that Sun Ra builds from the simplest of parts, and features a soaring tenor solo from John Gilmore. "Omnisonicism" features a creepy theremin-like synth sound and could be put to good use on Halloween. "Intensity" is just a series of solo features, and the album ends with "Cosmo-Intensity," a battle between Richard Williams' bass and Ra's synth. After starting very strong, Dance of Innocent Passion loses a bit of momentum, but should still please fans. The lack of availability of many of these Saturn titles places them mostly in the province of collectors anyway.

AMG review by Sean Westergaard

Dance of Innocent Passion

331. [260]  Sun Ra

Dance of Innocent Passion

Sun Ra (org, syn); Walter Miller (tp); Michael Ray (tp); Ronnie Brown (tp); Vincent Chancey (Fr hn); Ray Draper (tuba); Marshall Allen (as, fl, ob, perc); John Gilmore (ts, timb); Danny Ray Thompson (bars, fl, perc); James Jacson (bsn, fl, Inf-d); Skeeter McFarland (eg); Taylor Richardson (eg); Richard "Radu" Williams (b); Harry Wilson (vib); Damon Choice (vib); Luqman Ali (d); Samarai Celestial [Eric Walker] (d); Atakatune (cga, perc).

Squat Theatre, NYC, 1980

Intensity (Ra)
Cosmo Energy (Ra)
Dance of Innocent Passion (Ra)
Omnisonicism (Ra)

Saturn Sun Ra 1981, Dance of Innocent Passion, was released in 1981.  Location and date courtesy of Michael Shore.  Personnel derived from Stahl's discography, with some changes.  Ray Draper was identified by Shore, as was Samarai Celestial on drums (Stahl has Reg McDonald instead).  Tommy Hunter says that Ray Draper worked with the Arkestra for about a year (Craig Haynes says that Draper was a regular at the Squat but did not tour with the band) and that Samarai was the main drummer around this time; Samarai confirmed his presence here.  Michael Shore recalls that on another occasion the brass section consisted of Michael Ray (tp); Al Evans (flg); Ray Draper (tuba) … and Bill Davis (tuba).  ct believes that the trumpet soloist on "Dance of Innocent Passion" is neither Ray nor Miller, and that the same trumpeter is present on the Brixton Fridge tape from November 1985; most likely this was Ronnie Brown.

from Campbell / Trent  The Earthly Recordings 2nd ed.

Sun Ra and his Arkestra
Dance of Innocent Passion

Saturn Sun Ra 1981 - LP

A1  Dance of Innocent Passion   12:15
A2  Omnisonicism   6:28
B1  Intensity   6:17
B2  Cosmo-Energy   19:04

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RS

Mega

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I absolutely love this album.  Thanks to Peaches and Black for requesting the 2nd Chance thereby giving me a chance to spend some more time with it!

Sun Ra - Media Dream (1978)

Media Dream is a live recording of the Sun Ra Quartet, from January of 1978 in Italy (all the quartet recordings were done that month). It's a mostly free date, with "Constellation" and "Media Dreams" being the only tunes that seem to have been pre-composed (they are also the longest tracks on the album). The album starts with a keyboard showcase, with Ra supplying some super low tones along with some very queasy sounding organ. Then it's on to "Constellation" which has a great, really cheesy rhythm, courtesy of the Crumar Synthesizer/rhythm box, and excellent soloing from everyone, especially Gilmore. "Media Dreams" starts out really pretty, then gets progressively freakier. The rest of the tracks are basically soloing showcases for all the players.
AMG review by Sean Westergaard

 What is most notable about these live quartet recordings is how they transferred the Horo studio experiments to the stage. While he has been provided with decent pianos at these gigs, Sonny spends the bulk of his time with a variety of electronic keyboards, including a Moog synthesizer and a Crumar Mainmain organ. Media Dream opens up with “Saturn Research,” a three-minute blast of ominous, dissonant organ and synth, accompanied by dramatic drums and percussion—and Sonny is only just getting started. On “Constellation” (confusingly not the same composition found on Other Voices, Other Blues), Ra switches on the Mainman’s crude rhythm box, which plays a slowed-down cha-cha beat supplemented with a simple, synthesized bass line. Now, in anyone else’s hands, this would be unforgivably cheesy—yet Sonny somehow makes it work and the primitive Mainman organ gives these recordings a uniquely retro-futuristic feel. After a scribbly “Yera of the Sun” (whose Morse Code rhythms vaguely recall “Quest”), the Mainman gets another workout on “Media Dreams,” a thirteen minute tour de force. Starting out as a weirdly beautiful ballad form, with twittering organ, legato synth chords and all sorts of electronica effects, Michael Ray takes a long, warm-toned solo on trumpet, ably following Ra’s harmonic twists and turns. Then it devolves into Ra's wild, mad scientist display. At the ten-minute mark, John Gilmore comes in with a folk-like melody on tenor saxophone but just as Ra starts to heat things up again, the track quickly fades out. It sounds to me like this could have gone on forever.

Only the last two tracks on Media Dream... both feature Ra on acoustic piano. The curiously (mis)titled “Twigs at Twilight” is actually “Images,” but brutally edited, picking up about half-way through and beginning with Gilmore’s tenor solo. Although Gilmore takes many liberties with the tune, in retrospect, it is immediately recognizable as “Images.” Anyway, this is definitely another one of the all-time great Gilmore solos, not overly extended but still sublime. After a brief piano excursion and drum break, the track fades out before the return of the head, further obscuring its origins. Finally, “An Unbeknowneth Love” begins with rhapsodic piano and boom-chick trap-drumming from Luqman Ali – but someone (Gilmore?) is playing tympani, adding slippery and dramatic percussion effects: BOING! BOING! Ra gets into an aggressively dissonant, avant-garde mode before the drum solo, which fades out to end the album. Very interesting.

from NuVoid's Sun Ra Sunday review of Art Yard's 2-CD set Media Dreams

Twigs at Twilight

262. [215] Media Dream

Sun Ra (Crumar Mainman, keyb, org, p, voc); Michael Ray (tp, voc), John Gilmore (ts, timb, voc); Luqman Ali (d, voc).

Live in Italy, January 1978

The exact locations of the concerts are not known. 
Saturn LP 1978, Media Dream, was released in 1978.  It also has borne the title Saturn Research and the serial number 19783.  The matrix numbers are CMP 1978 C-A and CMP 1978 D-B.

The piece called "Constellation" here is completely different from the "Constellation" that was included in the previous entry (Other Voices, Other Blues).

from Campbell / Trent  The Earthly Recordings 2nd ed.

Sun Ra and his Arkestra
Media Dream (1978)
Recommended Records

1. Saturn Research   3:07
2. Constellation   13:33
3. Yera of the Sun   4:33
4. Media Dreams   13:36
5. Twigs at Twilight   7:20
6. An Unbeknowneth Love   4:37

Sun Ra - Other Strange Worlds (Sneak Peek)

Previously unissued Sun Ra LP to be released by Roaratorio

Early 2014 should see the release of a previously unissued Sun Ra LP from 1966, entitled “Other Strange Worlds”. It will be released by Roaratorio. It draws from the same sessions as “Strange Strings” – perhaps the most singular recording in Ra’s entire canon – but while that album featured a full size Arkestra, this one finds Ra exploring similar territory with a small ensemble.

via WeirdoMusic

Side A

Other Strange Worlds (4:20)

Celestial Beings (4:44)

Thence, Thus And Ethereal (10:00)

Voice Within The Stars (3:28)

side B

The Other Beings (11:22)

Journey Amongst The Stars (8:59)

Sun Ra : percussion, strings, celeste, kalimba

John Gilmore : percussion, shakerae, cymbals

Marshall Allen : kora, oboe, percussion

Ali Hasaan : trombone, percussion

Art Jenkins : space voice, percussion

recorded 25 May 1965

Many Thanks to El Hombre Invisible for the heads-up!

Sun Ra - Friendly Galaxy (1991)

In 1993 Leo Records released this wonderful 1991 Arkestra performance recorded at the Banlieus Blues Festival in Montreuil, France, a suburb of Paris.  A very "jazzy" performance including Sun Ra classics and standards like "Prelude to a Kiss" by Duke Ellington and Edgar Sampson's swinging "Blue Lou."  I hope you enjoy this excursion into the history of jazz encouraged by an ecstatic crowd.

 Alabama

705. [485]  Sun Ra Arkestra

Friendly Galaxy

Sun Ra (p, syn); Michael Ray (tp, voc); Ahmed Abdullah (tp, voc); Jothan Callins (flg); Tyrone Hill (tb); Marshall Allen (as, fl, perc); Noël Scott (as, perc); John Gilmore (ts, cl, voc); Charles Davis (bars); James Jacson (bsn, fl, Inf-d); Bruce Edwards (eg); John Ore (b); Buster Smith (d); Clifford Barbaro (d, perc); Elson Dos Santos Nascimento (surdo grande, perc); June Tyson (voc); Mr. TCIII (voc).

Banlieues Bleues, Salle des Fêtes-Mairie,
Montreuil, France, April 11, 1991

Intro Percussion (Ra)
Prelude to a Kiss (Ellington) [TCIII voc]
Blue Lou (Sampson)
Lights on a Satellite (Ra)
Nameless One #2 (Ra)
East of the Sun (Bowman) [JG voc]
Alabama (Callins)
Fate in a Pleasant Mood (Ra) [MR, JT, ens voc]
We Travel the Spaceways (Ra) [ens voc]
Space Is the Place (Ra) [JT, ens voc]
Saturn Rings (Ra) [JT, TCIII voc]/
Friendly Galaxy (Ra)

encore:
Melody / They'll Come Back (Ra)

Leo LR-188[CD], Friendly Galaxy, was released in 1993.  Date and personnel from the CD liner notes (though the musicians' names are artfully concealed, and their instruments are not mentioned).  An 86-minute audience tape includes the two unissued tracks; "Melody/They'll Come Back" is not on the audience tape and presumably was an encore.  Some items were also broadcast over French radio ("Saturn Rings" was edited at the beginning); thanks to ct for this information.  Exact location (the Salle des Fêtes-Mairie was on Place Jean-Juarès) supplied by Urs Berger; Leo neglects to say where Banlieues Bleues was.  John Szwed says that "Alabama" was composed by Jothan Callins, not by Ra as credited on the CD. 

from Campbell / Trent  The Earthly Recordings 2nd ed.

Sun Ra Arkestra
Friendly Galaxy (Live at Banlieues Bleues)
Leo Records CD LR 188 (CD) 1993

1.  Intro Percussion   4:18
2.  Prelude to a Kiss   6:18
3.  Blue Lou   5:00
4.  Lights on a Satellite   5:41
5.  Alabama   9:06
6.  Fate in a Pleasant Mood   6:58
7.  We Travel the Spaceways   11:10
8.  Space Is the Place   9:53
9.  Saturn Rings / Friendly Galaxy   12:14
10. Melody / They Will Come Back   6:06

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