Sun Ra and His Intergalactic Solar Arkestra
Soundtrack to the Film Space Is the Place (Evidence)Part music documentary, part science-fiction adventure, part blaxploitation epic, this obscure 1974 film finds keyboardist/bandleader Sun Ra and his Arkestra arriving from outer space in a rocket ship to the ghetto in Oakland, Calif., to battle the evil overseer for the souls of black people. Along the way, the viewer’s treated to this expansive soundtrack of otherworldly delights that could have easily appeared in any number of 1950s sci-fi flicks. The opening chants of “It’s after the end of the world,” Ra’s eerie use of electronic keyboards, and the distant skronking of the Arkestra’s horns are every bit an interstellar soundscape as they are jet-propelled free jazz explorations. Sun Ra always claimed to be from Saturn, and with celestial band classics like “Calling Planet Earth,” “Satellites Are Spinning,” “We Travel the Spaceways,” and the signature title track, he and the Arkestra masterfully channel the cosmos through their visionary interpretation of the jazz tradition.
This article appears in July 25 • 2008.