Sun Ra - St. Louis Blues (Solo Piano, Vol. 2) (1977)

On July 3, 1977, Sun Ra shared a bill with Paul Bley at Axis-In-Soho as part of the Newport in New York Festival, which was recorded by Bley’s "Improvising Artists" label. A portion of Sun Ra’s set was released on LP in 1978 as St. Louis Blues: Solo Piano, Volume 2. If Solo Piano, Volume 1 was an introspective studio album, Sun Ra is in an expansive, playful mood in front of a live audience. As Szwed points out in his biography, “Bley was surprised to see that once he was alone on stage, ‘Sonny was a ham who liked to clown and surprise the audience’” (Szwed p.343) and there is a bit of that to be found here.

This set finds the normally forbidding keyboardist digging not only into four fairly accessible originals, but "St. Louis Blues," "Three Little Words" and "Honeysuckle Rose." By this time, Ra was starting to reinvestigate his roots in Fletcher Henderson's music and in swing, but these occasionally traditional interpretations remain full of surprises. There is definitely a charm to Sun Ra's solo piano sets.

Tracks:
01 - Ohosnisixaeht (05:50)
02 - St. Louis Blues (05:00)
03 - Three Little Words (05:40)
04 - Honeysuckle Rose (03:20)
05 - Sky and Sun (06:05)
06 - I Am We Are I (06:15)
07 - Thoughts on Thoth (06:27)

Sun Ra - St. Louis Blues (Solo Piano, Vol. 2) (1977)
(320 kbps, cover art included)