Concert for the Comet Kohoutek

by Sun Ra

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Liner notes by ESP-Disk' founder Bernard Stollman

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1.	MC Introduction 03:36	buy track
2.	Astro Black 03:10	buy track
3.	Discipline 27 (Part 1) 15:16	buy track
4.	Enlightenment 02:12	buy track
5.	Love in Outer Space 07:37	buy track
6.	Unknown Kohoutek 13:14	buy track
7.	Discipline 27 (Part 2) 07:24	buy track
8.	Outer Space Employment Agency 00:51	buy track
9.	Space Is the Place 08:15	buy track

about

This eclectic ESP-Disk-sponsored celebration of the Comet Kohoutek featured a fire eater, talking drums, and dancers in platform shoes, in addition to Sun Ra's Arkestra. After taking the stage ninety minutes late, the band expertly navigated its way through cosmic free playing, big-band romps, and didactic vocal numbers.

"Concert for the Comet Kohoutek captures a typically inspired night by Sun Ra & the Intergalactic Space Research Arkestra. Recorded in late 1973, on this date the Arkestra is guided by a musical theme composed around the idea of the Comet Kohoutek, which was passing close to Earth at the time. Typically, the release vaults between cosmic vocal songs that speak of Truth and other such brashly capitalized affairs (such as 'Astro Black'), almost straight-ahead big-band jazz arrangements ('Variations of Kohoutek Themes'), and frighteningly evil free explorations ('Journey Through the Outer Darkness')." - Jesse Jarnow, All Music Guide

"...two things stand out. First, Sun Ra’s unhinged work on analog synthesizer (probably the Minimoog prototype that inventor Bob Moog 'loaned' him a few years earlier); if this were the only recorded example of his synthesizer work, his credentials as a pioneering sound scientist would be secure. Second, there's the excitement generated by the group's multiple-percussion attack. You can barely hear it thanks to mic overload, but the rhythm section cooks like a mutha. Soloists emerge from the miasma, then return. A few are easily ID'd. Alto saxophonist Marshall Allen's trademark cat-with-its-tail-in-a-blender yowl is omnipresent. Tenor saxophonist John Gilmore and vocalist June Tyson are there as well. A trombonist whom I surmise is Dick Griffin blows down the house on 'Kohoutek.'" - Chris Kelsey, JazzTimes

credits

released October 24, 2020

Kwame Hadi, trumpet; Akh Tal Ebah, trumpet, flugelhorn, melodica, vocals; Dick Griffin or Charles Stephens, trombone; James Jacson, bassoon, flute, Ancient Egyptian Infinity drum; Eloe Omoe, bass clarinet, percussion; Danny Davis, alto saxophone, flute, percussion; Marshall Allen, alto saxophone, oboe, flute, percussion; John Gilmore, tenor saxophone, percussion, vocals; Danny Ray Thompson, baritone saxophone, flute, percussion; Alzo Wright, violin, cello, drums; Sun Ra, synthesizer, organ, declamation; Ronnie Boykins, bass; Thomas "Bugs" Hunter, drums; Cheryl Banks, Judith Holton, June Tyson, Space Ethnic Voices, Ruth Wright, dancers, vocals.
Recorded live at Town Hall, New York City, December 12, 1973.

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