The Magic City

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The Magic City
Studio album by Sun Ra
Released	1965
Recorded	1965, New York City
Genre	Jazz
Length	45:16
Label	Originally Saturn, now Evidence
Producer	?
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link
Sun Ra chronology
The Magic City (1965) The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume One (1965)

The Magic City is a 1965 album by Sun Ra.

It is notable especially for the title track, on which "the Arkestra's range of feelings and sound is expressed in a design that's simply unprecedented in jazz" ^[1]. While it begins with use of tape echo recalling the experiments on Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow, the key features quickly emerge: Ra's simultaneous piano and clavioline intertwining with Boykins' bass as the underpinning for new long-forms of group music-making which draw on varying sub-ensembles from the Arkestra through the course of the piece.

The Magic City is an early indication and prime example of the direction in which the music of the Sun Ra Arkestra would move, leading almost immediately to The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra later in the same year.

[edit] Track listing

1. "The Magic City" – 27:22
2. "The Shadow World" – 10:55
3. "Abstract Eye" – 2:51
4. "Abstract "I"" – 4:08

[edit] Personnel

• Sun Ra - piano, clavioline
• Pat Patrick - baritone saxophone, flute, tympani
• John Gilmore - tenor saxophone
• Marshall Allen - alto saxophone, flute, oboe, piccolo
• Danny Davis - alto saxophone, flute
• Harry Spencer - alto saxophone
• Robert Cummings - bass clarinet
• Walter Miller - trumpet
• Chris Capers - trumpet
• Ali Hassan - trombone
• Teddy Nance - trombone
• Bernard Pettaway - trombone
• Roger Blank - Percussion
• Ronnie Boykins - bass
• Jimhmi Johnson - Percussion

[edit] References