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Quite possibly the most inspirational music biography ever written - essential. MUZIK
This ground-breaking biography is as much about Sun Ra’s music as it is about his passionate, often wildly unorthodox views on the galaxy, black people and spiritual matters. With the various incarnations of his inimitable Arkestra, his repertoire ranged from boogie-woogie to swing to be-bop to fusion to New Age, and his influence extended throughout the jazz and rock worlds. While Sun Ra made a lifelong effort to obscure many of the facts of his early years, he did acknowledge that he was born on the planet Saturn. John Szwed has succeeded brilliantly in delving into and evoking the life and work of this extraordinary artist.
“Those who read this book will be spellbound”
the Voice
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“a brilliant book, a sprawling, curlicued, swinging account of anextraordinary man’s great adventure with a bunch of ideas that madesense to him out of a senseless world”
independent On Sunday
“this is the year’s best jazz biography”
evening Standard
“one of the best books ever written about anything”
the Idler
“Quite possibly the most inspirational music biography ever written - Essential.”
muzik
John Szwed
John F. Szwed is Professor of Anthropology, Afro-American Studies, Music, and American Studies at Yale University. He has written about music for many publications, including the New York Times, Musician, and the Boston Phoenix. He lives in Trumbull, Connecticut.