Bad And Beautiful

About

Much has been said about Sun Ra moving the Arkestra from Chicago to New York (with a short stopover in Montreal). Recorded in 1961 and released in 1972, these are the band’s first recordings in the Big Apple as they move from the space bop of the ‘50s to the avant-garde direction of the ‘60s. As was often the case with the Arkestra’s work, this was recorded in the Choreographer’s Workshop (working as a sextet), and the mono source tapes had some technical shortcomings. Yet many of them have been fixed through remastering (using a 24-bit transfer) without losing the music's soul. While the bandleader typically focused on original compositions, this album is highlighted by relatively straight jazz versions of Broadway and film tunes like the title cut, “And This Is My Beloved,” “Street of Dreams” (previously unreleased and with a wonderful baritone saxophone solo from Pat Patrick), and the Monk-like “Just in Time.” This was one of Sun Ra's last blues, bop, or swing-based albums, but what a way to go.

via Apple Music