*(((*)))(((SUN)))*(((RA)))(((*)))*

so i've been digging thru a trove of outrageously good videos on

youtube as of late. lots of outside jazz related stuff. the following

is not so much an outsider thing (especially considering that it

comes to us from the bbc), but it sheds a bit of light on one of the

most misterioso bands slash bandleaders to have ever graced

the cosmos: SUN RA!!!  i say a bit of light because le sony'r ra

was one of the most dedicated and unfliching personas of all

time.  many believed and still believe that he truly came from

another planet. if you are unfamiliar with SUN RA & his variously
named Arkestra then you ought take this worm-hole for a ride:

*(((*)))*(((keep a look-out for a post loosely related to this one sometime this week.)))*(((*)))*

(((Don Cherry)))---(((1978)))

Don Cherry is mainly known as one of the pioneers of free jazz from the trail blazing Ornette Coleman Quartet.  Images of him playing some variation of the trumpet (pocket trumpet, cornet, etc...) come to mind.  However, much of his musical career involved him traveling the four corners of the earth and participating in musical forms that sometimes had no resemblence to jazz.  In time he became a seasoned multi-instrumentalist of a wide variety.  He was a true student and explorer.  Initially, this seems to have been a personal journey into his African heritage, but it clearly struck an inspired nerve in him that never went away.  His experimentation with world music can be heard as early as 1968 on Eternal Rhythm, a live recording from the Berlin jazz festival.  Other stellar examples of this progression would include his Mu sessions recorded for BYG Actuel in 69 as well as Actions (co-led by Kryzstof Penderecki) and Blue Lake from 71.  Over the remainder of his career he covered a lot of territory.  As I researched this, 1978 seems to have been an especially rich year for him in this regard.  If you were to listen to the following recordings in their entirety, you might find some things you don't like, or at least I did.  Some tunes border too closely to a new age sound that I'm not entirely comfortable with.  However, there is a great deal to glean here as evidenced (i hope) by the following selections.  Please dig in.  I hope this inspires new pathes of interest and research.  Cheers!

((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((        

Recorded At Studio Davout, Paris, France, June 1978.

Original LP release 1982 (Europa Records JP2009).

Sangam - Don Cherry / Latif Khan

))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

CODONA (ECM 1132)
Recorded September 1978 at Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg

Mumakata - Codona

((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((

Flying Fish - 1978

Sounds from the Bush - Mandingo Griot Society

))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Another sideman session also done in 1978, but less suited toward this post can be found here.

Below is a short documentary filmed in Sweden the same year and broadcast on Swedish television. 
It was the thing that originally inspired this post.  Enjoy.

{{{Charles}{Bukowski}}}

Here's one more selection from the poetry I've been reading over the last year or so: Charles Bukowski (1920-1994). At least a year ago I'd seen a documentary entitled Bukowski: Born into This. Shortly after that I picked up The Last Night of the Earth Poems. I had heard of the man. The things that are said of him are true. To say that he is outrageously rough around the edges would fall very short. Much of what he said and did and wrote hold great potential for blushes and offended feelings. However, reading poems like the bluebird, and having a sense of his backround, I find him endearing despite his many faults. For all his crass, drunken sputterings, he is a very good writer. He had a simple cleverness and made readers of more hard-livin' blue collar folk than probably any poet ever did. His poetry is direct and very prose oriented. The below poem is in fact unlike much of his stuff in that it makes use of literary devices much more liberally. Enjoy

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gonna Find Me a Bluebird - Skeeter Davis & Porter Wagoner
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
the bluebird

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I'm not going
to let anybody see
you.

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I pour whiskey on him and inhale
cigarette smoke
and the whores and the bartenders
and the grocery clerks
never know that
he's
in there.

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say,
stay down, do you want to mess
me up?
you want to screw up the
works?
you want to blow my book sales in
Europe?

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too clever, I only let him out
at night sometimes
when everybody's asleep.
I say, I know that you're there,
so don't be
sad.

then I put him back,
but he's singing a little
in there, I haven't quite let him
die
and we sleep together like
that
with our
secret pact
and it's nice enough to
make a man
weep, but I don't
weep, do
you?

{{{{{-}}}}}}-{{{{{{-}}}}}}-{{{{{{-}}}}}}-{{{{{{-}}}}}
{{{{{-}}}}}}-{{{{{{-}}}}}}-{{{{{{-}}}}}}-{{{{{{-}}}}}

<{(Degrees of Gray in Philipsburg)}>

Been reading loads of poetry lately. I recieved a mound of it for Christmas Hallelujah! One of the books given is called The Triggering Town by Richard Hugo (1923-1982). This is not a book of poetry but rather a book of instruction, lectures & essays on poetry that a professor recommended to me. It's excellent. Nearly done with it. I intend to put up "Triggering Town Tips" from time to time along with a poem for those interested in experimenting with their approach. For now I just wanted to introduce you to the poet who wrote the book. Enjoy.



Degrees of Gray in Philipsburg

You might come here Sunday on a whim.
Say your life broke down. The last good kiss
you had was years ago. You walk these streets
laid out by the insane, past hotels
that didn’t last, bars that did, the tortured try
of local drivers to accelerate their lives.
Only churches are kept up. The jail
turned 70 this year. The only prisoner
is always in, not knowing what he’s done.


The principal supporting business now
is rage. Hatred of the various grays
the mountain sends, hatred of the mill,
The Silver Bill repeal, the best liked girls
who leave each year for Butte. One good
restaurant and bars can’t wipe the boredom out.
The 1907 boom, eight going silver mines,
a dance floor built on springs—
all memory resolves itself in gaze,
in panoramic green you know the cattle eat
or two stacks high above the town,
two dead kilns, the huge mill in collapse
for fifty years that won’t fall finally down.


Isn’t this your life? That ancient kiss
still burning out your eyes? Isn’t this defeat
so accurate, the church bell simply seems
a pure announcement: ring and no one comes?
Don’t empty houses ring? Are magnesium
and scorn sufficient to support a town,
not just Philipsburg, but towns
of towering blondes, good jazz and booze
the world will never let you have
until the town you came from dies inside?


Say no to yourself. The old man, twenty
when the jail was built, still laughs
although his lips collapse. Someday soon,
he says, I’ll go to sleep and not wake up.
You tell him no. You’re talking to yourself.
The car that brought you here still runs.
The money you buy lunch with,
no matter where it’s mined, is silver
and the girl who serves your food
is slender and her red hair lights the wall.