Sun Ra was born 100 years ago today

http://www.npr.org/2014/05/22/314593139/saturn-still-swings-celebrating-sun-ra-at-100

http://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2014/05/22/314363815/act-like-you-know-sun-ra

 

Since he was from Saturn, that would make him around 3 1/2 years old.

 

Don't forget today's (and tomorrow's) 48-hour broadcast!
http://www.studentaffairs.columbia....ntennial-festival-monday-may-19-sunday-may-25

 

Happy birthday, Sun Ra! Awesome musician, composer and thinker. I will listen to some of his stuff today to honour his memory!

 

Just bought the 2014 iTunes remasters of Supersonic Jazz and Jazz In Silhouette and they sound fantastic to my ears. Well worth the $9/album.

 

I wasn't aware of these. Are they better than the old Evidence CDs?

These are two of my favorite Ra discs.

 

I think so. Here's an article on the release program.

http://jazztimes.com/sections/news/...ive-reissues-21-albums-exclusively-for-itunes

 

Thanks for the tip. I picked up a few and they are a noticeable upgrade and there are added bits here and there.

 

birthday? he ARRIVED here 100 years ago!

 

Earth & Saturn are better places because of Sun Ra.

 

I've only made my way through When Sun Comes Out in the new remaster. I have the Evidence CD on that but not the original Saturn. I do have a lot of other original Saturns. My impression just from this one album is that the new remaster is by far the best available sound to be hand on this music. The new masters were cut with no compression and minimal EQ, and for the first time there's HF extension to be heard and much wider dynamic range than before -- by contrast the Evidence When Sun Comes Out sounds heavily compressed and much hotter, with HF severely rolled in an effort to reduce noise and tape hiss, and EQ'ed to beef up the bass and midrange. Plus the new reissue -- especially where stereo masters are available -- have a width and depth you've never heard before in these recordings, they really invite you into the recording space (Choreographer's Workshop in the case of When Sun Comes Out). The result is that the music is revealed in ways that are almost entirely new -- the horn voicings are much clearer, more distinct and easier to follow, and the often complex rhythmic interrelationship on the bottom of bass, piano and drums is no longer lost in a kind of general low end rumble. You can really follow the musical ideas. If the other issues are as good are When Sun Comes Out, I want all of 'em and they'll be the best way to hear this great music commercially available to date.

 

If they released the new remasters on CD I would buy every one of them of they sound that good. I just can't convince myself to spend all that money on mp3s.

 

I almost didn't buy for that reason as well, but at 8 bucks a pop you get much improved sound and real nice booklets. So you can really make you're own cd's and they're going to sound better than anything else out there. Apple got this one right.

 

Yeah, it's a shame they're not available in some kind of lossless compressed format at least. I hate buying music I already own at any price. But my experience with When Sun Comes Out was enough to convince me that for 8 or 10 bucks a pop, and especially in the cases of issues where there's newly added material or complete material (on When Sun Comes Out "Circe" is complete for the first time; the second half of "The Nile" is available for the first time, and "Primitive"/"Dimensions in Time" is complete instead of split between When Sun Comes Out and Space Probe), the price is a relative bargain.

 

Wasn't Apple's doing. Credit belongs to Irwin Chusid who represents the Ra heirs, and Michael D. Anderson who played with Ra an is the keeper of the Sun Ra Archive and has possession of the masters.

 

Does this quote from the article make sense to anyone?:

According to a press release, “The Mastered for iTunes format exceeds the standard 16-bit sound quality of CDs, starting with 24-bit transfers from the analog master tapes. This ensures that the music is delivered to listeners with increased audio fidelity that more closely replicates what the artists, recording engineers and producers intended.”

 

I haven't heard that one yet (soon!), but the stereo tracks on Jazz in Silhouette really shined. A quick comparison to my Evidence CD really made the improved masters evident. I don't have any original Saturn albums, but I do have the complete Evidence set and may have to pick these all up again.

 

I meant making the decision to put it on iTunes. But yes great that Mr. Chusid and Mr. Anderson are actively involved in getting this stuff out there. Would be lovely to see the same quality put into some sort of vinyl reissue series.

 

From the "Mastered for iTunes" technology brief:

To take best advantage of our latest encoders send us the highest resolution master file possible, appropriate to the medium and the project.

An ideal master will have 24-bit 96kHz resolution. These files contain more detail from which our encoders can create more accurate encodes. However, any resolution above 16-bit 44.1kHz, including sample rates of 48kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz, and 192kHz, will benefit from our encoding process.

So Apple is provided with the uncompressed 24-bit files, which are then encoded to AAC. If they were to ever offer lossless downloads, they'd already have the files they need if it was part of the "Mastered for iTunes" program.

 

The remastered When Sun Comes Out clocks in at almost 50 minutes while the portion on the split Fate in a Pleasant Mood/When Sun Comes Out Evidence CD is 41 minutes. Tracks 6-9 are in stereo for the first time.

Well worth it.

 

"Calling Planet Earth," "Dancing Shadows," "When Sun Comes Out" and "The Rainmaker" are definitely in stereo on the Evidence CD as well. It's a narrower stereo spread and there are fewer audible ambient cues, but it's stereo for sure -- listening to "Dancing Shadows" from the Evidence disk now, drums very much to the right, Walter Miller's trumpet right, Gilmore to the left, etc. The Evidence disc is much hotter, much fuller -- sounds like it's been compressed and EQ'ed to make it sound more modern and "professional" -- and there's much less air and space to the sound. The new remaster has audible all the flaws of the original, amateur recording, and of the aged tape itself, but has dynamics, space, a much wider stereo spread, airiness, and tighter (if lighter) bottom end. No one is going to mistake these Ra Saturn recordings for audiophile classics, but at least the new When Sun Comes Out is much more revealing of the music and performances themselves, and invites you much more in to the space where they were recorded.

I think there are other tracks elsewhere among the reissues where the stereo versions are available now for the first time -- IIRC nothing from the Strange Strings sessions has ever been out in stereo before. But those four tracks on When Sun Comes Out were in stereo on the Evidence disk. I don't have the Saturn original on that one for comparison.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SONNY

 

Or ~3000

 

Hahahaha, you're right. I forgot to carry the 1 in my equation.