Constellation hasn’t hosted a New Year’s Eve bash since the Sun Ra Arkestra’s legendary fete in 2017. This year, the intimate venue ushers in 2023 with homegrown talents who could be considered Constellation all-stars. The evening is headlined by Natural Information Society, led by multi-instrumentalist Joshua Abrams; the five-piece ensemble realizes his teeming compositions (often […]
Tag: Sun Ra Arkestra
Posted inMusic
Chicago’s Black musical visionaries charted paths for their communities in the 1950s and ’60s
Since the 1950s, Chicago has hosted a succession of visionary Black musical groups and societies. They’re best known as purveyors of avant-garde jazz, but that characterization sells short Sun Ra and his Arkestra, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), and Phil Cohran’s Artistic Heritage Ensemble. Each was—and in some cases still is—a […]
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Bandcamp Friday soldiers on
The nation may be diseased and broken, but you can still use your Bandcamp dollars to do a small kindness for musicians and labels.
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With Swirling, the Sun Ra Arkestra wills a better world into existence
“The satellites are spinning / A better day is breaking / Great happiness is pending / The planet Earth’s awakening.” The first lyrics on the Sun Ra Arkestra’s long-awaited Swirling (Strut), sung by Tara Middleton, sound like a dispatch from a world infinitely more promising than our own. That dogged optimism carries the entire studio […]
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Avreeayl Ra and Time Machine guide the way from suffering to healing at Jazz Occurrence 21
People with synesthesia perceive things typically associated with one sense, such as sound, through one or more additional senses, such as sight, taste, smell, or touch—a B-minor chord, for instance, might register as green. A number of famous musicians, including Mary J. Blige, Pharrell Williams, and Lady Gaga, have claimed to have (or are believed […]
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Remembering drummer, pharmacist, activist, and seeker Alvin Fielder
A charter member of the AACM and a longtime partner of saxophonist Kidd Jordan, drummer Alvin Fielder was an encyclopedia of jazz history with an eye on the future.
Posted inBlogs
Celebrating the work that iconic Chicago saxophonist Von Freeman did with Sun Ra
Von Freeman played in Sun Ra’s Arkestra in 1959 and ’60, and this week French horn player and Chicago native Vincent Chancey leads a strong local group through tunes Ra played in those days.
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Masterful but overlooked Chicago jazz drummer Robert Barry has died
Onetime Sun Ra associate Robert Barry passed away on January 8 at age 85.
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The Arkestra lands at Constellation on New Year’s Eve
Afrofuturist big-band leader Sun Ra left the planet 24 years ago, but his legacy has never been in better shape. Many of his classic sides have been remastered and reissued on vinyl, CD, and file formats, and the Sun Ra Arkestra, which plays his tunes in classic and alternate arrangements, still tours regularly. The celestially […]
Posted inBlogs
Revisit the soulful hypnosis of the late Kelan Phil Cohran’s Artistic Heritage Ensemble
Phil Cohran recorded the Artistic Heritage Ensemble’s dazzling, multifaceted debut with some of the most important musicians in Chicago history.
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Sun Ra sideman Pat Patrick recorded an obscure album with a baritone saxophone orchestra
The only solo album by onetime Sun Ra Arkestra member Pat Patrick, probably recorded in the mid-70s, features eight baritone saxophonists.
Posted inBlogs
Photos of the Sunday crowd at Pitchfork Music Festival 2016
Portraits of the crowd at Union Park on July 17
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Pitchfork Music Festival 2016 preview
Reader writers round up the locals on Pitchfork’s bill, guide fans of hip-hop and R&B into the rest of the roster, discuss the gender balance of the fest’s bookings, and much more.
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Jazz returns to Pitchfork
Kamasi Washington and the Sun Ra Arkestra bring jazz to Pitchfork for the first time since 2007.
Posted inBlogs
Here’s the lineup for this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival—and some insights from Reader critics in the know
The lineup for the three-day festival is out now; here’s info and commentary from Reader critics to get you up for it.