The Sun Ra Arkestra

Hours After comes from two days the Sun Ra Arkestra spent at Jingle Machine Studios in Milan on December 18 and 19, 1986, during a European tour that, according to the Sun Ra Bandcamp page, also took the band to Germany and Poland. The same sessions produced Reflections In Blue, issued by Black Saint in 1987, and this second album followed in 1989. Fourteen musicians are credited, with Sun Ra on piano, synthesizer and vocals.

Seven reed players are listed, among them John Gilmore on tenor saxophone, clarinet and timbales, Marshall Allen on alto saxophone, flute, oboe and piccolo, and Pat Patrick on alto saxophone and clarinet. A trumpet and a trombone make up the brass, and the rhythm section has guitar, Tyler Mitchell on bass and two drummers, with bassoon and African drum added by James Jacson. Giovanni Bonandrini produced, Giancarlo Barigozzi and Paolo Lovat recorded the sessions and W. Royal Stokes wrote the liner notes. The programme sets two standards, the Gershwins' But Not For Me and Beautiful Love, beside three Sun Ra pieces. The title track is a new Sun Ra composition, and the two longest pieces are his as well: Dance Of The Extra Terrestrians, over thirteen minutes, and Love On A Far Away Planet, at ten.

This is the Black Saint CD 120111-2 of the album first released in 1989.