3:33⅓ - Sun Ra and His Arkestra - Hours After

Sun Ra was born 108 years ago. I marvel at the fact that his music is still forward thinking, still looking ahead. A lot of people push the cosmic, sky, universe, planetary vibe as a marketing ploy. For my money, I believe Sun Ra was actually about that planetary energy. I don’t think it was a gimmick. I don’t think you keep up a gimmick for your entire life. For being intergalactic, Sun Ra’s music has a lot of earthiness to it. It never seems unnecessarily decorative. There’s an urgency, a rawness and a clear connection to blues music throughout his catalog that I value. We didn’t have any Sun Ra actively in rotation when I arrived at Jazz88. We’ve changed that, and I think the station sounds better for it. Thank you for the music Sun Ra. I hope things are good on Saturn.