It’s only appropriate. Some long-lost/for- gotten space-age recordings left behind by avant-garde jazz boffin Sun Ra are finally unearthed, and we dutifully listen. The most noteworthy of the three “new” tracks provided here is a lengthy live performance of “Calling Planet Earth—We’ll Wait For You,” probably recorded in 1971 at Slug’s Saloon in NYC. This tune captures Ra’s formidable Arkestra bursting at the seams, including squalling saxophones, the knowing vocals of Ms. June Tyson, high-velocity improvisation, slow serious arrangements and a synthesized sonic maelstrom to boot. The two other tracks included here are less essential, consisting of droning tones and percussion interludes, with Ra leaving his musicians to scratch away at the various stringed instruments that they’d picked up on the road. This particular free-jazz conception was accomplished to greater effect on Ra’s 1966 recording, Strange Strings, but it’s nice to appreciate the freedom one more time.
—Mitch Myers
