Sun Ra - Universe in Blue (Expanded, Remastered) (1972/2022)

Universe in Blue, a collection of undated live club performances by Sun Ra & His Blue Universe Arkestra, was issued in small-run pressings with two different LP covers on Sun Ra's Saturn label in 1972. Until now it has never been officially reissued on LP or CD.

In the monumental—and ever-evolving—Sun Ra discography, particularly as catalogued in The Earthly Recordings of Sun Ra, by Robert L. Campbell and Christopher Trent (2000 ed.), these tracks were believed to have been recorded "Probably live in California. ca. August 1971." However, according to Michael D. Anderson of the Sun Ra Music Archive, who researched tapes in his possession, these performances were captured at the rowdy Lower East Side jazz mecca Slugs. Located at 242 East 3rd Street (between Avenues B and C), the venue was formerly a Ukrainian restaurant/bar and later a drug den before it was converted into a music club by Jerry Schultz. He initially dubbed it "Slugs Saloon," until he was advised that the word "saloon" violated New York City ordinances. Schultz rechristened the venue "Slugs in the Far East," because it was situated in a somewhat forsaken, and then-disreputable eastern Greenwich Village neighborhood. The club legally maxed out at 75 patrons, but often wedged in twice that number. Despite its legendary status as a New York jazz hotspot, Slugs is more notoriously known for a tragic 1972 incident that contributed to its demise: the fatal shooting (by his common-law wife) of young hard bop trumpet virtuoso Lee Morgan. (This tragedy is chronicled in Kasper Collin's 2016 documentary film, I Called Him Morgan, which contains dozens of interior photographs of Slugs.)

Starting around 1966, and continuing steadily for several years while they remained residents of New York, Sunny and his band performed two sets at Slugs on Monday nights. These shows continued after the Arkestra decamped for Philadelphia around 1968. (Ra eased himself into the relocation, and did not become a full-time Philly resident until 1971.) By 1970 Ra had begun shepherding the Arkestra to Europe, but while they were in town, Slugs gigs were sporadically booked.

Based on a number of accounts, the Slugs shows typically started around 9:00 pm and could blaze on with or without breaks until 4:00 am. The personnel fluctuated, depending on who showed up, who was hanging around and could handle an instrument, and the bandleader's divinations. These evenings were raw, unpredictable, and calamitous, and not without artistic controversy. They brought Sun Ra greater attention from the New York press and helped cement his reputation for audacious showmanship.

J.C. Thomas, who interviewed Sun Ra for Down Beat magazine (June 13, 1968), provided an excellent vignette of the Slugs milieu

A dark, murky, wood-paneled pub, probably dating from the days of Maxwell Bodenheim, Slugs has a casual easy-going informality in its atmosphere that affords Sun Ra the maximum of musical freedom and “feelin’ good” that he misses so much from the early days of jazz. Here, as he has for almost every Monday night for the past 18 months, Sun Ra and his musicians “tune in, turn on, and take over.”

The men shamble onstage, almost single file, dressed in the wildest dreams of any upper East Side boutique—fur hats, flowing robes, African print shirts, beads and bells. Their instruments and cases spill out into the drinking area, so small is the bandstand. Sun Ra, who perhaps is the most unobtrusive leader in jazz, since he always is found at the rear of the band rather than in front, sits astride his instrumental trio of piano, clavinet, and something he calls the Spacemaster—an organ especially manufactured for him by the Chicago Musical Instrument Co. that sounds like a cross between a theremin and bagpipes. Occasionally, he will play a one-stringed instrument he says is a Chinese violin.

His men tune up their instruments, which represent a veritable United Nations of sources. Chinese bamboo flute, bass clarinet and bassoon, Japanese koto, African kora, oboe and English horn, Sun Harp (a small harp designed like the golden rays of the sun that gives off beautifully resonant tones)—to name a few. Percussion, too, as every man doubles on at least one drum, and two or three are not uncommon—bongos, claves, maracas, conga, gongs, bells, and enough authentic African drums to equip a tribe.

The audience, as heterogeneous as the music that they’ll soon hear, is quiet, respectful, and attentive. They may, however, become slightly restless during the next three hours—for that’s the usual length of a set at Slugs, as the sounds of Sun Ra segue from one composition into another without stopping. His Space Music makes almost as many demands on his audience as it does on his musicians, and it’s sometimes hard to ascertain who’s the more exhausted after a night of six solid hours of music.

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The recordings on Universe in Blue are not hi-tech; they were reportedly captured with a pair of microphones placed on or near opposite sides of the stage (resulting in a startling lo-fi stereo), and recorded on cassettes. Considering this primitive set-up, the fidelity—"Another Shade of Blue" excepted—is quite good. These sonic artifacts provide an intriguing glimpse of the Arkestra's repertoire and virtuosity at the close of their first decade playing in New York.

These recordings originated on different nights, with different lineups. The set kicks off with the title track, a soulful, blues-based organ crawl by Sunny, which segues into trumpet and sax solos. This is after-hours music, with shamanistic undertones. On the LP, this track was inexplicably faded early, then resumed as "Part 2." The complete version is presented here as a single track.

Vocalist June Tyson (who joined the Arkestra in 1968) is showcased on "When the Black Man Ruled This Land" (titled "Black Man" on the LP), declaiming with fierce urgency over Sunny's space organ and Arkestral percussion. On the original Saturn LP the track faded after two and a half minutes, but the entire work—with an additional five-plus minutes—is included here for the first time.

"In a Blue Mood" is a churchy Sun Ra organ recital offered with restraint, yet simmering with emotion. Ra's left hand provides a walking bass line, while a ghostly drummer is heard far off mic, mostly keeping time on the snare and ride cymbal. This track was mastered from a stereo source, the first time it has been issued in stereo.

Prepare yourself for the next track, "Another Shade of Blue." This relentless, 11 minutes-plus blues cooker is a wild ride. The audio is terrible, the playing is awesome, and it's chock full of soul. "Another Shade …" conveys the feel of a 3 a.m. jam session in some smoky 1940s R&B roadhouse (in stereo!). The sound was upgraded slightly from the Saturn LP, but processing cannot restore what's not there. It's a murky sonic swamp, comparable to a Velvet Underground audience tape. Fidelity aside, the spirit, intensity and chops are self-evident. The Ark wails, Gilmore burns, and the tape fades, with no indication of how long the band continued. In an alternate cosmos, it might still be in progress.

This digital edition contains two bonus tracks from Slugs, both from a cassette in the Sun Ra Music Archive. As with the original Universe in Blue tracks, dates and exact personnel are unknown.

— I.C.
credits
released October 7, 2022

Tracklist
1. Universe in Blue (complete version) (13:15)
2. When the Black Man Ruled This Land (complete version) (7:43)
3. In a Blue Mood (7:07)
4. Another Shade of Blue (10:59)
5. Discipline 27-II (bonus track) (7:27)
6. Intergalactic Research (bonus track) (15:25)