Strange Strings

1967 studio album by Sun Ra and his Astro Infinity Arkestra

Strange Strings

Studio album by

Sun Ra and his Astro Infinity Arkestra

Released| 1967
Recorded| 1965, New York
Genre| Jazz
Label| Saturn
Atavistic
Producer| Alton Abraham
Sun Ra and his Astro Infinity Arkestra chronology
| Nothing Is
(1966)  | Strange Strings
(1967)  | Monorails and Satellites
(1966)

|
|

Professional ratingsReview scores

Source| Rating
Allmusic| [1]
All About Jazz| (?)[2]

Strange Strings is an album by the American Jazz musician Sun Ra and his Astro Infinity Arkestra. Recorded in 1965, the album was released in 1967[3] on Sun Ra's own Saturn label. The record was reissued on compact disc by Atavistic in 2007.

Strange Strings is an oddity in Sun Ra's often discography, featuring his band members performing on string instruments they'd never before used.

## A study in ignorance

[edit]

After finishing a series of concerts at New York State colleges sponsored by ESP, Sun Ra decided to assemble a number of stringed instruments bought from curio shops and music stores. Ukuleles, Mandolins, Kotos, Koras, Chinese Lutes and 'Moon Guitars' were handed out to his reed and horn players in the belief that 'strings could touch people in a special way, different from other instruments.'[4] The point was that the Arkestra didn't know how to play them - Sun Ra called it 'a study in ignorance.'[4]

> 'Next they prepared a number of homemade instruments, including a large piece of tempered sheet metal with an "X" chiseled on it. Then they miked the Sun Columns.'

> 'Marshall Allen said that when they began to record the musicians asked Sun Ra what they should play, and he answered only that he would point to them when he wanted them to start. The result is an astonishing achievement, a musical event which seems independent of all other musical traditions and histories.... The piece is all texture, with no sense of tonality except where Art Jenkins sings through a metal megaphone with a tunnel voice. But to say that the instruments seem out of tune misses the point, since there is no "tune", and in any case the Arkestra did not know how to tune most of the instruments...' John F Szwed[4]

## Reception

[edit]

> Strange Strings is a somewhat legendary album from the mid-'60s. "Worlds Approaching" is a great tune, anchored by a bass ostinato and timpani and featuring several fantastic solos... Off and on throughout the tune, Bugs Hunter applies near-lethal doses of reverb, giving the piece a very odd but interesting sound. "Strange Strings" is one of those songs that is likely to inspire some sort of "you call that music?" comment from your grandmother, or even from open-minded friends. It sounds like they raided the local pawn shop for anything with strings on it, then passed them out to the band members. It's difficult to tell if some of these instruments have been prepared in some way, or if they're simply being played by untutored hands. There are also lots of drums and some viola playing from Ronnie Boykins that are also treated heavily with reverb. Despite the cacophony, there is a definite ebb and flow to the piece and what seems like different movements or themes. Whatever you think of the music contained, there's no denying that it produced some of the most remarkable sounds of the mid-'60s. If you don't like "out," stay clear of this one.' Sean Westergaard[5]

## Track listing

[edit]

### 12" Vinyl

[edit]

All songs by Sun Ra
Side A:

1. "Worlds Approaching"
2. "Strings Strange"

Side B:

1.   2. "Strange Strings"

### CD extra track

[edit]

1.   2. "Door Squeak"

## Musicians[6]

[edit]

* Sun Ra - electric piano, lightning drum, timpani, squeaky door, strings
* Marshall Allen \- oboe, alto saxophone, strings
* John Gilmore \- tenor saxophone, strings
* Danny Davis - flute, alto saxophone, strings
* Pat Patrick \- flute, baritone saxophone, strings
* Robert Cummings - bass clarinet, strings
* Ali Hassan - trombone, strings
* Ronnie Boykins: bass viol
* Clifford Jarvis \- timpani, percussion
* James Jacson - log drums, strings
* Carl Nimrod - strings
* Art Jenkins - space voice, strings

Recorded New York, 1966[7] except Door Squeak, 1967.

> “I’m painting pictures of things I know about, and things I’ve felt, that the world just hasn’t had the chance to feel... I’m painting pictures of another plane of existence, you might say, of something that’s so far away that it seems to be nonexistent. I’m painting pictures of that, but it is a world of happiness which people have been looking for or say they wanted, but they haven’t been able to achieve it.” Sun Ra, interviewed by Henry Dumas in 1966[8]

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Allmusic review
2. ^ All About Jazz review
3. ^ "Strange Strings, by Sun Ra & His Astro Infinity Arkestra". Sun Ra. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
4. ^ a b c Szwed, Space Is The Place, Mojo 2000, p238
5. ^ All Music Guide
6. ^ From the Atavistic Sleeve notes
7. ^ Sun Ra's Discography, R Campbell
8. ^ Quoted on Atavistic Website

* v
* t
* e

Sun Ra

* Discography

Arkestra members

* John Gilmore
* Julian Priester
* Pat Patrick
* Charles Davis
* Victor Sproles
* Marshall Allen
* Ronnie Boykins
* James Spaulding
* Phil Cohran
* Clifford Jarvis
* Lex Humphries
* Michael Ray
* June Tyson
* Ahmed Abdullah
* Danny Ray Thompson

Studio albums|

* Jazz by Sun Ra
* Super-Sonic Jazz
* Sound of Joy
* Visits Planet Earth
* The Nubians of Plutonia
* Jazz in Silhouette
* Sound Sun Pleasure!!
* Interstellar Low Ways
* Fate in a Pleasant Mood
* Holiday for Soul Dance
* Angels and Demons at Play
* We Travel the Space Ways
* The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra
* Bad and Beautiful
* Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow
* Secrets of the Sun
* When Sun Comes Out
* Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy
* When Angels Speak of Love
* Other Planes of There
* The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume One
* The Magic City
* The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume Two
* Strange Strings
* Monorails and Satellites
* Atlantis
* Space Is the Place (soundtrack)
* Space Is The Place
* Pathways to Unknown Worlds
* Cosmos
* Deep Purple
* Some Blues But Not the Kind That's Blue
* New Steps
* Other Voices, Other Blues
* Visions
* Lanquidity
* Sleeping Beauty
* Strange Celestial Road
* Reflections in Blue
* Hours After
* Blue Delight
* Somewhere Else
* Purple Night
* Mayan Temples

Live albums|

* Featuring Pharoah Sanders & Black Harold
* Nothing Is
* Nuits de la Fondation Maeght
* It's After the End of the World
* Black Myth/Out in Space
* Live in Egypt 1
* Nidhamu
* Horizon
* Live In Montreux
* Unity
* Live from Soundscape
* I, Pharaoh
* Sunrise in Different Dimensions
* Cosmo Omnibus Imagiable Illusion
* Thunder of the Gods

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz release group

|

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template