Sun Ra and His Inter-Galactic Research Arkestra: Nuits de la Fondation Maeght (Strut/Art Yard)
It was Sun Ra and the Arkestra's first trip to Europe, and they were loaded for bear. For two glorious nights in the Côte d'Azur region of France (August 3 and 5, 1970), they regaled stunned audiences with hours-long extravaganzas of highly original music, dance, visual spectacle, and "myth-world splendor." Astonishingly, even with three LPs' (or two CDs') worth of music per evening, this new release isn't everything; between the two nights' concerts over twelve hours were recorded! That being said, this release is a generous helping of music, with little overlap of material, and what overlap there is is highly revealing, giving an idea of how unique each take truly was. Two albums from these shows were originally released in 1971 on Shandar, and all of that material is here, but the additional material adds up to over twice as much, making this an indispensable addition to the canon. Of the original content from the Shandar records, the only real difference is that "The Cosmic Explorer" is for some reason chopped into two tracks, losing about six minutes in the process. Other than that, all of the old content is intact, and to my ears sounds fresher and cleaner.
Like many other Arkestra performances of the early '70s, there's a lot of pageantry and (presumably) dancing, wild solo synthesizer, and lengthy percussion interludes--but not so much of the cosmo-drama preaching that would soon become so prominent. Instead, we are given a bounty of great grooves, new takes on old classics, and excellent playing all around. The alternate versions of compositions already present on Shandar, such as "Friendly Galaxy 2," "Spontaneous Simplicity," and "The Shadow World," are always interesting. Unfortunately, for the latter piece only an excerpt is given in the alternate version… but what an excerpt it is: another excellent John Gilmore solo!
There are several pieces well known to Ra fans that didn't make it on the original release, such as "Why Go to the Moon?" and "We Travel the Spaceways." Several of these songs seamlessly morph into long improvisations, such as the August 5 version of "Calling Planet Earth." "Next Stop Mars" is essentially a four-minute Moog solo, and the second iteration of "The Satellites Are Spinning" arises out of a choice Ra organ solo. "They'll Come Back" is given a definitive reading, following June Tyson's brilliant vocals with a full-band tour of the melody, stressing its processional majesty.
Most excitingly, there are a handful of compositions that are rare or (as far as I can tell) unique. "Pleasant Twilight" only appears two other times in the discography (My Brother the Wind Vol. II and the Red Garter show from 1970). In 1970, Gilmore was featured in an amazing solo that ranks as one of his finest. He solos here too, but he's underrecorded (the only time on this set). The fast groove at the end after the tempo picks back up stretches out longer than the Red Garter version, giving time for great solos from Kwame Hadi, Marshall Allen, Ra on organ, and a rare solo spot from Danny Ray Thompson, all punctuated by swinging horn riffs.
The slow Discipline-like "Myth Tone Poem (Untitled)" also appears in two other places I know of: the Newport Jazz Festival of 1969-07-03, and the CD Black Myth/Out in Space, on the Berlin set from 1970-11-07, as "Discipline Series" (presumably titled by Hartmut Geerken). But both "Space Bop (Untitled)" and "Space Ballad (Untitled)" make their only appearances here (well, the jury's still out on "Space Ballad"--I feel like I've heard it before but I haven't been able to pinpoint it for sure yet--more research needed!). Both tunes are true gems: "Space Bop" is a swinging showcase for superb solos from Kwame Hadi and Danny Davis, and "Space Ballad" is another almost-dirge-like piece that would easily fit into the mold of the later "Discipline" compositions still to come in the '70s.
We are even treated to one standard, Henry Mancini's "Days of Wine and Roses," a song that won't appear in the Ra discography again until 1983. Here it's a bit ragged in execution, but redeemed by Ra's soulful organ. Let me just say at this point that Ra's keyboard work sounds fantastic throughout this whole set.
The Arkestra was clearly primed for these performances, and it shows: the ensemble heads are tight (and loose when they need to be), and the solos are consistently exciting and mind-blowing (especially those from Gilmore, Ra, Marshall Allen, Danny Davis, Pat Patrick and Kwame Hadi). June Tyson is on fire, her vocals stirring and inspiring; indeed, this album serves as exhibit #1 demonstrating how integral she was in fronting the Arkestra and serving as an earthly guidepost to Ra's cosmic aspirations. There are several excellent Gilmore solos here, including "Outer Spaceways Incorporated," which segues into "You Better Get Ready," a gospel-tinged salute from the band to the saxophonist, who wails throughout.
Overall, this is an amazing release; Strut and Art Yard are to be commended on another excellent job. The vinyl set features a handsome booklet with several gorgeous black-and-white photos and liner notes with contextual background from Daniel Caux, the organizer of the concerts, and extensive track-by-track commentary by Peter Griffiths. Hang on to your original release of Vol. 1 for the complete "Cosmic Explorer," but otherwise chalk this up as a must-have.
