The Robert Mugge documentary SUN RA: A JOYFUL NOISE (1980) opens with a monologue from Sun Ra, followed by a live rooftop performance of ‘Astro Black’. Then with the opening credits, the film cuts to Ra saying that one day “a voice from another dimension” will speak to us.
June Tyson is the star of ‘Along Came Ra’. Tyson was a singer, violinist and dancer, and at one time the manager of Ra’s Arkestra. She was described as a “true believer” of Ra by bandmate Knoel Scott. These are two bandmates whose stories we have some clarity on; there are many Arkestra members who we know much less about. There might have been hundreds of musicians who played with Ra; even official posthumous releases can only provide estimates of who was in the Arkestra at the respective times.
After dissonant squeals from a nine-piece horn section, Tyson sings. Her cinematic voice gives extra power to the myth-building opening lines:
“When the world was in darkness / And darkness was ignorance / Along came Ra”
It’s no surprise that the studio version was dual-titled: ‘Along Came Ra/The Living Myth’ given that both lines, both echoed in a call-and-response, are earworm hooks. “Along came Raaaaa!” “The living myyyth.” That studio track opened The Space Age is Here to Stay, the first collection of Sun Ra Arkestra vocal recordings. (That release was credited to Sun Ra & His Interplanetary Vocal Arkestra; various other Ra releases were credited to Sun Ra & His Myth Science Arkestra, Sun Ra & His Solar Arkestra, Sun Ra & His Intergalactic Research Arkestra, and so on.) There was also a live version of ‘Along Came Ra’ on Paris 1983, eventually released in 2015.
Not too many people talk about Ra’s humour, and although he might not have often been seen smiling, he had fun. Ra walks past his Arkestra and removes a glittering gold robe as he steps up to the mic: “Some call me Mister Ra / Others call me Mystery / You can call me Mister Mystery”.
Ra then directs the band. Four saxophone notes usher in a full-bodied, menacing riff repeated in unison by the five sax players, beneath the wild screeches of four trumpeters.
The footage from A JOYFUL NOISE was also used in Brother From Another Planet (2005), a Ra documentary by Don Letts. The filmmaker described Ra as “the Salvador Dali of jazz”.
Top image from SUN RA: A JOYFUL NOISE.