SFJAZZ presents Sun Ra Arkestra
Robert M. Miner Auditorium
SFJAZZ Center, 205 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA
7:30 PM, Sunday, August 6, 2017

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[7:35 PM lights down, announcements from Randall Kline, band out]

1. [7:39 PM] It's After the End of the World
2. [7:44 PM] (unidentified vocal tune)
3. [7:50 PM] A Joyful Noise
4. [7:56 PM] We'll Wait for You
   [DRT swaps to flute for the next tune]
5. [8:06 PM] (unidentified tune #2, possibly Autumn Leaves)
6. [8:12 PM] (unidentified tune #3)
7. [8:19 PM] Astro Black (James Stewart, Michael Ray and Dave Davis get up and play off-mic while wandering through the auditorium during the middle section of the song)
   [JS swaps to flute for the next tune]
8. [8:27 PM] (unidentified tune #4)
9. [8:34 PM] Next Stop Mars
   [set ends 8:36 PM as the band parades off the stage]

[9:01 PM lights down, band out]

1. [9:02 PM] (unidentified tune: opens with ?ngoni solo from KK; transitions into jam, then chant/vox section: “I had forgotten I had to forget”)
2. [9:10 PM] Dreams Come True (KS)
3. [9:16 PM] (unidentified tune)
4. [9:19 PM] (RB drum solo) » Swirling
5. [9:28 PM] Saturn
6. [9:34 PM] (unidentified Marshall Allen tune)
7. [9:39 PM] Friendly Galaxy Number 2
   [RB off for the rest of the show; KS fills in at the trap set]
8. [9:46 PM] (unidentified tune, lyrics: “makes your life will with space joy / you are an asterisk / the space ways are not too far / when vibrations reach your heart”)
9. [9:55 PM] Space Is the Place
   [10:07 PM the horn section drift offstage one-by-one while playing more and more quietly]
   [10:08 PM all done; DRT bids us goodnight with a short address to the crowd]
   [10:10 PM over and done]

Sun Ra Arkestra

• Atakatune AKA Stanley Morgan: congas, percussion;
• Marshall Allen: alto saxophone, EVI, spiritual director;
• Farid Barron: piano, Yamaha organ;
• Cecil Brooks: trumpet, harmony vox;
• Ronnie Burrage: drums;
• Vincent Chancey: French horn, percussion;
• Dave Davis: trombone, percussion;
• Kash Killion: cello, sarangi (s2t09), unidentified African harp/lute (s2t01);
• Francis Middleton: guitar;
• Tara Middleton: violin, percussion, vox;
• Tyler Mitchell: contrabass;
• Elson Nascimento: surdo drum, percussion;
• Michael Ray: trumpet, percussion;
• Knoel Scott: alto saxophone, percussion, drums (s2t08-09), vox (s2t02);
• James Stewart: tenor saxophone, flute (s1t08).
• Danny Ray Thompson: baritone saxophone, percussion, flute (s1t05 and s2t09);
• (unidentified woman): dancer.

The first set was appropriately wild, swinging from cracked egg crazy to utter chaos to delicate ballads and stride piano struttin'. Gotta let all the cats out of the bag, right? I might have properly identified two or three tunes out of the none of ten they played. That's good enough for a baseball hitting average, right? Hopefully I'll get a couple more once I set the Internet hive mind loose on my scrambled egg notes.

A Joyful Noise starts off with a nice cello solo, soon joined by the piano, and then erupting into full band chaos. Joyful indeed!

The fourth tune of the set sounded a lot like Autumn Leaves to me, but it didn't quite follow the melody line all the way the completion I expected from memory, suggesting that I'm mistaken in my identification.

Set two opened with a pretty cool solo from Kash Killion on some sort of African lute. From my vantage point, I was too far away to really get much of a look at the intstrument, but it sounded like some sort of ngoni. That tune eventually morphed into an unidentified tune that I assume is a Sun Ra original – with chanted lyrics of “I had forgotten I had to forget”, what else could it be?

I didn't see Ronnie Burrage leave the stage, but I'm pretty sure I spotted Knoel Scott's transition to the drum kit – my notes aren't clear about what happened then. Hopefully RB just needed a spell of rest.

At some point during the show, one of the band members mentioned that they'd played four nights without a repeat. That's awesome! I'd love to hear the other sets or see setlists… It's great to know that there are folks who believe in really mixing things up from night to night instead of just following a rote program of hits.

SFJAZZ posted an interesting promo article about the history of Sun Ra's music.

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2017 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2017 event list! ☸ On to the next event!