Happy 100th Birthday Sun Ra | Space Is The Place

The legendary jazz composer/performer/band leader/poet/philosopher Sun Ra was born into this world 100 years ago as Herman Poole Blount in Birmingham, AL. Sun Ra’s music and theories have influenced many in the jam world over the years including Trey Anastasio, Col. Bruce Hampton and Derek Trucks. While Sun Ra never achieved commercial success before his death in 1993, there was no lack of respect for him as he appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone in 1969 and he brought his Arkestra to Saturday Night Live in 1978. Sun Ra, who claimed he was from Saturn, preached awareness and peace above all and that’s certainly a sentiment that we can appreciate.

Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid is leading the charge on Twitter to get the “#sunra” and “#SpaceIsThePlace” hashtags trending. John Darnielle of Mountain Goats is another of those on Twitter helping to have the hashtags trend. Fenway Park organist Josh Kantor responded to Darneille’s tweet with the news that he’ll play “Space Is The Place” at the historic ballpark during today’s Red Sox game.

Let’s look back at the Sun Ra Arkestra’s 1989 visit to David Sanborn’s Night Music program. The pianist and his band perform “Face The Music” and “Space Is The Place”: