Exotica is a strain of music that draws from around the world, especially Brazilian, East Asian and Oceanic cultures and neuters those influences to make a form of early Muzak that was popular in the 1950’s and 60’s. Given his interest in the music of different cultures, it is not surprising that Sun Ra created at this time a form of exotic jazz that had some parallels but was more adventurous than the aural wallpaper of exotica. The use of flutes and hand is percussion with lush piano playing on tracks like “Space Mates (Abridged)” and many other of the early performances, create a cinematic mood music suitable for the space age bachelor pad, and the subtle use of bells or vibes add further color and texture to “Star Bright.” These songs are at a relatively slow tempo, but that changes with “Eve” which develops a small group swing, with shaded horns and gently propulsive piano from the leader. “Tiny Pyramids” has a hypnotic horn arrangement that is cascading over a heavy beat, as flutes break out and soar over the musical landscape, shaded by brass and percussion with Ra’s piano developing Monk like chords. He moves briefly to an electronic keyboard for “The Lady With The Golden Stockings” which has a bracing saxophone solo amidst the now customary flute and percussion. Ra’s beautiful piano (acoustic and electric) is at the heart of “Paradise” amidst a thicket of percussion and bass developing a spacious melody and then interpreting it with embellishments. “India” is the type of proto world jazz that Sun Ra thrived on, creating a slashing percussion pattern to boost the droning bass, horns and electric piano. Bounding drum sounds add further heft and Ra’s ripples of buoyant electronics keeps things fresh. “Ancient Aiethopia” is a kaleidoscope of color and rhythm with Ra’s Afro-futurist philosophy driving a fascinating performance with light flutes paring off against a stout horn arrangement and driving percussion and vocalizing. A previously unreleased version of “April in Paris” is a beautiful small group keyboard performance, with full blooms of notes, and soft hand percussion accenting the leader's playing. The lengthy “Island in the Sun” has slapping percussion underpinning saxophones and flute with an arresting rhythm. Ra weaves in and out of the thick bass and drums, adding further color to the arrangement. “Africa” is very interesting with baritone sax, harmonized vocalizing and ominous percussion creating quite an impression. The rattling drumming drives the music forward and offsets the light flute and dark baritone. Trumpet is featured on “Friendly Galaxy” with a tight solo sparking the tune, with Ra playing some poorly mixed keyboard alongside the requisite flute solo. “Cha Cha In Outer Space” is a riot with layers of percussion rattling around Ra’s percussive piano, they get into the spirit of things and create quite a racket of kitschy fun. The album ends with “Overtones of China” and and obvious gong blast to let you know it is an eastern pastiche. The horns strut a fine riff as Ra leads the rhythm section dropping heavy chords and notes amidst the hollow drumming. This was an interesting if overblown compilation, originally for Record Store Day, but now more widely available. Too much of the music has a similar sound and thematic format to last two hours, but a more tightly edited set would reduce the tedium and shine some light on an interesting period in Sun Ra’s career.
Exotica - amazon.com
Send comments to
Tim.
