Sun Ra And His Myth Science Arkestra – When Angels Speak Of Love 1966 Avant Garde Jazz

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Sun Ra And His Myth Science Arkestra – When Angels Speak Of Love (1966)Avant-Garde Jazz

Sun Ra's music is often described as being so far outside the jazz mainstream as to be less a challenge to it than a largely irrelevant curiosity. But When Angels Speak of Love, an album recorded with his Myth Science Arkestra during rehearsals at the Choreographers Workshop in New York in 1963 and released on Ra's own Saturn label in 1966, is very much within then-current trends in jazz as performed by such innovators as John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman. John Corbett, annotator of a later reissue, pointed out Ra's disdain for the term "free jazz," but this is music that fits into that style and even harks back to bebop on occasion. Walter Miller's trumpet playing on "The Idea of It All," for example, clearly indicates that he's been listening to Miles Davis, even as John Gilmore's squealing tenor suggests Coltrane, and, on "Ecstacy of Being," what Corbett calls Danny Davis' "excruciated alto" suggests Coleman. Ra himself frequently plays busy, seemingly formless passages that are reminiscent of Cecil Taylor. An even closer approximation of a traditional approach can be found on the relatively brief title track, a ballad that, while not exactly sweet, is surprisingly sober and expressive. Of course, that's followed by the band chanting "Next Stop Mars" and going off in all directions on the 18-minute final track. The album's rarity on vinyl may be not only because few copies were pressed initially, but also because this is a Sun Ra album that is more conventionally unconventional than most, with tracks you could program next to those of his 1960s contemporaries and have them fit right in.When Angels Speak of Love Review by William Ruhlmann



Track Listing

1
Celestial Fantasy
Sun Ra
Sun Ra & His Myth Science Arkestra / Sun Ra
00:00


2
The Idea of It All
Sun Ra
Sun Ra & His Myth Science Arkestra / Sun Ra
05:53


3
Ecstasy of Being
Sun Ra
Sun Ra & His Myth Science Arkestra / Sun Ra
13:26


4
When Angels Speak of Love
Sun Ra
Sun Ra & His Myth Science Arkestra / Sun Ra
23:18


5
Next Stop Mars
Sun Ra
Sun Ra & His Myth Science Arkestra / Sun Ra
27:52



Alto Saxophone – Danny Davis (tracks: 3 to 5), Marshall Allen (tracks: 4, 5)
Art Direction – F3 Design, Stephen Jensen
Baritone Saxophone – Pat Patrick (tracks: 4, 5)
Bass – Ronnie Boykins
Composed By, Arranged By – Sun Ra
Drums – Clifford Jarvis (tracks: 1 to 3)
Executive-Producer – Alton Abraham, Ihnfinity Inc.
Liner Notes [Chicago, July 1998] – John Corbett
Liner Notes [From The Original Notes] – Natel Juni
Mastered By, Technician [Audio Restoration] – Roger Seibel
Percussion – Danny Davis, John Gilmore, Marshall Allen, Pat Patrick
Percussion, Effects [Reverb] – Thomas "Bugs" Hunter*
Photography By [Photos] – Thomas "Bugs" Hunter*
Piano [Pianoforte] – Sun Ra (tracks: 2, 4, 5)
Reissue Producer – Jerry Gordon
Research [Discographical Information] – Prof. Robert Campbell
Tenor Saxophone – John Gilmore (tracks: 2, 5)
Trumpet – Walter Miller