Secrets of the Sun is an album by the American Jazz

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. The album is considered one of the more accessible recordings from his 'Solar' period . Originally released on Ra's own Saturn label in 1965, the record was unavailable for many years before being 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 Atavistic in 2008.

'Marking a transition in its development between the advanced swing of the early Chicago-era recordings and the increased free-form experimentation of its New York tenure, this album also reveals the first recorded versions of two Ra standards, "Friendly Galaxy" and "Love in Outer Space." Accessible, yet segueing into vanguard territory, this album highlights a fertile period in the Arkestra's history. Looser and more aggressive than its Chicago recordings, these pieces find the Arkestra pushing at the limits of harmony and tonality.' Troy Collins

Increasing free-form experimentation

The album is characterised by playful experimentation. Solar Symbols - a duo for percussion - used reverberation techniques that have since been considered an early foray into pure ambient music . Solar Differentials even featured an experimental 'Space Voice';

Solar Differentials introduced Art Jenkins, a new "Space Vocalist". Jenkins had sought an audition with Sun Ra a few months before the recording, and sang some rhythm-and-blues tunes for him. Sonny told him that he had a nice voice, but what he was looking for was a singer who could do the impossible ("The possible has been tried and failed; now I want to try the impossible"). Art came back one day when they were recording at the Choreographer's Workshop, and dead set on getting on a record somehow, rummaged through a bag of miscellaneous instruments looking for something he could play. But every time he picked up something, someone in the band would tell him to leave it alone. When no one objected when he pulled a ram's horn from the bottom of the bag he began to sing into it, but backwards, with his mouth to the large opening, so that it gave out a weird sound which he made weirder by moving his hand over the small opening to alter the tone. Sonny broke out laughing, "Now that's impossible!" and asked him to improvise wordlessly on the record.' John F Szwed,

When reissued on compact disc, the record came with an extended 17 minute 'soloing tour de force', Flight To Mars.

12" Vinyl

All songs by Sun Ra

Side A:

1. Friendly Galaxy
2. Solar Differentials
3. Space Aura

Side B:

1. Love In Outer Space
2. Reflects Motion
3. Solar Symbols

Musicians

• Sun Ra - Harp, Piano, Gong
• John Gilmore
  John 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...
  
   - Space Bird Sounds, Bass Clarinet, Tenor Sax, Drums, Percussion
• Art Jenkins - Space Voice
• Calvin Newborn
  Calvin Newborn
  Calvin Newborn is an American jazz guitarist.-Career:He is the brother of pianist Phineas Newborn Jr. , with whom he recorded between 1953 and 1958. They also formed an R&B band, with their father Phineas Newborn Sr. on drums and Tuff Green on bass...
  
   - Guitar, Electric Guitar
• Marshall Allen
  Marshall Allen
  Marshall Belford Allen is an American free jazz and avant-garde jazz alto saxophone player. He also performs on flute, oboe, piccolo, and EVI ....
  
   - Flute, Alto Saxophone, Percussion
• Pat Patrick - Flute, Baritone Saxophone, Bongos
• Eddie Gale - Trumpet
• Al Evans - Flugelhorn
• Ronnie Boykins
  Ronnie Boykins
  Ronnie 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
• Tommy Hunter - Drums, Tape Effects
• C. Scoby Stroman - Drums
• Jimmy Johnson - Percussion

Recorded entirely at the Choreographer's Workshop, New York (the Arkestra's rehearsal space) in 1962 by Tommy Hunter . The same sessions are believed to have also yielded a number of songs released on The Invisible Shield and What's New?, two Saturn albums released a decade later that also contained songs recorded in the 1970s .