John F. Szwed: Space Is The Place: The Lives And Times of Sun Ra (1997)

“Sun Ra, a.k.a. Herman Poole “Sonny” Blount (1914–1993), has been hailed as ‘one of the great big-band leaders, pianists, and surrealists of jazz’ (New York Times) and as ‘the missing link between Duke Ellington and Public Enemy’ (Rolling Stone). Composer, keyboardist, bandleader, philosopher, poet, and self-proclaimed extraterrestrial from Saturn, Sun Ra led his ‘Intergalactic Arkestra’ of thirty-plus musicians in a career that ranged from boogie-woogie and swing to be-bop, free jazz, fusion, and New Age music. This definitive biography reveals the life, philosophy, and musical growth of one of the twentieth century’s greatest avant-garde musicians.”

Publisher Pantheon Books, New York, 1997
ISBN 0679435891, 9780679435891
xviii+476+8 pages

Reviews: Brent Staples (NYT Books, 1997), Matthew Wuethrich (All About Jazz, 2003).

WorldCat

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