sun ra: on jupiter
Francisco Espregueira
Sun Ra’s discography lives today, maybe more than ever. It’s hard to present any work of him here, mostly because he deserves a whole website to present all of his music being reissued in our time, all of the work his Arkestra keeps making, and all of the connected projects that keep surprising us. But for the last post of the year we have to share On Jupiter, via Sun Ra LLC, now remastered and due to be available digitally in Bandcamp on the first day of 2021. We end as we want to start - on a high note.
On Jupiter is part of a series of very special albums that were recorded between 1978 and 1980 - Lanquidity, Sleeping Beauty, Strange Celestial Road - demonstrating the influence on Ra of the musical and production trends of the mid and late 70s, especially heavy, studio-enhanced dance floor grooves (traceable from soul and funk to disco), and atmospheric new age dreamy pieces. He never fully surrendered to such genres, because he was on his own lane. Ra, better than anyone, is the proof that an artist can change with the times without losing its essence. And On Jupiter is essential, presenting Sun Ra at his most accessible. His cosmic jazz forms are the past, the present and the future in one - gravitating constantly around this ever-changing world. Available via Bandcamp.