sun ra

while blowing my bonus check from the market at the princeton record exchange, one of the gems i stumbled on was sun ra's double cd the singles on evidence, which spans '50s through '80s and has the arkestra backing doowop groups and blues singers as well as realizing its leader's cosmic creations. space weirdo or musical visionary, the man of whom george clinton once said, "he's out to lunch -- same place i eat at," as much of an ellingtonian as charles mingus was: ladies and gentlemen, i give you herman "sonny" blount of birmingham, alabama (a.k.a. "the magic city") and, um, saturn.