The Magic City (Sun Ra album)

The Magic City is an album by the American jazz musician Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra. Recorded in two sessions in 1965,[1] the record was released on Ra's own Saturn label in 1966. The record was reissued by Impulse! in 1973, and on compact disc by Evidence in 1993. It is part of the Penguin Guide's Core Collection of recommendations.

The Magic City
Studio album by
Sun Ra
Released1966 (1966)[1]
Recorded1965
StudioNew York City
GenreAvant-garde jazz
Length45:16
LabelSaturn, Impulse!, Evidence
ProducerAlton Abraham, Infinity Inc.
Jerry Gordon (1993 reissue)
Sun Ra chronology
The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume One
(1965)		 The Magic City
(1966)		 The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume Two
(1966)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[2]

It is notable especially for the title track, on which "the Arkestra's range of feelings and sound is expressed in a design that's simply unprecedented in jazz."[3] While it begins with use of tape echo recalling the experiments on Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow, the key features quickly emerge: Ra's simultaneous piano and clavioline intertwining with Boykins's bass as the underpinning for new long-forms of group music-making which draw on varying sub-ensembles from the Arkestra through the course of the piece. Lindsay Planer writes:

The boundaries of Sun Ra's self-proclaimed "space jazz" underwent a transformation in the mid-'60s. The Magic City is an aural snapshot of that metamorphic process. Many enthusiasts and scholars consider this to be among Ra's most definitive studio recordings.[2]

Birmingham, Alabama

The title Magic City refers to Ra's home town of Birmingham, Alabama, and to a large metal sign with the words 'Birmingham, The Magic City' erected in front of the railway station, Birmingham Terminal Station, in 1926 (see .) The cover art, by William White (as noted on the back side), directly references the dome of the station. Ra grew up next to the post office and close to the main station, where, "as a child, Sonny could look out the window and see the big sign over the railroad tracks that greeted visitors to The Magic City".[4] John F. Szwed explains:

[Birmingham was] the earthly birthplace he steadfastly denied, and in the recording he reimagines the city without its grim, racist, smoke-choked past. By simply pointing to musicians when he wanted them to play, he proved it possible to collectively improvise an entire album on the strength of nothing more than a shared belief.[5]

Track listing

12" vinyl

All songs written by Sun Ra.
Side A:

  1. "The Magic City" – (27:22)

Side B:

  1. "The Shadow World" – (10:55)
  2. "Abstract Eye" – (2:51)
  3. "Abstract 'I'" – (4:08)

"The Shadow World", "Abstract Eye" and "Abstract 'I'" were recorded live at Olatunji's loft, New York, Spring 1965. "The Magic City" was recorded during rehearsals around 24 September 1965.[1]

Personnel

References
  1. "Sun Ra's Discography, R Campbell". Archived from the original on 2010-03-16. Retrieved 2009-08-03.
  2. Allmusic review
  3. Litweiler, John (1984). The Freedom Principle: Jazz After 1958. Da Capo. p. 146. ISBN 0-306-80377-1.
  4. "FROM SONNY BLOUNT TO SUN RA: The Birmingham and Chicago Years, R Campbell". Archived from the original on 2009-03-27. Retrieved 2009-08-03.
  5. "John Szwed, the Sun Ra guide, Village Voice". Archived from the original on 2018-09-15. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
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