Jazz /
Best Of....
"Best of..." (catalog number ART54) is a limited edition compilation LP by the legendary jazz innovator Sun Ra, released on white vinyl in 2024. This collection brings together 14 early tracks that showcase Sun Ra’s multifaceted genius as a bandleader, composer, arranger, and producer. The album is issued by Reel-To-Reel Music Company and stands out for its collectible format and carefully curated selection of tracks.
Jazz In Silhouette
Jazz in Silhouette is Sun Ra’s third album, hailed as an early masterpiece blending jazz tradition with innovation. Featuring original compositions, it marks a transitional phase before his avant-garde explorations, showcasing Ra’s talents as composer, arranger, and performer leading jazz into new territory.
Lights On A Satellite: Live At The Left Bank
Available for the very first time, the intergalactic icon Sun Ra and his Arkestra’s Lights On A Satellite: Live at the Left Bank was recorded on July 23, 1978 at the Famous Ballroom in Baltimore, Maryland by the Left Bank Jazz Society. The limited-edition 2-CD set contains audio from the Sun Ra Archives and was researched and compiled by Sun Ra archivist Michael D. Anderson. The critically acclaimed independent filmmaker Robert Mugge has also provided audio from the recordings he made at the Lef…
Sleeping Beauty
Strut proudly presents a new edition of one of Sun Ra's most celebrated albums, Sleeping Beauty, reissued in its original artwork for the first time. Originally released in 1979 on his independent Saturn label, Sleeping Beauty captures Sun Ra and his Arkestra at their most soulful and serene. A masterclass in cosmic jazz, the album blends lush grooves, celestial soul, and meditative funk with Ra’s singular spiritual vision — a sound both grounded and otherworldly. The album emerged during an ext…
On Jupiter
On Jupiter by Sun Ra blends deep funk, avant-garde jazz, and cosmic soundscapes, capturing the Arkestra’s 1979 creative peak. Remastered by Technology Works, this reissue features original sleeve art and new liner notes.
Nuits De La Fondation Maeght
4CD Set "Originally released across two edited volumes by Shandar in 1971, the concerts are now being reissued by Strut in a stunning 4CD set, Limited Edition 4CD Set. Features a 36-page booklet featuring liner notes by by Daniel Caux, Jacqueline Caux and Paul Griffiths and stunning restored photos of the festival by Philippe Gras.
Sun Ra’s Nuits de la Fondation Maeght recordings are legendary within his extensive canon. Across two nights in August 1970, these were the first concerts Ra and the …
The Magic City
According to many enthusiasts and scholars, this album is among Sun Ra's most definitive studio recordings. The Magic City contains just four tracks, with the title- theme taking up the whole of the A side at a little over 27 minutes. Then on the B side comes The Shadow World, followed by Abstract Eye and Abstract I, which are two variants of the same composition. These pieces are essentially ensemble improvisations recorded live.
Open Me, A Higher Consciousness of Sound and Spirit
*CD Version* Celebrating 50 Years of The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble’s Legacy and Unwavering Contribution to Great Black Music. This is the new offering from Kahil El’Zabar and his Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, in conjunction with the legendary group’s 50th anniversary, Open Me, A Higher Consciousness of Sound and Spirit. Open Me is a joyous honoring of portent new directions of the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble; it’s a visionary journey into deep roots and future routes, channeling traditions old and new. …
When Angels Speak of Love
When Angels Speak of Love, released in 1966 on Sun Ra's Saturn label, is a rarity, with limited pressings (150 copies, by one estimate), which were sold thru the mail and at concerts and club dates. The tracks were taped in New York during two 1963 sessions at the Choreographer's Workshop, a rehearsal space/recording den with warehouse acoustics. Ra spent countless hours at the CW from 1961 to 1964 sharpening the Arkestra during exhaustive musical huddles. John Corbett calls this "one of the mos…
Kawaida
A member of the radical black nationalist US Organisation, percussionist James Mtume championed the Kawaida way of life, aiming for collective creativity linked to its pan-African and Socialist ideals. With uncle Albert and father Jimmy Heath on board, Mtume cut this intense modal jazz concept album in December 1969 with Don Cherry, Herbie Hancock, Ed Blackwell and Buster Williams, yielding a masterpiece of percussion-heavy jazz, with every player on exceptional form, the five extended tracks re…
Pink Elephants On Parade
When you wish upon a star… that turns out to be Saturn!
Pathways To Unknown Worlds + Friendly Love
This package combines two LPs on one CD. Pathways was originally released on vinyl in the mid-70s at the very end of Sun Ra's relationship with Impulse and remained in print for less than one year. Evidence has remixed the original four track tapes and has added a track that was intended for the original album but omitted for technical reasons that have now been corrected. Like Cymbals and Crystal Spears, Friendly Love is an early 70s album that is being released for the first time. Sun Ra biogr…
Love In Us All
Biggest Tip! Limited Edition LP. Deluxe 180-Gram Reissue. Special Gatefold Edition Including Original Artwork. Again, we have the reissue of a true holy grail in our hands (yeah, we know holy grail gets thrown around a lot these days, but, if ever there was one, this is it) - Pharoah Sanders's absolutely astounding “Love In Us All”. Raw and emotive, soulful and thoughtful to points of profound depth, and entirely liberated and free, as well as one of the hardest, rarest Pharoah Sanders albums to…
Wisdom Through Music
Biggest Tip! 180 gram Vinyl Edition. Gatefold Cover. Recorded in New York City and Los Angeles, California, and was released in 1973 by Impulse! Records. Wisdom Through Music, with its smaller line-up - Sanders is joined by flutist James Branch, pianist Joe Bonner, bassist Cecil McBee, drummer Norman Connors, and percussionists Badal Roy, James Mtume, and Lawrence Killian. - consists of five tracks. Most notable is "High Life," on which Sanders emulates the West African style of music with roil…
Lanquidity
Strut proudly presents a special edition, deluxe repress of Sun Ra’s classic ‘Lanquidity’, for the 25th anniversary of the label. Housed in a tip-on sleeve with OBI strip, this new special editions features an A2 poster including a rare Veryl Oakland photograph of Sun Ra in his home, as well as liner notes by Tom Buchler (Philly Jazz), Michael Ray and Danny Ray Thompson (Sun Ra Arkestra) and Bob Blank.
“Enter the sober, tranquil chambers of the next moment. Soft angles of lights into space, cho…
Free Yourself
Strut presents an exclusive reissue of Experience Unlimited’s 1977 debut album, Free Yourself, featuring a brand new interview with bandleader and co-founder ‘Sugar Bear.` This seminal recording blends soul, jazz, and funk-rock, laying the foundation for Washington D.C.'s go-go scene. Experience unlimited had originally started out in 1973 when they met at Ballou Senior High School in South-East D.C. and came to the attention of Black Fire Records’ Jimmy Gray after winning a school talent compe…
Space Jungle Luv
"Space Jungle Luv" emerged in 1976 (a year after the classic "African Rhythms" set) and marked a distinct change of direction for Plunky and co. Their feet were still in the ghetto, but this time they were looking at the stars; headed up by the strong, sweet vocal stylings of Jacqueline Holman (aka Lady Eka-Ete) and Branch's often effects drenched saxophones, this is cosmic dancefloor jazz of the first water.
Chapter Two: Nia
Strut presents a brand new reissue of Juju’s powerful Afrocentric album ‘Chapter Two: Nia’ from 1974, originally released on Strata East. This is probably the rarest of the Juju/Oneness of Juju albums – and it's also one of the best! Unlike their first album on Strata East, the group's a little bit more inside, and doesn't get lost in overindulgent avant garde solos. Instead, they groove hard with a deep warm sound, in strident tracks with a mix of percussion, vibes, piano, and the excellent ree…
Reflections Vol. 2: Black Decelerant
For the second volume of Reflections, Black Decelerant, the duo of Khari Lucas, aka Contour, and Omari Jazz, explore improvisational jazz traditions through contemporary tone and texture, fostering sonic meditations on themes of Black being and nonbeing, life and mourning, expansion and limitation, and the individual and collective. The Black Decelerant collaboration, and intention, creates space for listeners to be still, while providing a basis for a movement beyond “the moment.”