Modern classical composer John Cage and jazz maverick Sun Ra performed together in 1986 at Coney Island, New York. The result was recorded and released on this long out-of-print album. We are fortunate that Ubuweb is able to make this fascinating record available again. Sun Ra begins with improvisations on the Yamaha DX7 synthesizer. John Cage performs his vocal work, Empty Words (Part IV), and each alternates performances. Cage’s performance is wonderfully trance-like with long silences as is typical of him. Sun Ra’s playing is other-worldly with little of the jazz quality that one hears in his Arkestra works. As a combined effort this “meeting” may not be very convincing. However if you consider each individual’s artistry, especially Sun Ra’s incredible sojourn at the synthesizer, you will find this a very rewarding experience.
The album is available on two 160kbps MP3s.
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(The downloads are #6 and #7)
(Words from: 'Free Albums Galore')
Genious, both.
ReplyDeleteStrangers, but genious.