Sun Ra discography

The Sun Ra discography is one of the largest discographies in music history.[1][2] Jazz keyboardist, bandleader and composer Sun Ra recorded dozens of singles and over one hundred full-length albums, comprising well over 1,000 songs, and making him one of the most prolific recording artists of the 20th century.[3]

History

His own El Saturn Records albums were usually printed in editions of 75 copies per album, and were sold primarily at live performances. Many of Sun Ra's early albums were recorded at home by Ra himself on wire or early tape recorders, and are decidedly lo-fi. Despite the technological limitations, Ra used some innovative recording techniques, and these recordings provided an unprecedented level of documentation, and were inspirational in showing how artists could take control of production and distribution of their works.

Prior to the 1970s, most of these albums were produced in Chicago through the "El Saturn Records Research" enterprise established by Ra and his colleague Alton Abraham, while later El Saturn Records were produced in Philadelphia. A batch of the most significant recordings were licensed to Impulse! Records in the mid-1970s. They were not as successful as hoped, and were deleted from the Impulse catalog, becoming available around the world as inexpensive "cut-outs" and making the music more widely available.

Most El Saturn Records were hand-decorated by Arkestra members,[4] and these LP records sometimes sell for high prices among collectors. These El Saturn Records releases, dating from the 1950s to at least the late 1980s, typically had little or no information as to performers or recording dates, and sometimes didn't even list the songs on the album, often pressing one LP side from one era with another from a different decade, leading to some confusion among completists and fans.

After Sun Ra's death, many of his recordings were released on compact disc for the first time by Evidence Records, Ihnfinity Music, ESP Disk / ZYX Music, or Impulse!. As is the case with an artist whose output is so extensive, there is quite a bit of debate regarding his "best" albums. Of all these recordings, many critics and enthusiasts feel that the 1959 big band album Jazz In Silhouette is the best entry-point into his work,[5] with The Penguin Guide to Jazz naming the album as part of a recommended "Core Collection" for any serious jazz fan and as "one of the most important jazz records since World War II."[6]

Albums

Studio albums

Year	Title	Credit	Label
1957	Jazz by Sun Ra (aka Sun Song)	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	Transition
	Super-Sonic Jazz (aka Super-Sonic Sounds)	Le Sun Ra and His Arkestra	El Saturn
1959	Jazz in Silhouette	Sun Ra and His Arkestra
1962	The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra (aka We are in the Future)		Savoy Records
1963	When Sun Comes Out	Sun Ra and His Myth Science Arkestra	El Saturn
1965	The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume One	Sun Ra and His Solar Arkestra	ESP-Disk
	The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume Two
1966	The Magic City		El Saturn
1967	Strange Strings	Sun Ra and His Astro-Infinity Arkestra
1968	Monorails and Satellites	Sun Ra
1969	Atlantis	Sun Ra and His Astro-Infinity Arkestra
1970	My Brother the Wind
	The Night of the Purple Moon	Sun Ra
1971	My Brother the Wind Volume II (Otherness)	Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra
1972	Solar Myth Approach Vols 1+2	Sun Ra and His Solar Myth Arkestra	BYG Actuel
1973	Astro Black	Sun Ra	Impulse!
	Space Is the Place		Blue Thumb Records
	Discipline 27	Sun Ra and His Astro Intergalactic Infinity Arkestra	El Saturn
1975	Pathways to Unknown Worlds	Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra	Impulse!
1976	Cosmos	Sun Ra	Cobra
1977	Some Blues But Not the Kind That's Blue		El Saturn
	Solo Piano		Improvising Artists
1978	New Steps	Sun Ra Quartet	Horo
	Other Voices, Other Blues
	Visions	Sun Ra and Walt Dickerson	SteepleChase Records
	Lanquidity	Sun Ra	Philly Jazz
1979	The Other Side of the Sun	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	Sweet Earth Records
	God Is More than Love Can Ever Be	Sun Ra Trio	Saturn 72579
	Omniverse	Sun Ra	El Saturn
	On Jupiter  [de]	Sun Ra and His Arkestra
	Sleeping Beauty (aka Door of the Cosmos)
1981	Aurora Borealis	Sun Ra	El Saturn 10480
1983	A Fireside Chat with Lucifer	Sun Ra and His Outer Space Arkestra	Saturn Research B1984SG-9
1984	Celestial Love		El Saturn 19842
	Nuclear War	Sun Ra Arkestra	Y Records
1987	Reflections in Blue		Black Saint
	Hours After
1988	Hidden Fire 2	Sun Ra	Saturn 13088A / 12988B
	Hidden Fire 1		Saturn 13188III / 12988II
1989	Blue Delight		A&M Records
1990	Mayan Temples	Sun Ra Arkestra	Black Saint

Archival releases

Released	Title	Recorded
1965	Angels and Demons at Play	1960
	Fate In A Pleasant Mood
	Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow	1962
	Secrets of the Sun
1966	Visits Planet Earth	1958
	The Nubians of Plutonia (aka The Lady with the Golden Stockings)	1959
	Interstellar Low Ways (aka Rocket Number Nine)	1960
	When Angels Speak of Love	1963
	Other Planes of There	1964
1967	We Travel the Space Ways	1961
	Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy	1963
1968	Sound of Joy	1956
1970	Sound Sun Pleasure!!	1959
	Holiday For Soul Dance	1960
	Continuation	1968
1972	Bad and Beautiful	1961
1973	Deep Purple aka Dreams Come True)	1973–1953
1974	Monorails and Satellites Vol. 2	1966
	The Invisible Shield (aka Janus, A Tonal View of Times Tomorrow, Vol. 2, Satellites are Outerspace)	1970–1962
	Space Probe  [de] (aka A Tonal View of Times Tomorrow, Vol. 1)	1969–1970
1975	What's New?	1962
	Pathways to Unknown Worlds	1973
1980	Strange Celestial Road	1979
1989	Out There a Minute  [de]	1970–1961
1990	Purple Night	1989
1993	Soundtrack to the Film Space Is the Place	1972
	Somewhere Else	1989

Posthumous releases of studio material and rehearsals

Recorded	Album	Artist	Release date & notes	Original Label(s)
1963	Blue York	Sun Ra	2014 as a bonus disc for the Continuation album re-release and 2016 as the Blue York Album. Previously unreleased recording from 1963[7]	Jeanne Dielman
1965	Heliocentric Worlds Vol. 3 (The Lost Tapes)	Sun Ra	2005. Previously unreleased recording from the Heliocentric Worlds Volume II sessions[8]	ESP Disk
1965	Other Strange Worlds	Sun Ra And His Astro-Infinity Arkestra	2014. Previously unreleased recording made in Sun Ra's apartment in New York City[9]	Roaratorio
1966	Thunder of the Gods	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	2017. Previously unreleased live and studio recordings[10]	Modern Harmonic
1968–1969	Sun Embassy	Sun Ra And His Astro-Ihnfinity Arkestra	2018. Archival recordings from the Sun Ra Philadelphia house, Sun Studios, from May 1968 to October 1969[11]	Roaratorio
1969	The Intergalactic Thing	Sun Ra And His Astro-Ihnfinity Arkestra	2016. A dozen previously unreleased recordings from rehearsals at the Sun Ra Philadelphia house[12]	Roaratorio
1973	Crystal Spears	Sun Ra	2000. Previously unreleased album which was planned for release and shelved by Impulse! in the 1970s[13]	Evidence
1973	Cymbals	Sun Ra	2000. Previously unreleased album which was planned for release and shelved by Impulse! in the 1970s[13]	Evidence
1973	Friendly Love	Sun Ra	2000. Previously unreleased album which was planned for release and shelved by Impulse! in the 1970s	Evidence
1973	Sign Of The Myth	Sun Ra And His Astro-Infinity Arkestra	2014. Previously unreleased Impulse! recordings from the Pathways To Unknown Worlds sessions[14]	Roaratorio
1974	Dance of the Living Image: The Lost Reel Collection Volume 4	Sun Ra	2007. Previously unreleased reel-to-reel rehearsal sessions made in San Francisco[15]	Transparency

Live albums

Recorded	Released	Album	Credited artist	Original label(s)
1960	2002	Music from Tomorrow's World: Chicago 1960	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	Atavistic
1964-12-31	1976	Featuring Pharoah Sanders & Black Harold (aka Judson Hall, New York, December 31, 1964)	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	El Saturn Records
1966-05	1970	Nothing Is	Sun Ra	ESP-Disk
1966	1971	Pictures of Infinity  [de] (aka Outer Spaceways Incorporated)	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	Black Lion Records
1970-08-03 – 1970-08-05	1971	Nuits de la Fondation Maeght	Sun Ra Arkestra	Shandar
1970-10-17 1970-11-07	1970	It's After the End of the World	Sun Ra and His Intergalactic Research Arkestra	MPS
1970-10-17 1970-11-07	1998	Black Myth/Out in Space	Sun Ra and His Intergalactic Research Arkestra	MPS Records/Motor Music
1971		Nidhamu	Sun Ra and His Astro Intergalactic Infinity Arkestra	El Saturn
1971		Live in Egypt 1	Sun Ra and His Astro Intergalactic Infinity Arkestra	El Saturn
1971		Horizon	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	El Saturn
1971		The Paris Tapes - Live at Le Theatre Du Chatlet 1971	Sun Ra and His Mythic Science Arkestra	Kindred Spirits / Art Yard
1973	1999	Outer Space Employment Agency	Sun Ra And His Intergalactic Arkestra	Total Energy
1973		What Planet Is This?	Sun Ra and His Space Arkestra	Leo
1973		Concert for the Comet Kohoutek	Sun Ra	ESP-Disk
1973		Live in Paris at the "Gibus"	Sun Ra	Atlantic Records
1973		Planets Of Life Or Death: Amiens '73	Sun Ra and His Intergalactic Research Arkestra	Strut
1974		Out Beyond the Kingdom Of	Sun Ra and His Outer Space Arkestra	El Saturn 61674
1974		The Antique Blacks	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	Saturn 81774
1974		Sub Underground	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	Saturn 92074
1976		Live at Montreux	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	Inner City Records
1976		A Quiet Place in the Universe	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	Leo
1977		Taking a Chance on Chances	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	Saturn
1977		Somewhere Over the Rainbow	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	Saturn
1977		The Soul Vibrations of Man	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	Saturn
1977		St. Louis Blues (solo piano)	Sun Ra	Improvising Artists
1977		Some Blues But Not the Kind That's Blue	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	Saturn
1977		Solo Piano Recital Teatro La Fenice	Sun Ra	Leo
1977		Unity	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	Horo
1978		Springtime in Chicago	The Sun Ra Arkestra	Leo
1978		Disco 3000	Sun Ra Quartet	El Saturn
1978		Media Dreams	Sun Ra Quartet	El Saturn
1978		The Sound Mirror	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	El Saturn
1979		Of Mythic Worlds	Sun Ra	Philly Jazz[16]
1979		I, Pharaoh	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	El Saturn 6680[17]
1979[18]		Live from Soundscape	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	DIW Records
1980		Sunrise in Different Dimensions	The Sun Ra Arkestra	Hathut Records
1980		The Complete Detroit Jazz Center Residency	Sun Ra And The Omniverse Jet Set Arkestra Limited issue of 500 copies, 28-CD Box Set	Transparency
1981		Beyond the Purple Star Zone	Sun Ra And His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra	El Saturn 123180
1981		Dance of Innocent Passion	Sun Ra	El Saturn
1982		Oblique Parallax	primarily Sun Ra on keyboard	El Saturn SR72881
1983		The Sun Ra Arkestra Meets Salah Ragab In Egypt	The Sun Ra Arkestra / Salah Ragab / The Cairo Jazz Band	Leo
1983		Love in Outer Space	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	Leo
1983		Hiroshima	The Sun Ra All Stars Band	Art Yard Records
1984		Cosmo Sun Connection	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	Saturn/ Recommended Records
1984		Live at Praxis '84	The Sun Ra Arkestra	Leo
1985		Live at Club Lingerie	The Sun Ra Arkestra	Transparency
1985		Live at Myron's Ballroom	The Sun Ra Arkestra	Transparency
1986		A Night in East Berlin	Sun Ra and His Cosmo Discipline Arkestra	Leo
1987		John Cage Meets Sun Ra	Sun Ra and John Cage	Meltdown
1988[19]		Cosmo Omnibus Imagiable Illusion	Sun Ra Arkestra	DIW
1989		Second Star to the Right (Salute to Walt Disney)	Sun Ra & His Intergalactic Arkestra	Leo
1989		Stardust from Tomorrow	Sun Ra & His Intergalaxtic Arkestra	Leo
1990		Live in London 1990	Sun Ra and His Year 2000 Myth Science Arkestra	Blast First
1990		Live at the Hackney Empire	Sun Ra And The Year 2000 Myth Science Arkestra	Leo
1990		Pleiades[20]	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	Leo Records
1991		At the Village Vanguard	Sun Ra Sextet	Rounder
1991	1993	Friendly Galaxy	Sun Ra Arkestra	Leo
1991-04-20	2016-11-25	At Inter-Media Arts, April 1991	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	Modern Harmonic
1992		Destination Unknown	Sun Ra & His Omniverse Arkestra	Enja Records

Posthumous compilations

Recorded	Released	Album	Credited artist	Original Label(s)
1956–1973	2000	Greatest Hits: Easy Listening for Intergalactic Travel	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	Evidence
	2007	The Creator of the Universe (Lost Reel: Volume 1)	Sun Ra	Transparency
	2007	Intergalactic Research (Lost Reel: Volume 2)	Sun Ra	Transparency
	2007	The Shadows Took Shape (Lost Reel: Volume 3)	Sun Ra	Transparency
	2007	Dance of the Living Image (Lost Reel: Volume 4)	Sun Ra	Transparency
1955–1956	2007	Toward The Stars - Pioneering In 1955-56[21]	Sun Ra	FiveFour
	2009	Interplanetary Melodies	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	Norton
	2009	The Second Stop Is Jupiter	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	Norton
	2009	Rocket Ship Rock	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	Norton
	2014	In the Orbit of Ra[22]	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	Strut
	2015	To Those of Earth... And Other Worlds	Sun Ra and His Arkestra	Strut
1952–1961	2016-11-25	Singles: The Definitive 45s Collection, Vol. 1—1952–1961	Sun Ra	Strut
1958–1985	2018-03-27	The Space Age Is Here To Stay	Sun Ra and His Interplanetary Vocal Arkestra	Modern Harmonic/Sundazed Music

Related

Recorded	Album	Credited artist	Original Label(s)
1954–1960	Spaceship Lullaby: Chicago 1954-60	Sun Ra/the Vocal Groups featuring Nu Sounds, the Unitels & the Cosmic Rays	Atavistic
1966	Impressions of a Patch of Blue	Walt Dickerson Quartet with Sun Ra on harpsichord	MGM
1966	Batman and Robin - The Sensational Guitars of Dan and Dale	Uncredited, but featuring Sun Ra & members of the Arkestra and the Blues Project	Tifton
1968	A Black Mass	Imamu Amiri Baraka with Sun Ra and His Myth Science Arkestra	Jihad Productions[23]
1988	Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films	Sun Ra & His Arkestra perform "Pink Elephants On Parade" from Dumbo	A&M Records
1992	A Tribute to Stuff Smith	Billy Bang with Sun Ra, John Ore and Andrew Cyrille	Soul Note
2013	ARTPOP	Writing credit with Lady Gaga for the song "Venus"	Interscope
2023	Red Hot & Ra: Nuclear War, (A Tribute to Sun Ra: Volume 1)	Georgia Anne Muldrow, Josef Leimberg, Angel Bat Dawid, Malcolm Jiyane Tree-o, Grandmaster CAP	Red Hot Organization
2023	Red Hot + Ra: Solar – Sun Ra in Brasil, (A Tribute to Sun Ra: Volume 2)	Xuxa Levy, Orquestra Afrosinfônica, Jazzmeia Horn, Munir Hossn, Meshell Ndegeocello, Metá Metá, Edgar, Fabrício Boliveira, Edbrass Brasil, Xênia França, Tiganá Santana, Hamilton de Holanda Trio, Max de Castro, BNegão, Orchestra Klaxon	Red Hot Organization
2024	Red Hot + Ra: The Magic City, (A Tribute to Sun Ra: Volume 3)	Meshell Ndegeocello	Red Hot Organization
2024	Red Hot + Ra: Outer Spaceways Incorporated (A Tribute to Sun Ra: Volume 4) (2024)	Kronos Quartet, Marshall Allen, Laurie Anderson, Jlin, Laraaji, RP Boo, 700 Bliss, Armand Hammer, Terry Riley	Red Hot Organization

References

1. "Sun Ra discography". Allmusic.
2. Campbell, Robert L. & Trent, Christopher (2000). The Earthly Recordings of Sun Ra (2nd ed.). Redwood, NY: Cadence Jazz Books. ISBN 978-1-881993-35-3.
3. Szwed, John F. (1997). Space Is the Place: The Lives and Times of Sun Ra. New York City: Pantheon Books. p. xvii. ISBN 978-0-679-43589-1.
4. Holley Jr., Eugene (2023-01-04). "The DIY Cosmic Cover Art of Sun Ra". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
5. Planer, Lindsay. "Jazz In Silhouette". AllMusic. Retrieved 2007-02-15.
6. Cook, Richard & Morton, Brian (2006) [1992]. "Sun Ra". The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (8th ed.). New York City: Penguin Books. p. 1245. ISBN 0-14-102327-9.
7. "Sun Ra Continuation". Discogs. Retrieved 2016-07-23.
8. "Sign Of The Myth". Roaratorio. Retrieved 2016-07-23.
9. "Other Strange Worlds". Roaratorio. Retrieved 2016-07-23.
10. Pearce, Sheldon (2017-04-13). "Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Thunder of the Gods". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2020-03-29.
11. "Sun Embassy". Forced Exposure. Retrieved 2018-07-08.
12. "The Intergalactic Thing". Roaratorio. Retrieved 2016-07-23.
13. Ruhlmann, William. "Great Lost Sun Ra Albums: Cymbals & Crystal Spears". AllMusic. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
14. "Sun Ra – Heliocentric Worlds Vol. 3 (The Lost Tapes)". Discogs. Retrieved 2016-07-23.
15. Nastos, Michael G. "Dance of the Living Image". AllMusic. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
16. "Sun Ra - Of Mythic Worlds". Discogs.
17. Campbell, Robert (2013-01-30). "Sun Ra Discography: Items 76-127". University of Alabama at Birmingham. Archived from the original on 2011-07-20.
18. "Live from Soundscape". AllMusic.
19. "Live at Pitt-In, Tokyo". AllMusic.
20. Campbell, Robert. "Sun Ra discography". University of Alabama at Birmingham. Archived from the original on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2016-07-23.
21. Yanow, Scott. "Toward the Stars - Sun Ra". AllMusic. Retrieved 2024-10-27.
22. Westergaard, Sean. "In the Orbit of Ra". AllMusic. Retrieved 2015-05-30.
23. "LeRoi Jones / Le Sun Ra* - A Black Mass". Discogs.

External links

• "Sun Ra discography". AllMusic.
• Navarrete, Suso. "Sun Ra's Online Discography". the-temple.net.
• Campbell, Robert. "Sun Ra discography". University of Alabama at Birmingham. Archived from the original on 2011-07-20.