Sun Ra

Sun Ra原名Herman Sonny Blount，他于1914年5月22日出生于阿拉巴馬州的伯明翰。在他孩提時代，他父親便離家出走，Sun Ra基本上是靠他姨媽與外祖母撫養(yǎng)的。17歲生日時，他收到一架鋼琴作為禮物，Sun Ra的音樂知識主要是靠自學(xué)，他并沒有受過多少音樂教育。Sun Ra在上高中時組建了一支自己的樂隊(duì)，在當(dāng)時，他就能掌握各種節(jié)奏與音符。上大學(xué)時，他聲稱有外星人把他帶入宇宙空間，使他得到了神的感召。他中途輟學(xué)，與多支主要由伯明翰人組成的樂隊(duì)合作在南方巡演。
 
“二戰(zhàn)”時，Sun Ra由于拒服兵役而入獄。期間，他花了大量時間研究音樂、探尋古代的黑人文化。戰(zhàn)后，他來到了爵士的溫床——芝加哥。很快，當(dāng)?shù)刂腄elisa俱樂部就雇他為臨時鋼琴手。即使在40年代，仍有許多音樂家把Sun Ra歸為異類。Erskine Hawkins說：“Sun Ra用的和弦在今天已不足為奇，但在當(dāng)時卻是無人問津的。”因此，他得到了“月亮人”的稱號。
 
整個50年代是Sun Ra最富創(chuàng)造力的時期之一。起先，他的小樂隊(duì)以演奏比波普爵士與經(jīng)典曲目為主。稍后，他領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的Arkestra樂隊(duì)加入了越來越多的新鮮元素：他的樂隊(duì)里出現(xiàn)了齊特拉琴、銅鼓、編鐘，還有所謂的“太陽鼓”、“宇宙魯特”等名目眾多的古怪樂器；樂隊(duì)在演出時會穿上宇宙衣，戴上有螺旋漿的發(fā)亮頭盔；在音樂里，他啟用了多名打擊樂手，把非洲的節(jié)奏引入爵士樂。
 
60年代，John Coltrane、Albert Ayler等人在格林威治村創(chuàng)立了自由爵士，Sun Ra也成了這一風(fēng)格的奠基人之一。他的音樂顯得更加神秘，宇宙已不再僅是Sun Ra與Arkestra的暫游地，它成了他們永遠(yuǎn)的歸宿。這一時期的作品反對旋律，擁有復(fù)雜的節(jié)奏與不和諧和聲，樂曲也變得冗長，在一個作品中往往有幾個不同的調(diào)式，甚至無調(diào)式，或者就是Sun Ra所稱的“宇宙調(diào)式”。盡管如此，Sun Ra并不贊同用“自由”來形容他的音樂，他的作品其實(shí)都是經(jīng)過精心勾畫的，結(jié)構(gòu)嚴(yán)謹(jǐn)。
 
70年代，Impulse公司為Sun Ra錄制了一系列專輯，這些專輯首次向世界展示了Sun Ra的風(fēng)采，他的名聲與日俱增，并在歐洲及世界各地演出，其中有一場音樂會是在埃及的金字塔前舉行的。在80年代以后，Sun Ra得到了全世界的關(guān)注，非主流搖滾界把他奉為鼻祖。1993年5月30日，這位“來自外層空間的精神領(lǐng)袖”離開了這個世界。
 
Of all the jazz musicians, Sun Ra was probably the most controversial. He did not make it easy for people to take him seriously, for he surrounded his adventurous music with costumes and mythology that both looked backward toward ancient Egypt and forward into science fiction. In addition, Ra documented his music in very erratic fashion on his Saturn label, generally not listing recording dates and giving inaccurate personnel information, so one could not really tell how advanced some of his innovations were. It has taken a lot of time to sort it all out (although Robert L. Campbells Sun Ra discography has done a miraculous job). In addition, while there were times when Sun Ras aggregation performed brilliantly, on other occasions they were badly out of tune and showcasing absurd vocals. Near the end of his life, Ra was featuring plate twirlers and fire eaters in his colorful show as a sort of Ed Sullivan for the 1980s.
 
But despite all of the trappings, Sun Ra was a major innovator. Born Herman Sonny Blount in Birmingham, AL (although he claimed he was from another planet), Ra led his own band for the first time in 1934. He freelanced at a variety of jobs in the Midwest, working as a pianist/arranger with Fletcher Henderson in 1946-1947. He appeared on some obscure records as early as 1948, but really got started around 1953. Leading a big band (which he called the Arkestra) in Chicago, Ra started off playing advanced bop, but early on was open to the influences of other cultures, experimenting with primitive electric keyboards, and playing free long before the avant-garde got established.
 
After moving to New York in 1961, Ra performed some of his most advanced work. In 1970, he relocated his group to Philadelphia, and in later years alternated free improvisations and mystical group chants with eccentric versions of swing tunes, sounding like a spaced-out Fletcher Henderson orchestra. Many of his most important sidemen were with him on and off for decades (most notably John Gilmore on tenor, altoist Marshall Allen, and baritonist Pat Patrick). Ra, who recorded for more than a dozen labels, has been well served by Evidences extensive repackaging of many of his Saturn dates, which have at last been outfitted with correct dates and personnel details. In the late 90s, other labels began reissuing albums from Sun Ras vast catalog, an effort that will surely continue for years to come.