The Sun Ra Arkestra - Sleeping Beauty

The Sun Ra Arkestra
Sleeping Beauty

Album US 1979 on El Saturn Records label
Jazz and R&B/Soul (Free Jazz, Avant-garde Jazz, Big Band, Free Funk)

Printed (actually xeroxed & hand-glued) Saturn label release in white sleeve with huge Sun Ra & His Arkestra sticker on front. Like many late 70s Saturns, this was released either 1. as whitelabel, 2. as printed (actually xeroxed & hand-glued) Saturn label or 3. as hand-decorated (with colorful markers) whitelabel. Like many 70s/80s Saturns, it never had a cover. Only way to tell is the etching in the runout grooves. This LP is a so-called PHILADELPHIA-SATURN release - hand-assembled by the band in the house of Sun Ra & The Arkestra in Philadelphia at Morton Street, as opposed to the CHICAGO-SATURNS which have the El Saturn labelprint/logo and were made by Alton Abraham - the man who created the whole concept with Sun Ra back in the early 50s and cared for the business/release side of things. Prior to the handmade Philadelphia & printed Chicago (El) Saturns and the Thoth Intergalactics (another sub-labelname that appeared on several labelprints) which mainly were made in the 70s and 80s, original SATURN RECORDS LPs from the 50s and 60s have straight 2 color labelprints (no images or logos, just text), don't use the "El" on the labelprint and mostly have printed covers - yet they were often hand-assembled and also made in very small numbers (Sun Ra had special arrangements with the pressing plants to let him sometimes press 70 or 90 LPs only!). Saturn releases are the most obscure ones in record history, printed in ridiculously small numbers, labels & covers often handmade and sold (at concerts) by the band. Roughly the Saturn catalogue/discography is divided according to the recording place (where the Arkestra lived and worked) - 1. the Chicago period (50s-1961), 2. the New York period (60s) and 3. the Philadelphia period (70s and 80s). To create even more confusion, Sun Ra sometimes took an A side of one release and the B side of another and made hybrid albums. By now the Saturn discography is well documented but it took decades to clear up the more than 70 LPs of Sun Ra on Saturn Records released between 1956 and 1988.

Musicians

	The Sun Ra Arkestra , *1952 US album by
	Richard Williams b, bass
	Eloe Omoe bcl, 1949-1989 US bass clarinet, flute
	James Jacson dr, bsn, 1932-1997 US bassoon, flute, percussion
	Luqman Ali dr, 1939-2007 US drums
	Disco Kid g, electric guitar
	Marshall Allen as, fl, *1924 US flute, alto saxophone
	Danny Ray Thompson fl, bs, *1947 flute, baritone saxophone
	Vincent Chancey frh, *1950 US french horn
	Atakatune cng, perc, percussion
	Sun Ra p, 1914-1993 US piano, electric piano, vocals, written by
	John Gilmore ts, 1931-1995 US tenor saxophone, percussion
	Craig Harris tb, *1953 US trombone
	Tony Bethel tb, trombone
	Walter Miller tr, US trumpet
	Michael Ray tr, *1962 US trumpet, flugelhorn
	Harry Wilson vibraphone
	June Tyson voc, 1936-1992 US vocals