Sun Ra: Nubians of Plutonia (Impulse cover, 180g) [WAX TIME]

Why you'll love it

This 180g pressing wears the Impulse! artwork that introduced the album to a wider audience in 1974. Inside is the Arkestra moving into looser, rhythm-led territory, with hand percussion pushed right up front.

This edition

• 180g vinyl
• Impulse! cover art
• Bonus track "October"

About the album

The Nubians of Plutonia first turned up in a blank sleeve under another name entirely, The Lady with the Golden Stockings, sold at gigs and by mail order on Sun Ra's own Saturn label in tiny numbers. By 1969 it had a new title and a proper cover, and in 1974 Impulse! gave it a second life with the artwork this pressing carries.

The music was taped in Chicago around 1958 and 1959, with John Gilmore on tenor, Marshall Allen and James Spaulding on alto, and Pat Patrick and Charles Davis on baritone. "The Golden Lady" sways on hi-hat, cowbell, wood blocks and rolling toms while Ra lays a dark theme over the top; "Nubia" and "Aiethopia" sink into simmering, mystical grooves, and Patrick's space lute gives "Africa" a playfully sinister twang. "Plutonian Nights" opens things with a lazy, late-night swing.

Reviewers often point newcomers here, since it sits right between the Arkestra's big-band roots and the cosmic free playing to come. Ra always said he was from Saturn; this is the album where the rest of the band seem to have packed for the trip.

Also at Kops: more Sun Ra on vinyl · browse Classic Jazz

Tracklist

Listen

On Wax Time (cat# 771906), a reissue of the 1966 album.