Sun Ra is best known for the extensive archive of recordings he made with his Arkestra, and most Ra enthusiasts are probably first attracted to his work by the sui generis imagination he brought to ...

Few musicians have been as delightfully and fascinatingly weird as Sun Ra. He was born Herman Poole Blount, changed his name to honor the Egyptian god of the sun, believed he was an angelic being from ...

Still images from "Sun Ra in the Dark" by Harmony Holiday. (neonhoney / Los Angeles Times) On June 12, 1971, Sun Ra, jazz piano prodigy from Birmingham, Ala., by way of Saturn — a planet he insists he ...

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer. Influence, our social influenza disguised as benevolent magnetism, has become a currency with more value than mundane fiat, ...

Herman Poole Blount, contrary to some urban myths, didn't claim to be born on the planet Saturn but had purportedly been transported there—and back—in his teens. A life shrouded in mystery, it isn't ...