Sure enough, Sun Ra was an internal person. Ra maintained that he did not believe in birth or death, and he held onto this notion until his own cosmic ending in 1993.
Does this glut of posthumous Ra releases, then, pose a bit of an existential dilemma for true Ra fans?
Probably.
All the same, just in time for the Sun Ra centenary, we now have 21 new albums of the most free jazz available on iTunes.
The batch includes music recorded between 1956 and 1974, among them Nubians of Plutonia, Jazz in Silhouette and Sun Ra Visits Earth.
Ra experts Michael D. Anderson and Irwin Chusid (one of WFMU's best DJs and an expert on "outsider music") oversaw the project, choosing both solo stuff (Monorails and Satellites, Vol. 1) and tunes from the many Ra and friends incarnations: the Myth Science Arkestra, the Astro Infinity Arkestra, the Solar Infinity Arkestra, the Intergalactic Research Arkestra and the plain ol' Arkestra.
So, make some space on your iPod for 21 "new" Ra albums. You'll be glad you did.
