TeledyN

A gift from John Jacobs:

1

The Other Worlds of Sun Ra on Into the Music

In the history of post-war jazz in the US, perhaps the strangest and most mysterious figure is Sun Ra. An outstanding pianist, composer, arranger and big band leader, he was also a science fiction philosopher, Afro Futurist poet and self-declared citizen of Saturn.

Sun Ra's life project mixed a fascination with outer space with his African roots and wildly expressive music, which continues to delight and inspire audiences almost two decades after he left the planet.

The Other Worlds of Sun Ra features writer and activist Amiri Baraka, who collaborated with Ra in the New York underground of the 1960s. Sun Ra's archivist and one-time drummer, Michael D. Anderson, gives an insider's perspective of playing with Ra and his Arkestra. There are readings from Sun Ra's pamphlets and poems as well as the voice of the man himself. And of course -- plenty of Sun Ra's weird, beautiful and other-worldly music.

More info and full playlist here:
http://abc.net.au/rn/intothemusic/stories/2010/2977933.htm

Creative Commons license: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Australia

Notes

Producers: Brent Clough and John Jacobs
Narrator: Aku Kadogo
Readers: Calvin Welch and Aku Kadogo

Individual Files

Audio Files	VBR MP3	Ogg Vorbis
The Other Worlds of Sun Ra on Into the Music	119.2 MB	29.3 MB

Information	Format	Size
TheOtherWorldsOfSunRa_files.xml	Metadata	1.1 KB
TheOtherWorldsOfSunRa_meta.xml	Metadata	1.5 KB

If everyone paid a penny every time they played a song on their computers without buying a single song, the record industry would be in far better shape than it is now. More listening doesn’t need to mean less money, even if it means less purchasing. But for some reason, that model is seen as “eating our young,” when compared to the pay-per download model, which is essentially the electronic version of buying an unbundled CD, cassette, or 8-track tape — all formats that have become considerably less attractive to most people as they increasingly listen on connected devices, if they listen at all.

Ha! Now ... where have you heard that particular price-point before? Seems I'm now only about 8 years ahead of Wired, I'd better watch myself. But back at that pretty penny, here is the truth the plastic disk vendors will not accept: the vast majority of people will listen to the vast majority of music only once at best they might keep it in regular play for a week or two until they grasp the lack of timelessness in it, and they, swoosh off it goes to the Cornfield, stuffed out in the la-la land of never to return until a nostalgic mood takes them. Piles of it, huge great mounds of it.

This is especially true today with all the totally well-meaning mp3 vending machines for the 'indie' artists, but dig, nearly no one wants to buy your mp3 for a buck and even ten for a dollar is pushing it. But ... if it was like radio-on-demand, pick a swath of catalog and pay so little you couldn't possibly exhaust your account, well then it makes sense to do a little sight-seeing.

This is the reason for the great success of the free MP3 as a loss-leading advert for your sound, as a calling card (business cards cost money to design and print too), clear illustrations of what you'd be like if they hired you for the service you provide. The trouble is, only those who can afford to front that kind of money will be in the position to sustain giving things away, and that makes it difficult for the newcomers. However, you up that to an almost invisible penny or two a play and who cares if they snatch the download for their ipod because you know they'll be bored soon enough and back tomorrow for a dozen more, maybe even from the same band if they dig it!

The previous year was very good to us at NPR Music: We made a whole bunch of stunning concert Webcasts and recordings in 2009. And for many of them, the artists have graciously agreed to make the audio archives available as free downloads. The least we could do is put 'em all in one place for your convenience.

Remember, streaming audio, and now video archiving, is available for many of these shows too -- including a number of Village Vanguard, Newport Jazz Festival, and now, Toast Of The Nation recordings that aren't cleared for download.

Happy listening.

Live At The Village Vanguard (full series)
--Kurt Rosenwinkel Quartet (two sets)
--Terence Blanchard Quintet
--Edward Simon Quartet (selections)
--David Sanchez Quartet
--Bill McHenry Quintet (two sets)
--JD Allen Trio
--Billy Hart Quartet
--Dave Douglas Quintet

Newport Jazz Festival 2009 (full series)
--Vijay Iyer Trio
--Cedar Walton All-Stars
--Hiromi's SonicBloom
--Rudresh Mahanthappa's Indo-Pak Coalition
--Steven Bernstein's Millennial Territory Orchestra
--The Bad Plus with Wendy Lewis

Assorted Performances
--Terence Blanchard Quintet: Live In New Orleans
--Fight The Big Bull With Steven Bernstein
--Dave Douglas Brass Ecstasy: Tiny Desk Concert

anyone surprised? it won't be among the longtime readers here, because we've been waiting for artists to click into the share-friendlies since back when you could still download a Cello. Or it seems so. Great to see such a list of dignitaries who now dig the value of 'free'; let's show 'em some love and give them a bit of our precious attention, shall we?