Pianist, bandleader, arranger and Afro-Futurist Sun Ra was thought to be a decidedly non-mainstream figure in the jazz world as he directed his Arkestra throughout the last half of the 20th Century.

The outlandish persona Sun Ra created and maintained for himself over the years may sometimes distract from the adventurous intent of the music he made. Yet it is testament to his vigorous loyalty to ...

Last time theartsdesk encountered a Sun Ra collection, it generated the comments that he “had issued around 117 albums, about 46 of which were live sets. Trying to pin down exact numbers with Sun Ra ...

Sun Ra was many things. As a pianist, composer, inventor, bandleader, philosopher and a revolutionary, Ra’s creation knew no bounds; even still, three decades after his ascent to the stars, his ...

Sun Ra stated that he wanted to create otherworldly emotions on this album. These emotions are “disguised as jazz,” to quote one of Ra’s poems. The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra, recorded in 1961, ...

For the 45 years he was on the music scene, the keyboardist, composer, and bandleader known as Sun Ra (1914-93) was one of the most original and iconoclastic Black artists of the 20th century. And if ...

Installation view of Sun Ra, The Substitute Words: Poetry, 1957–72, Corbett vs Dempsey, 2021 (all images courtesy Corbett vs. Dempsey; photo by Robert Chase Heishman) CHICAGO — Twenty-five seconds ...

Questlove, Dawn Richard and a range of other musicians, writers and critics share their favorites from the experimental pianist, organist and bandleader’s wide-ranging catalog. By Marcus J. Moore ...

East Village Arts of Birmingham will host a birthday celebration and tribute to the late legendary bandleader and Birmingham native, Sun Ra. The event, which kicks off at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 22, ...

Abducted by aliens in the late 1930s, the African-American musician Herman Poole Blount traveled more than 700 million miles to find his true origin. He was not, as he previously believed, from ...

Bandleader Knoell Scott leads the Sun Ra Arkestra, performing at SFJazz on July 31, 2025. Photo by Frankie Solinsky Duryea. The Sun Ra Arkestra began the first of four San Francisco shows at SFJazz’s ...