Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow
Encyclopedia
Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow is an album by the American Jazz
musician Sun Ra
and his Solar Arkestra. Often considered the first of Ra's 'outside' recordings , the album was the first to make extensive use of a discovery by the Arkestra's drummer and engineer, Tommy Hunter;
The sleeve was designed by Sun Ra. When re-issued on compact disc by Evidence in 1992, the album was joined with the contemporaneous Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy
.
Side A:
Side B:
Recorded entirely at the Choreographer's Workshop, New York (the Arkestra's rehearsal space) in 1962, except Lights on a Satellite & Kosmos in Blue, recorded in the same location in either November or December 1961 .
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
musician Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra was a prolific jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his "cosmic philosophy," musical compositions and performances. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama...
and his Solar Arkestra. Often considered the first of Ra's 'outside' recordings , the album was the first to make extensive use of a discovery by the Arkestra's drummer and engineer, Tommy Hunter;
Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow.... contained "Cluster of Galaxies" and "Solar Drums", two rhythm section exercises with the sound treated with such strange reverberations that they threatened to obliterate the instruments' identity and turn the music into low-budget musique concrèteMusique concrèteMusique concrète is a form of electroacoustic music that utilises acousmatic sound as a compositional resource. The compositional material is not restricted to the inclusion of sounds derived from musical instruments or voices, nor to elements traditionally thought of as "musical"...
. While testing the tape recorder when the musicians were tuning up one day, Hunter had discovered that if he recorded with the earphones on, he could run a cable from the output jack back into the input on the recorder and produce massive reverberation:
"I wasn't sure what Sun Ra would think of it... I thought he might be mad - but he loved it. It blew his mind! By working the volume of the output on the playback I could control the effect, make it fast or slow, drop it out, or whatever." [Tommy Hunter]
'By the 1950s commercial recording companies had developed a classical style of recording which assured that the recording process itself would be invisible... but Sun Ra began to regularly violate this convention on the Saturn releases by recording live at strange sites, by using feedback, distortion, high delay or reverb, unusual microphone placement, abrupt fades or edits, and any number of other effects or noises which called attention to the recording process. On some recordings you could hear a phone ringing, or someone walking near the microphone. It was a rough style of production, an antistyle, a self-reflexive approach which anticipates both free jazzFree jazzFree jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
recording conventions and punkPunk rockPunk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
production to come.' John F Szwed
The sleeve was designed by Sun Ra. When re-issued on compact disc by Evidence in 1992, the album was joined with the contemporaneous Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy
Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy
Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy is an album by the American Jazz musician Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra. Recorded in 1963 but not released until 1967 on Sun Ra's own Saturn label, the record has become one of the most discussed of Ra's New York recordings...
.
12" Vinyl
All songs by Sun RaSide A:
- Cluster of Galaxies - (2.22)
- Ankh - (6.08)
- Solar Drums - (2.27)
- The Outer Heavens - (4.47)
Side B:
- Infinity of the Universe - (7.08)
- Lights on a Satellite - (3.08)
- Kosmos in Blue - (8.06)
Musicians
- Sun Ra - Piano, Sun Harp, Gong, Percussion
- Manny Smith - Trumpet
- Ali Hassan - Trombone
- Pat Patrick - Baritone Sax, Percussion, Clarinet
- John GilmoreJohn Gilmore (musician)John Gilmore was an American jazz tenor saxophone player best-known for his long tenure as a member of Sun Ra's Arkestra...
- Tenor Sax, Bass Clarinet, Percussion - Marshall AllenMarshall AllenMarshall Belford Allen is an American free jazz and avant-garde jazz alto saxophone player. He also performs on flute, oboe, piccolo, and EVI ....
- Alto Sax, Bells, Percussion - Ronnie BoykinsRonnie BoykinsRonnie Boykins was a jazz bassist and is best known for his work with pianist/bandleader Sun Ra, although he had played with such disparate musicians as Muddy Waters, Johnny Griffin, and Jimmy Witherspoon prior to joining Sun Ra's Arkestra.-Biography:He joined the Arkestra during the Chicago...
- Bass - John Ore - Second Bass on Kosmos in Blue
- C. Scoby Stroman - Drums
- Clifford Jarvis - Drums on Infinity of the Universe
- Tommy Hunter - Drums, Percussion on Cluster of Galaxies, Lights on a Satellite & Kosmos in Blue
Recorded entirely at the Choreographer's Workshop, New York (the Arkestra's rehearsal space) in 1962, except Lights on a Satellite & Kosmos in Blue, recorded in the same location in either November or December 1961 .