Description
*This is a Vinyl LP*
Release Date: 2021
Label: Modern Harmonic
Track List
Side A
1. Astro Black 10:51
2. Discipline “99” 4:42
3. Hidden Spheres 6:59
Side B
1. The Cosmo-Fire 18:23
Review
One of a handful of albums Sun Ra released on Impulse in the early ’70s, Astro-Black provides a reasonably comprehensive picture of where the Arkestra was around the time, drawing to the end of their ultra-free period and beginning to investigate some traditional jazz forms. The opening title track explores some of Ra’s spacier side, sounding a bit like a calmer alternative to his well-known “Space Is the Place” with June Tyson’s ethereal vocals and the leader’s ghostly synthesizer. “Discipline ’99′” is a relaxed, bluesy number, followed by a lively African-percussion-driven work, “Hidden Spheres,” which, along with the propulsion provided by the great, underappreciated bassist Ronnie Boykins, is a fine example of Ra’s band at their most enjoyable. “The Cosmo-Fire,” the 18-minute track that closes the album, is a sprawling affair, a smorgasbord of Arkestra once again held in place by Boykins’ bass, serving as a solid stem off of which Sun Ra launches abstract organ and vibraphone explorations and the rest of the band wails and sputters. The performance is loose, but in a way that enhances the otherworldly effect that Ra strove for.
