What the record is and where it came from
Jazz in Silhouette was recorded and released in 1959 during Sun Ra’s Chicago period. The session predates the more openly avant-garde work of the following decade. Its date was once disputed, but the original tape box establishes the March 1959 recording.
How it sounds, and how it was made
Piano, celeste and gong join trumpet, trombone, saxophones, flutes, bass and drums. John Gilmore, Marshall Allen and Ronnie Boykins are among the ensemble members. The varied horn registers give the arrangements considerable colour within a recognisable jazz-band setting.
What lands
“Enlightenment” and the longer “Ancient Aiethopia” offer different scales of entry. The music makes it possible to hear Sun Ra as an organiser of melody and ensemble, rather than only as a figure associated with unusual imagery. The arrangements give that imagination a practical form.
What does not
Listeners expecting the later Arkestra’s most radical departures may find this comparatively conventional. Others may find the longer pieces interrupt the concision of the shorter numbers. Some reissues reverse the original sides, changing the order in which the programme is encountered.
The ideas inside it
An individual musical world need not begin with a complete rejection of inherited forms. The record suggests how imagination can become distinct through the way familiar instruments and structures are organised.
Who should hear it, and who should not
Hear it if you want an entrance into Sun Ra through ensemble writing. It is less suitable when you specifically want the most open-ended later experimentation.
Is it worth your time
Yes. Follow the horn colours and the changes of scale; they make the record’s individuality audible without relying on its visual mythology.
