Review of Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Prophet

 

It is pretty amazing to think there are still undiscovered Sun Ra studio recordings out there. Undocumented live shows and rehearsals are one thing (I wouldn't be surprised if there are hundreds of those), but full-blown studio recordings are another beast altogether. And Prophet is quite a beast--over 50 minutes of Ra and the Arkestra playing and improvising in the studio in 1986, with a huge chunk of that devoted to Ra experimenting with the then-brand-new Prophet VS synthesizer. 

Now, the Prophet has never been my favorite of synths. The sound is pretty canned, and kind of stale to my ears--even Zawinul or Prince couldn't get much life out of it. But Ra makes it his own, especially on the title track, a 16-minute Prophet solo. He certainly puts it through its paces. This is a glorious, beautifully-recorded Ra keyboard solo. 

"Infinity Excursion" is a special moment, too: a James Jacson solo on the infinity drum. It's nice to have this unique drum in studio-quality sound. It's also nice that the solo is relatively short. "The Prophet at Play" is a percussion-heavy piece where Ra continues to explore the metallic textures of the synth, with a brief Fred Adams trumpet solo towards the end. 

"The Prophet Returns" starts off as another interesting synth solo, but for me the highlight of the album comes when the full Arkestra roars in at about 8:35, with a blast of sonic energy. It's a glorious moment, reminiscent of the full ensemble passages of "The Magic City," but it only lasts less than a minute before it is undermined by an uninteresting (if competent) drum solo from John Brown. Oh, well. The horns eventually return, but the spell is broken.

A word about the two CD-only bonus tracks: as huge a fan as I am of all things Ra, these tracks are difficult to listen to, especially "They'll Come Back," because June Tyson is obviously sick, and her voice sounds horrible. While these are interesting arrangements, hearing Tyson's beautiful voice croaking and straining doesn't do her any favors.

Overall, then, an interesting release (how could it not be?) but hardly crucial--except perhaps for the initial solo--and somewhat disappointing.