Sun Ra - The Singles (2 CDs)
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Sun Ra maintained a big band from 1955 until his death in 1993, even though he was even further out on the fringe of the music industry than Charles Mingus, who only held onto smaller groups.
Sun Ra consistently maintained he came from another planet - and his taste in clothes and harmonies lent some credence to the claim - but he also felt he could connect with a broad terrestrial audience, which is why he continually released singles on his Saturn label. Some of these singles were his trademark space-jazz, but most of them were more down-to-earth-doo-wop, blues, R&B vocals, swing standards, novelty songs and big-band dance numbers. Yet they all had the Sun Ra touch, which made them weird and worldly all at once.
This treasured collection, "The Singles", took three years to produce, collecting virtually every 45s released by Sun Ra from 1954 through 1982. It is considered the holy grail for Sun Ra collectors. It was pieced together from the contributions of private collectors around the world, and sonically cleaned up far beyond the audio capabilities of the original vinyl they were pressed on.
Sun Ra - The Singles (CD 1)
Sun Ra - The Singles (CD 2, part 1)
Sun Ra - The Singles (CD 2, part 2)
(192 kbps, front cover included)