I heard Sun Ra and his Arkestra at Carnegie Hall in the 1960s.What an experience!

Sun Ra is what got me into Jazz, always know about him but one night it just clicked, stayed up all night listening to everything I can find and bought an alto saxophone the next morning

Ra was a one of a kind! I got to play with and study from him in Philadelphia back in the 1980's. I will never forget him ))

The Jazz Video Guy's films are an essential KZfaq offering!

Great interview Bret. Sun Ra was a great showman.First time I saw him was in Liverpool UK and his band and there were fire-eaters,dancers, films etc. Second time was in Manchester with a smaller unit but with THREE bass players!

Hi Bret! I know this was posted a year ago, but I wanted to share that I saw Sun Ra several times at the Left Bank Jazz Society in Baltimore's Famous Ballroom. I was working in radio back then--the late 70s--and once did an interview with Larry Bright, who was Sun Ra's drummer for a while. I was a lousy interviewer then, but Larry was very kind. He described living with Sun Ra in Philly, and it was just as you said, a bunch of musicians all sharing a single roof. What a place that must have been...

I was bless to open for Marshall and the fellas once in Knoxville, TN with my band "Rocket Number Nine" I saw Sunny twice alive. He's on Saturn looking down at us!

Amazing story and testimonial. Thanks for this!

Thank you,Bret.(Longtime Ra fan here).

I believe Sun Ra's real name was Sonny Blount. Had an early recording, I think from '56. It was great and I was I still had it. He had some excellent musicians in his bands and the fact that they made the decision to play with him indicates that it was not a con. That was the way he, and they, expressed themselves and the wonderful, fucking world of jazz - based on improvised thought - was his universe.

I used to see the Arkestra at the Squat Theatre on Tuesdays . It was spectacular in many ways. John Gilmore- wow

What a great story about such an enigmatic musical icon. Amazing experience for you. Thanks for sharing.

Fantastic vid of a man as eccentric as I thought… you caught real history.

Fascinating reminiscences. Thanks.

Love this! Thank you

Love this! Sun Ra was brilliant!

I saw Sun Ra in the late '80s in an outdoor setting on a bill with David Grisman. There were dancers, etc., but what I remember most is the whole area vibrating as Ra began with a rumbling crescendo like an earthquake.

Thank you for this!. I got a chance to see him in the eighties in La Jolla California and he and the band really took us on a journey. They had this drummer playing a standup drum with an African style beater where a piece of wood has been bent in a question mark shape. His drum was made out of a tree-log and there hieroglyphics carved all over it. Also where a limb had once emerged from the trunk and been cut off, he had hollowed it out and stretched on a rawhide head which he played as well. They took a break and being a drummer myself, I approached the guy and told him how much I dug his playing and would he please tell me about the beautiful, intriguing drum. He was friendly and told me that a bolt of lightening had felled the tree in front of his house and that he dragged it into his garage where it could dry out and cure for a year. After that he began to work at hollowing it out, take the bark off, etc.. When asked about the symbols carved into the exterior he claimed he was an Egyptologist. I found his story to be so apropos to the context of the group...a bolt of lightening for heavens sake!

I saw Ra as a Kid at Penns Landing . It was Time and mind altering .

"Space is the place" - Sun Ra 🪐🛸

Is that the Jazz Video Guy's reaction to the recent Pentagon report? Intelligence officials have acknowledged the sightings of one full gross of UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena), that's about the size of Le Sony'r Ra's UAP discography (Utterly Amazing Productions).

He must cross the bridge!

Oh yeah! I had the Sun Ra experience some time in the old BIM-huis, late 70s or early 80s. This was some experience during which the concept of time came unstuck for those who were present. ;)

Lucky duck!

I have been trying to get or understand his sound for the longest. I think I am trying to hear without listening. I am not giving up until I feel enough to have and opinion.

JVG...amazing remembrances...did you record the 6-hour interview answer? Would be a treasure trove for the Sun Ra researchers among us!

I could never get into his music, too much for me. I consider John Gilmore to be one of the best tenors of all time, along with Harold Land and Benny Maupin. I didn't understand why Gilmore joined his group.

Re upload seen this video already?