Other Planes of There
Encyclopedia
Other Planes of There is an album by the American Jazz
musician Sun Ra
and his Solar Arkestra. Recorded in 1964, the album had been released by 1966 on Sun Ra's own Saturn
label. The record was reissued on compact disc
by Evidence in 1992.
and the filmmaker Peter Sabino started to present concerts at the Cellar Cafe, a coffeehouse on West 91st Street, New York. They booked Sun Ra on 15 June, who turned up with a 15 piece Arkestra featuring Pharoah Sanders
(replacing an errant Gilmore) and Black Harold. The crowd that turned up for this concert, and one for Archie Shepp
, persuaded the promoters to instigate a four night festival of the 'New Thing', which would later become defined as Free Jazz
. Without advertising - or electricity - Dixon organised over 40 musical acts, including John Tchicai
, Cecil Taylor
, Rosewell Rudd and Jimmy Giuffre
. Whilst there were no mainstream reviews, word slowly spread that Jazz had 'announced the arrival of its modernism.'
Sun Ra himself always distanced the Arkestra from Free Jazz - "My music is the music of precision. I know exactly the rhythm that must animate my music, and only this rhythm is valid, I have in my mind a complete image of my work..." - but benefitted enormously from the new interest these concerts generated. As well as being among the first to join the resulting Jazz Composers Guild, (a cooperative aiming to bring the new music to the public), the arkestra continued to play increasingly high profile concerts throughout the winter of 1964. One of these, with the John Tchicai-Roswell Rudd Quartet, New Year's Eve 1964, was reviewed for the Nation
;
This concert, part of the Four Days in December Festival, was recorded, and released some years later as Sun Ra and his Arkestra Featuring Pharoah Sanders & Black Harold
.
One person in the audience at the Cellar Cafe sessions was Bernard Stollman
, a lawyer and proponent of Esperanto
, who was so overwhelmed by the new music that he dreamed up a plan to record all of the artists working within the new style
for his label ESP-Disk
. First up was Albert Ayler
's Spiritual Unity, followed by albums by Ornette Coleman
, Pharoah Sanders and the Fugs
. Sun Ra would record the first of his contributions to the label on 20 April 1965; The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume One
.
Side A:
Side B:
Recorded at the Choreographer's Workshop, New York (the Arkestra's rehearsal space) in 1964 .
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. Recorded in 1964, the album had been released by 1966 on Sun Ra's own Saturn
El Saturn Records
El Saturn Records is the name of an American record label. The label was one of the most active artist-owned record labels created in 1957 by Alton Abraham. Notable albums produced by the label include works by Sun Ra....
label. The record was reissued on compact disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
by Evidence in 1992.
'Granted, the selection is certainly not as abrasive and demanding as later efforts, although there is strident involvement from everyone within the dense arrangement. The brass and reed sections provide emphasis behind an off-kilter and loping waltz backdrop. All the more impressive is how well the material has held up over the decades. Even to seasoned ears, the music is pungent and uninhibited, making Other Planes of There a highly recommended collection.' Lindsay Planer
The New Thing
Shortly after Other Planes of There had been recorded, the painter/musician Bill DixonBill Dixon
Bill Dixon was an American musician, composer, visual artist, and educator. Dixon was one of the seminal figures in the free jazz movement. He played the trumpet, flugelhorn, and piano, often using electronic delay and reverberation as part of his trumpet playing.-Biography:Dixon hailed from...
and the filmmaker Peter Sabino started to present concerts at the Cellar Cafe, a coffeehouse on West 91st Street, New York. They booked Sun Ra on 15 June, who turned up with a 15 piece Arkestra featuring Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders is a Grammy Award–winning American jazz saxophonist.Saxophonist Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world." Emerging from John Coltrane's groups of the mid-60s Sanders is known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on...
(replacing an errant Gilmore) and Black Harold. The crowd that turned up for this concert, and one for Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp is a prominent African-American jazz saxophonist. Shepp is best known for his passionately Afrocentric music of the late 1960s, which focused on highlighting the injustices faced by the African-Americans, as well as for his work with the New York Contemporary Five, Horace Parlan, and...
, persuaded the promoters to instigate a four night festival of the 'New Thing', which would later become defined as Free Jazz
Free jazz
Free 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...
. Without advertising - or electricity - Dixon organised over 40 musical acts, including John Tchicai
John Tchicai
John Martin Tchicai is a Danish jazz saxophonist. He was one of the earliest European free jazz musicians. He is of Danish and Congolese descent....
, Cecil Taylor
Cecil Taylor
Cecil Percival Taylor is an American pianist and poet. Classically trained, Taylor is generally acknowledged as one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an extremely energetic, physical approach, producing complex improvised sounds, frequently involving tone clusters and...
, Rosewell Rudd and Jimmy Giuffre
Jimmy Giuffre
James Peter Giuffre was an American jazz clarinet and saxophone player, composer and arranger. He is notable for his development of forms of jazz which allowed for free interplay between the musicians, anticipating forms of free improvisation.-Biography:Born in Dallas, Texas, of Italian ancestry,...
. Whilst there were no mainstream reviews, word slowly spread that Jazz had 'announced the arrival of its modernism.'
Sun Ra himself always distanced the Arkestra from Free Jazz - "My music is the music of precision. I know exactly the rhythm that must animate my music, and only this rhythm is valid, I have in my mind a complete image of my work..." - but benefitted enormously from the new interest these concerts generated. As well as being among the first to join the resulting Jazz Composers Guild, (a cooperative aiming to bring the new music to the public), the arkestra continued to play increasingly high profile concerts throughout the winter of 1964. One of these, with the John Tchicai-Roswell Rudd Quartet, New Year's Eve 1964, was reviewed for the Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
;
'They present a reviewer with a difficult problem, how to render a sympathetic appraisal for what was one of the more exciting series without making this group seem either utterly insane or sickeningly corny?... [Sun Ra's philosophy] leads him to some really wild and original effects in his music, though it sometimes gets in the way, as when the musicians start talking in the middle of the piece about getting off at Jupiter and about martian water lilies. yet in these instances the spoken word itself will have a musical value, as Sun Ra's concept is well worked out, though the words will have no literary value to anyone except Sun Ra's people. His musicians were in African costumes, and they did a great deal of walking around under blinking, multi-colored lights... Yet, yet... well, you had to be there.' AB Spellman
This concert, part of the Four Days in December Festival, was recorded, and released some years later as Sun Ra and his Arkestra Featuring Pharoah Sanders & Black Harold
Featuring Pharoah Sanders & Black Harold
Featuring Pharoah Sanders and Black Harold is a jazz album by Sun Ra, recorded live in 1964, but not released until 1976, on Ra and Alton Abraham's El Saturn label....
.
One person in the audience at the Cellar Cafe sessions was Bernard Stollman
Bernard Stollman
Bernard Stollman is an American lawyer and the founder of the ESP-Disk record label.He was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and grew up in Plattsburgh, upstate New York, where his parents owned a chain of women's wear stores. When he was 16, his family moved to Forest Hills, Queens, and he...
, a lawyer and proponent of Esperanto
Esperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
, who was so overwhelmed by the new music that he dreamed up a plan to record all of the artists working within the new style
Free jazz
Free 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...
for his label ESP-Disk
ESP-Disk
ESP-Disk is a New York-based record label, founded in 1964 by lawyer Bernard Stollman.From the beginning, the label's goal has been to provide its recording artists with complete artistic freedom, unimpeded by any record company interference or commercial expectations—a philosophy summed-up by the...
. First up was Albert Ayler
Albert Ayler
Albert Ayler was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist, singer and composer.Ayler was among the most primal of the free jazz musicians of the 1960s; critic John Litweiler wrote that "never before or since has there been such naked aggression in jazz" He possessed a deep blistering tone—achieved...
's Spiritual Unity, followed by albums by Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
, Pharoah Sanders and the Fugs
The Fugs
The Fugs are a band formed in New York in late 1964 by poets Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg, with Ken Weaver on drums. Soon afterward, they were joined by Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber of the Holy Modal Rounders...
. Sun Ra would record the first of his contributions to the label on 20 April 1965; The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume One
The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume One
The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume One is a 1965 album by the jazz musician Sun Ra. The back cover describes it as an "album of compositions and arrangements by Sun Ra played by Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra"....
.
12" Vinyl
All songs by Sun RaSide A:
- Other Planes of There - (22.01)
Side B:
- Sound Spectra/Spec Sket - (7.39)
- Sketch - (4.46)
- Pleasure - (3.10)
- Spiral Galaxy - (10.01)
Musicians
- Sun Ra - piano
- Walter Miller - trumpet
- Ali Hassan - trombone
- Teddy Nance - trombone
- Bernard Pettaway - bass trombone
- 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, oboe, percussion - Danny Davis - alto sax, flute
- 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 - Pat Patrick - baritone saxophone
- Robert Cummings - bass clarinet
- 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 - Roger Blank - drums
- Lex Humphries - drums
- Tommy Hunter - engineer
Recorded at the Choreographer's Workshop, New York (the Arkestra's rehearsal space) in 1964 .