Un entretien récemment mis au jour entre Sun Ra et le compositeur, artiste sonore et intermedia associé à Fluxus Charlie Morrow, enregistrée dans son studio de New York en 1989, un enregistrement exceptionnel plus proche d'un sermon kaléidoscopique que d'une interview classique.
30 ans après la mort de Sun Ra, l'une des figures les plus singulières et influentes de l'histoire du jazz et de la musique d'avant-garde, cet entretien perdu éclaire magistralement, à travers la grande variété de sujets abordés, les paradoxes de sa pensée, témoigne de la richesse de son monde intérieur, et restitue la chaleur de sa personnalité dans l'intimité de la pièce où la conversation eut lieu, les talents journalistiques de Charlie Morrow (déjà révélés lors de sa rencontre plus célèbre avec John Cage notamment) contribuant à faire de cet échange un moment exceptionnel et hautement créatif.
« My 1989 Summer Solstice Celebration featured Sun Ra and his Arkestra. On March 29, 1989, ahead of this historical performance, Sun Ra came to New York to plan the performance and do an interview with me in the Charles Morrow Associates studio. There were members of the Sun Ra Arkestra, some of my team, and a photographer present. Once in the sound studio, Sun Ra wanted to record the discussion. What he says is so much more than anyone expected. I pushed record on the tape recorder, which quietly took it all in.
What Sun Ra recorded is a breathtaking expression of his feelings and strong convictions, illustrated with personal memories and stories. My few questions to him about the upcoming Solstice and about the sun and his thoughts about a dawn event triggered his mind. He launched into a nonstop journey of ricocheting stories and concepts, climaxing when I started jamming with Sun Ra on conch horn. Our duo drives to a climactic peak with explosive conch breath sounds giving line-by-line affirmations to Sun Ra's points.
The 1989 Summer Solstice event brought together Sun Ra and his constellation of musicians and fans with my large-scale gatherings and work with the New Wilderness Foundation. Here in 2023 and beyond, the events live again. Sean McCann of Recital was drawn to Sun Ra's words, which inspired the production of this edition. Sun Ra's words seem to have an even greater resonance in present time. Ra is calling out the turbulence of the bad actions of the righteous and the good actions that an evil man, as he dubs himself, can perform, all the time believing that music has the possibility to bring all humans to a better place. »
Charlie Morrow, 2023
Pressage unique de 425 exemplaires, comprenant un livret de 12 pages avec des photos rares et la transcription complète de l'interview, et un poster de la photographie de la performance de Sun Ra au Solstice de 1989.
Sun Ra (1914-1993) est un pianiste et compositeur afro-américain de jazz d'avant-garde. Avec son orchestre le Sun Ra Arkestra, il est l'auteur
d'une œuvre pléthorique, empreinte d'éléments ésotériques tirés d'une
philosophie cosmique personnelle qui eut une grande influence sur le
mouvement de l'afrofuturisme.
