Robert Mugge filmed jazz great Sun Ra on location in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. between 1978 and 1980. The resulting 60-minute film includes multiple public and private performances, poetry readings, a band rehearsal, interviews, and extensive improvisations.
Director: Robert Mugge
Star: Sun Ra
Watched on AmazonPrime, ok print.
2nd dose of Sun Ra, 1st being Space Is the Place (1974), 6-. I think I'll skip the '84 doc'y. This was similar to SITP in costume and in music, and the photos of the '84 film look similar as well.
Sun Ra explains his beliefs, usually standing near some ancient (Egyptian, perhaps) stone carvings at a museum. He explains things in terms of outer space forces/intelligences, which sound unfamiliar, but is that really any different than gods?
Some of his music was more melodic and traditional jazz-y, but a lot was a repeat of what's on SITP: cacophonous and chaotic, until the woman sings about Sun Ra, when it gets chanty, so you can understand it. (I'm fairly certain the subtitles were incorrect more than once. I wonder if those came from the dvd, or Amazon.)
I think I queued this because I wanted to see if any "traditional" jazz sounded better than the "noise", and it did. One of the long-time musicians interviewed explained that at a certain point, while he was playing with the band, he realized how sophisticated Ra's harmonies were, and decided to stay. This is after a clip where we saw him playing "noise".
Ok, so I've seen it in 2 different films, one created by SR, one doc'y.
'Nuf.
IMDb rating 7.4 with 167+ votes.
IMDb rating 7.4 with 167+ votes.
unknown, dir. Mugge; 6-
